I Love Caves! Grand Caverns, VA.

I love caves; they are dark and cool and usually pretty calm.  When Jeff and I first moved to New Jersey, it seemed that we went to lots of caves and caverns on the weekends, especially in Pennsylvania.  They were nice, cool and we learned a lot.

As you may remember, I am not fond of bats.  I am referring to my post from April entitled "It's Kinda Like Camping".  However, even though the cave is a bat's natural habitat, it still doesn't scare me off.  I know that they are an integral part of our ecosystem, but they still creep me out.

Nothing we had seen prior to this trip prepared us for the Grand Caverns in Virginia.  We have passed through Virginia a number of times and seen the signs for the Grand Caverns as well as Luray Caverns but never stopped.  We were always too busy. So glad we have stopped "being busy".

Jeff and I try to split the days fairly evenly between his riding days and my sightseeing days.  It is a little painful for my soul that I can't go sightseeing without him, unless it's a guided tour with minimal walking. I checked out a number of things that I wanted to see near Harrisonburg, Virginia and the Grand Caverns kept popping up on my radar.  I looked into it and the tour was about an hour and a half of walking, but they would allow me to use my cane.  Even though there were quite a few stairs, there weren't too many at one time.  I figured I'd better go for it while I still could.

I am so glad we did this tour.  I understand why Grand Caverns is the #2 show cave in the country (second only to Carlsbad Caverns).  Not only are the caverns exquisite, they have been established so that you can have the cave experience without crawling on your hands and knees or being squished between the walls.  We already knew quite a bit about stalagmites and stalactites, but now we learned about draperies, shields and cave bacon!  I also love anything to do with bacon!

Above: a little slab of cave bacon.

There is a pool that reflects the stalactites above it that looks like the Manhattan skyline.  Unfortunately, it doesn't photograph well.  it is amazing to see.  There is a stalagmite in the middle of one of the rooms that from a distance appears to be George Washington.  Grand Caverns is also known as the oldest show cave in the country.  It has been available for public view since 1806 and was a place for Civil War soldiers from both sides to take their RNR.  Many of them signed one of the walls in the cavern.

The "ghost" of George Washington...not very scary close up.

In the 1800s, dances and soirees were actually held in the section of the cave known as the Grand Ballroom.  There are smaller anterooms adjacent to the ballroom where the women would change into their finery.  The room would be lit with candles, a table with food and drink laid out and the highest levels of society would be invited to these events.  Me, I would get a little claustrophobic in that kind of situation, but the romantic in me loves envisioning it.

The changing room for the Grand Ballroom.

My pictures cannot do justice to the beauty of this cave.  However, the ipad definitely takes better photos in this environment than many of the others in our tour group.

The Bridal Veil is on the right. I think every cave system has at least one of these, lol.

At the end I was tired and struggling to walk, but it was most assuredly worth it.  Amazing natural beauty.

Shenandoah River Valley - Amazing!!!

Jeff wanted to ride the Southern Traverse IMBA epic, located in the amazingly beautiful Shenandoah Valley.  We stayed at the Shenandoah Valley campground which was filled with nice and friendly people and located alongside the Middle River.  They had all the amenities for a non-camper like me, including cable TV.  And best of all...they had bunnies!!!  There were bunnies everywhere!!!

The campground also had tubing along the river, with a nice waterfall at the end.  I didn't go tubing, but it was so nice to walk along the river, seeing the bunnies and squirrels frolicking.  I wished my daughter and her family were there; I know my granddaughter Deanna would go bonkers for the bunnies.  Jeff and I had to Facetime his sister Colleen from the waterfall.  We wanted to share that with her.  If you look close, there is a turtle sunning himself on the log in the middle of the river.

The campground was also close to Staunton, Virginia, the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson, one of our most cerebral presidents.  Jeff and I went on a tour of the Wilson birthplace and his Presidential library and drove around Staunton.  The town had so many buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s in the Federalist style.  I started learning a bit about US architecture and feel a need to learn a lot more.

I have always been fascinated by Wilson, especially as President of Princeton and Governor of New Jersey.  He may have been before his time in that he really was a man of thoughts and not only a politician.  I wonder how he would fare as a politician in today's environment.

