#81 – June & July 2021 – Casa Kendrick

June & July 2021 – Casa Kendrick - Campton NH  

Casa Kendrick featuring Charlie and Mollie's lovely new coach

The world's best fire pit

Pulling into Charlie and Mollie Kendrick’s place in Campton, NH, was like entering a tranquil harbor after a blustery sail. We’d been on the move for almost seven weeks, packing up and moving every few days, looking for places to stay, making reservations, and then scrambling to find, see and experience many new places. We were a little hyper and a touch frazzled. A day later, though, we had come under the calming spell of great friends, easy living and no pressure for several weeks. Wow, that felt great!

My Father's Day present,
and the tort was good, too

To make June even better, Liesa flew out to spend a few days with us. We hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving, and she looked great. Phone calls and emails are good, but there is no substitute for a big hug from my daughter. It was so good to see her. Since my sister lives in Concord NH, we had a reunion: the last four Coveys were all together for the first time since 2003. I hope it won't take 18 years for the next one. It was great to see Linda, too. 

We spent the next six weeks hanging out, sightseeing, doing chores, making campfires and visiting with their great kids. The time seemed to fly by in a very pleasant relaxing blur. 

One day we all went to Portsmouth NH for lunch and a walk around:

Mollie

Prescott Park in Portsmouth

It was a great day!

 

 

Not only did we get to see Liesa, but Judy Powell called to say that she was going to be in NH in June with her family. As we talked, it dawned on me that she was planning to come to the Lake Winnipesaukee region during Bike Week, when literally tens of thousands of motorcyclists from all over the country descend on the small lakeside towns and rent every motel room and B&B in sight. That didn't deter her, she rented a house on a small lake in Madison and we drove over to to see her. We'd had to cancel our usual SoCal visit in 2020, so it was a real pleasure to get together. 

Judy, Judy, Judy... and us

 

Every once in a while, Kayeanne reminds me that she is a great cook. She turned out the best blueberry pie I have ever had for my birthday. She even made the crust from scratch using her aunt's recipe. I ate way more of it than I should have, and wished there was another one. 

Tastes even better than it looks

New Hampshire is one of my favorite states. I lived in southern NH for several years before moving to California, but I realized that I hadn't seen a fraction of the great places and terrific scenery that central and northern NH have to offer. Our erstwhile local guides introduced us to several new places, including the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park; the 5,000 ton Madison Boulder, thought to be the largest glacial erratic rock in North America; the small but interesting New Hampshire Boat Museum in Wolfeboro; the beautiful Kancamagus Highway and the many local places near Campton that make this area so great to visit. 

Saint-Gauden's famous
Standing Lincoln

The rock won

The Kancamagus views

It still won

The musuem's old Quonset hut was
as interesting as the boats 

In Rumney Another fantastic
food truck find

Not "burgers and fries"

I really like Portsmouth. It has a variety of rivers, harbors and shorelines, and lots of things to see and do on shore without being too hectic or hard to access. One of the highlights of the whole visit was to cruise on the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth on Mike and Holly Babin's lovely yacht Return Again. The Babins are very knowledgeable local guides, gracious hosts and accomplished mariners. They recently completed a one year trip up the Hudson River, across the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River, across the Gulf of Mexico and back up the east coast to Portsmouth. We always look forward to seeing them.

Portsmouth waterfront

Despite all the visiting and running around that we did, I still found time for a little reading and the odd tipple. Books included:
    Lake of the Ozarks by Bill Geist - Fun read

    Obsessions Die Hard by Ed Culberson - Wore me out

Lots of wines to pick from because the NH state liquor commission (monopoly on wine and liquor statewide) sources a very broad selection of wines and we have been taking advantage of the variety:

    Bousquet Malbec 2019 – VG
    Chateaux St. Michelle Cab - Col Valley 2017 – VG
    J. Lohr 7 Oaks Cab - Paso Robles 2018 - Old friend
    Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier 2020 - VG
    Sauvignon de Seguin  Vin de Bordeaux 2019 - VG

On July 11 we sadly said goodbye and pointed Ripley west. More soon,

Bob

 

#80 – May 2021 – WV, VA, DE, PA, MA, NH!

Yup, 6 states and 10 campgrounds in one month. That seems like it would be too hectic to be fun, but we actually had a great time. May might be the perfect month to travel in the eastern US, at least it was this year. The weather couldn’t have been better, none of the campgrounds were full and the traffic wasn’t too bad anywhere we went. I think it will be a much different story during the summer, but we’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

As I said last month, there were several places on the coast that we wanted to see, so we headed due east from Kentucky. The Mash Fork campground in Camp Hill State Park in Camp Creek, West Virginia, was our first stop and our first experience with WV state parks. We loved it. The campground is located a couple of miles off of I77 in a very rural part of southern WV, kind of tucked away in rugged country next to a small river. The RV sites are very spacious and reasonably priced, for a change. There isn’t much to do in the area except fish, walk along the river, drove around looking at the old farms and at the natural beauty everywhere. We stayed two nights and could have spent a week.