We found the cutest art in the middle of Staunton, Virginia.  As we were driving to the Farmer's Market (a weakness of mine) we passed a huge flowerpot and watering can display on the median at an overpass.  It was a garden dedicated to a local woman, Barbara Hunter Grant, absolutely gorgeous and a great surprise in the middle of a commercial district.

There is still so much to see in the Shenandoah Valley, it is on my list of repeat trips. 

Historical Iron and More Iron!

We felt pretty isolated in Pennsylvania; odd since we were so close to our home base of New Jersey.  The campground was so cool, though.  Tall beautiful trees and hardly any other campers.  There was not water at each individual sight, but we were close enough to a spigot to fill up as we needed to.

For me, the best part was that once again, we were actually staying in a historical park; oddly enough, another ironworks.  I have learned so much about iron blast furnaces and can even tell you how "pig iron" got its name. I LOVE HISTORY!!!

We stayed at the Greenwood Furnace State Park.  Our sightseeing was done within the confines of the park because all the history I needed was there!  We saw the iron furnaces, one of which had had a significant portion restored.  We also toured the iron master's house as well as the bookkeeper's.  These are usually the two nicest homes within the ironworks.  Who knew a bookkeeper could be so important?  In the late 1800s the glow from the blast furnaces could be seen for miles around.

If you look close enough, in the picture below, you can see a black snake outside the blacksmith shop.  I don't like snakes, I am very much a sissy that way.

Hmmm, I wonder if I will see more iron forges on our journey?

The First Real Mechanical Problem

Originally this post was going to be about State College, PA and how it probably would not exist were it not for Penn State.  When we left NJ, that was the first place we headed so Jeff could ride Roth Rock (IMBA epic).  We had a beautiful campground, but it made me really nervous.  We had no tv, radio, internet and not even a touch of a cell signal.  Our hot spot couldn't even get us communicating with the outside world.  I wanted to check in with my boss and my daughter so they wouldn't worry if they heard nothing for several days, and I found out pay phones don't really exist any more either; at least not as pay phones.  A calling card is now needed.  I was SOL.

So, since I need the internet to work, we went into State College.  Truly a beautiful college town; hustling and bustling with all the end of the school year parties and activities....and only 20 minutes from our wilderness campground, lol.

Needless to say, I spent a lot of time at the Dunkin Donuts getting my work done.  Jeff managed to hook up with some locals for a good ride.  We will be back!

Currently, (as I am waaay behind on my blogging) we are in NW Arkansas.  One of the major goals of this trip was to meet my sister-in-law in Eureka Springs for her vacation.  She is much hardier than I and rode a motorcycle down here from Minneapolis.  A couple days before we were to meet her, the electrical system in the bus started acting up.  We only had power on one side.  Jeff spent a couple days diagnosing where the problem was and it turned out that our inverter/converter had gone bad.  Boy, for once am I glad we paid for the extended warranty!  Those things are expensive.  The catch is that since it's so expensive, an adjuster needs to see it before we can get it fixed.  We are currently guests of the Camping World in Lowell, AR.  They are letting us be hooked up to their facility while we wait for insurance approval.

This is not fun for Jeff. He has been staying with the bus, learning everything he can about the electrical systems.  By the way, did I mention it is in the 90s here?  Due to the electrical problems, the air conditioning is sporadic.  Fortunately, his dad worked for Northern States Power for many years and taught him a thing or two so he is keeping us in as much comfort as possible.

This is also not all that fun for Colleen.  We met here so we could do sightseeing and spend some quality time together; she spent yesterday sitting in the showroom at Camping World with me.  She got smart today and took her motorcycle out into the Ozarks.  I saw some amazing pictures posted on Facebook, so I know she had a good day.

Me?  I'm a spoiled diva.  I had breakfast with Jeff this morning and then convinced him I was well enough to drive to Starbucks to work, and of course drink coffee and sit in the air conditioning.

I am amazed at Jeff's patience and determination in figuring out what was wrong and what needed to be done to fix it.  I could never have the great life I have now without him.

I am indeed grateful for the family I got when I married  Jeff.  His dad has been a huge help to him and his sister keeps me as sane as I will probably ever be.  She is always great company, in good times and bad.  I tend to forget she is Jeff's sister and think she is mine.

And Yet Another Ending

We were back in New Jersey from the 17th of April until Mother's Day.  For those of you that we didn't catch up with, we're really sorry.  This was a trip with a purpose.  We will be back in September for a couple weddings and Cycle Craft's Hillier Than Thou.  We should have a lot more down time then.

The trip had brought about some amazing changes in my health.  I was able to walk farther with less assistance and had less pain, in general.  My lungs felt stronger than they had in a long time and I was sleeping better than I had in decades!  I was ready to tackle the tasks at hand.

In three and a half weeks, our house was emptied of most of the things we had accumulated over 30 years together.  We lived in this particular house for almost 18 years; a small converted summer cottage in Budd Lake.  Boy!  Did we ever have a lot of stuff jammed into that place!  Our shakedown trip showed us that there was really very little else we needed on top of what we initially brought with us.  However, there were some things we still wanted.  Even more, there was a bit of stuff that had a lot of sentimental value.  Thanks to my daughter, Teresa Christensen and Jeff's sister, Colleen O'Hara for helping us preserve those memories.  There were a lot of pictures that just digitizing wasn't enough.  Who would have thought we could fill up a 20 cubic foot dumpster?

 

Jeff and George Schaberg (Grounded Consulting, LLC) did most of the hard and heavy work.  I am really good at being bossy and following behind them doing the clean up thing.  Unfortunately, the clean up thing and the heaving of stuff into the dumpster, made me sick.  I also ran out of the herb that I take for pain management and had to try a substitute.  The substitute actually seemed to make me sick, also.  So, for the last 10 days or so that we were home, I was pretty sick, off and on.

I spent at least one day each week at the bike shop.  I love almost everything about my job; the owner (Brendan Poh), the employees (most of them are family to me) and the shop itself.  You won't find a finer shop or a more dedicated group of folks anywhere.  People think that running a bike shop would be a pretty, laid-back job to have.  Not if you want to do everything you can to inspire and support cyclists!  The amount of work it takes is incredible and the months of April and May are the most extreme.  I have worked in a number of industries from mom-and-pop grocery stores to being a mid-level AT&T manager.  In many ways, this was the most challenging.  Unfortunately, I am like an addict about the shop.  I love it so much but I cannot endure the challenges like I could when I was younger.  The stress is too much for me.  What once gave me so much joy and pleasure, now causes me pain.  That's really depressing for me.

While we were in NJ, one of our good friends, Rich Hobbie (Hobbie Heat & Power), let us set up camp in his parking lot.  His mother has an RV similar to ours so he has a full set of hook-ups for when she comes to visit.  You will not find a kinder host than the Hobbies!  Not only did they keep us supplied in fresh eggs from their chickens, Rich fabricated a bumper for us in his shop.  The front end of the RV is all fiberglass, so if we were to hit a deer or other critter, it would really mess up our front end.  Not with this bumper!  Rich is also a mountain biker and he added an arm so that Jeff can have a repair stand for his bike wherever we go.  If any of you NJ folks have heating needs, Rich is the guy to see!

All of our big stuff was either sold, taken to auction, or given to friends.  Probably the hardest thing was to see Jeff's truck go.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was old and rusting but we both loved it so much.  The 5-inch left that I pretty much demanded he put in 15 years ago now kept me from riding in it much.  I had a power recliner that seemed to have healing powers.  It's good I wasn't there the day that left or I might have thrown myself on it sobbing.  The house was put on the market with American Country Real Estate (once again, thank you, George Schaberg).  Jeff and I had one last pizza and beer (with our wedding champagne glasses) and said good-bye to that part of our lives.  It's kind of funny, we have been together for over 30 years, but only got married when we bought the house.

Settling up our life in NJ was so hard, even though our new life is so wonderful.  We are leaving behind a lot of wonderful friends; I know I could never list them all, but in particular the Kruse family, Brendan Poh and Cathy Brennan, Kim Hawkswell, Kevin Eng, Rich and Cheryl Hobbie, Jon and Megan Sellers, Nick Paglia,
Eric DeSanto, Adam Wolf and all of the Bulldog Mountain Bike team.  We love them all and will miss them all.  Even though you stay friends, it's never quite the same
.

One last cup of coffee with the best of friends, the Kruses.

Time for the new life to start in earnest!!!

The End of the Shakedown Trip

It has been so long since I sat down to write, that I am kind of embarrassed.  The last part of our initial trip just kind of sailed by me.  I learned how to relax, and then couldn't stop doing it.

The first trip with the RV was our shakedown; we wanted to try a variety of campgrounds and make sure we could really commit to this lifestyle.  While it is definitely not a traditional way to live, I think it will work splendidly for us.

We spent the last week of this trip at Douthat State Park in Virginia and the Happy Traveler campground in Maryland, huge contrasts.  Douthat State Park was beautiful, in a bowl of mountains.  Our campground hosts, Rich and Pat Armstrong were warm and friendly, like going home to your parents.  Amenities were not plentiful.  We had no sewer, no tv, no radio stations; but we had internet!!!

The contrasting Happy Traveler had all of the amenities; including cable tv.  It was nice to be able to do the laundry on site, but I missed the beauty of Douthat.

Our choices appear to be having modern amenities and being packed into campgrounds like sardines or the more rustic campgrounds which have space and the majesty of nature all around us.  I know the name of this blog is "This is Not Camping" but more and more, I am liking the rustic campgrounds.

It was now time to head home and prepare the house for the market!

OK, So it's Kinda Like Camping...

Before Jeff and I embarked on this adventure, we traveled by car and cheap hotel for a couple months.  One of our trips was through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.  It was absolutely amazing; up and down the mountains, back and forth through the switchbacks.  At that time, Jeff said he wouldn't want to drive a big RV through that route, the switchbacks were so tight he would worry about it fitting.

Well, we came pretty darn close to that with our trip to Big South Fork in Tennessee.  There weren't quite so many switchbacks, but there were enough to make Jeff pay attention.  Once we arrived at Big South Fork, he could breath easy because we were going to stay for a full week; he didn't have to think about leaving for a few days.

The area was beautiful!!!  Completely amazing and the campground was at the top of the mountain.  A few TV channels and great internet signal.  This was all good, because I really couldn't leave the campground.  There was no way I could navigate those roads in the PT Cruiser, so even though Jeff could ride right out of the campground, I couldn't go anywhere.  Also, the nearest town was 15 miles in either direction down the mountain...and they were verrrrryyyyy small towns.

The campground did not have sewers, so we had to be especially conservative in our water use to avoid filling our tanks too quickly.

The campground showers were OK, not great (remember, I am a citified, spoiled brat).  They were clean but the walk back to the RV got a bit chilly.

There were signs warning us about bears everywhere, but we actually saw far less wildlife here than anywhere else we had been.  I did, however, have a close encounter with a bat. lol.

On the days Jeff didn't ride, he took me to town to do laundry, have a nice meal and a date.  What do you do in a teeny, tiny town for a date?  You go bowling!!!!  It was a lot of fun, just a long drive.  He also drove me to the parking lot for an amazing overlook.

One of the last nights we were there, we decided to go to dinner at a restaurant we had passed on our way to one of the small towns.  The place was named "Baraca's" and is a true jewel in the middle of nowhere.  They do no advertising and are tucked back out of the way.  The building is pretty unassuming and they have no liquor license, but are happy to pour your wine or beer for you.  This is probably the best meal I have had in years as well as a great value.  The chef should be on the Food Network.  There is soup, salad and rolls served with every entree and everything is freshly made.  Salad dressings and bread made daily.  The butter was blended with orange zest for a great citrus complement.  The soup was a cheesy potato that was so light with citrussy overtones, to complement the butter.  I had no idea potato soup could be light!!!  Jeff had cedar planked salmon with fresh Parmesan and I had the wienershnitzel with homemade spaetzle.   We were stuffed, and it was so awesome!!!!

I was kind of isolated in Tennessee, but I loved it.  It was so beautiful. I could spend the afternoons sitting outside reading, we cooked on the open fire and I got some work done.  I also spent some time playing the psaltery that I picked up in Alabama.

It was almost like camping...I might eventually be able to camp...nah, not me!