Hona Lee Vineyard

A few months ago we joined Harvest Hosts, “… a network of wineries, breweries, distilleries, farms, and attractions that invite RV’ers to stay in 2005+ stunning camping sites.” We were looking for an alternative to Walmart for an overnight stay, checked the HH website and Hona Lee Vineyard in Gordonsville, VA, was right where we wanted to stop for a night. We arrived just about wine time and pulled into a big field next to a section of the vineyard, right across the driveway from the tasting room. We set up quickly and hustled right over to be sure they hadn’t run out.

Harvest Hosts is a good deal for the members and the campers. The camping (one night only) is free, but a purchase is “suggested.” That means that this free camp site cost us about $80 for the tasting and a couple of bottles of their best. That’s more than twice what we try to spend a night! I’m not complaining, just reporting; the wine wasn’t bad, if a little pricey, and the setting was great.

Williamsburg and Jamestown topped Kayeanne’s list of must-see places for this whole trip. Finding reasonably priced camp sites in that area was difficult, but I stumbled across Colonial Pines Campground in Toana, VA, which turned out to be a real gem, located roughly 20 miles from Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. It is small and very secluded, with large sites and full hookups. It is located on the grounds of the Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center, which comprises several hundred acres of forest and extensive facilities to walk around in. One way I judge a place is by its firewood arrangement. Typically, a small bundle of 6-10 pieces costs about $5. Firewood at Colonial Pines also cost $5, but that was for a wheelbarrow load that you picked out yourself, and dropped money into a cash box. That’s the best deal I’ve seen since free firewood at Burro Mountain Homestead six years ago!

Pocahontas and friend

Colonial Virginia is lovely, very green country that has clearly been settled and fettled for a long time. Everywhere you look are 200-300 year old homes that are still inhabited and maintained by the 10^th, maybe 20^th owners. Houses built after 1850 aren’t even noteworthy.

Yorktown, Jamestown and Williamsburg are quite different. Williamsburg is the most heavily developed. It’s sort of a large, living diorama filled with impeccably conserved buildings and staffed by many “re-creators (aka actors)” in period dress. They are well trained and quite enthusiastic about their roles, which keeps the place from becoming just a theme park. I was prepared to scoff, but actually had a good time. A young lady working in the blacksmith shop was particularly noteworthy. She really knew her trade. The guy running the carpentry shop explained that the trades people on site actually do all the renovation and restoration required to keep the whole place up to a very high standard. He said that most of the work is done using period techniques, tools and materials. They even blend paint and print wallpaper in-house. Impressive, if inefficient.

Jamestown is quite different. It is essentially an archaeological site with a restored church, a few partial reconstructions, and a lot of artifacts and story boards. It is staffed by a couple of rangers, a few docents and some college students working on the excavations. The original colony founded in 1607 was eclipsed over time as towns like Williamsburg became established as the centers of commerce. Jamestown essentially became a plantation and then farms until the State of Virginia and the US Government became interested in preserving it’s history in the late 1800’s. It is now a national historical park managed by the National Park Service. It was interesting, but not as engaging as the others.

Yorktown Victory Monument

We almost skipped Yorktown, and that would have been a mistake. Unlike Williamsburg and Jamestown, it is still a real town. Hundreds of people who have nothing to do with the history of the place or the flocks of visitors just call it home. I can see why they put up with the tourists, it really is a beautiful place to live. The town seems to have struck a nice balance between the tourists' interests and the residents’ desire to preserve the town as home, with some separation from the historic events that took place there. In mid-May, it was darn near perfect. We had no trouble getting around or parking, the weather was glorious and there is a Ben & Jerry’s perfectly located right downtown. Best of all, no crowds!

Site of the final battle of the
Revolutionary War

We could have spent a lot more time in that area; we never got to Norfolk, Newport News or Hampton Roads. But, it was finally time to turn north. Our next stop was Mount Vernon and Alexandria, but first we had to get the oil changed on the coach. For some reason we kept having issues with the places where we tried to get it done. Speedco is like Jiffy-Lube for trucks and we've used them several times without a problem. I called the one in El Paso before we left Arizona and was assured that they serviced RVs all the time. When we arrived, they said they’d never done an RV before but would be happy to try… Nope, not practicing on my coach. The next one on our route was just west of Richmond. I called ahead, was told they did RVs all the time, but when we pulled in a day later were politely turned away because "the manager had decided that RVs were too risky to work on..?" Finally, on the way to Mount Vernon we pulled into another Speedco where they were happy to take our money. What a hassle. Two somewhat blistering emails to Speedco corporate went unanswered, so I guess I’ll have to find another solution next year. Ok, rant off, back to touring:

Mount Vernon

When looking for places to stay near MV, I was surprised by how few RV parks there were to chose from. Because we were early in the season, we found space at Pohick Bay Regional Park in Lorton, VA, about 15 miles south of MV. We were able to get a decent site, but access to it was a challenge. This park isn’t laid out very well and the turn around’s at the ends of the roads are too tight for coaches our size, especially if towing anything. Luckily the site across the road from us was unoccupied so I had plenty of room to back in “backwards”. Aside from that, Pohick Bay was fine.

Washington's view from his deck

I had imagined that Mount Vernon would be grander than Monticello. After all, as important as Jefferson was in so many ways, Washington won the war for independence and was the first president. It stands to reason that his estate would be grander in every way. Right? Well, no, it isn’t. Maybe the Covid restrictions on touring it colored my perceptions. On reflection, I think Monticello featured more outward-facing scale and decor. MV is smaller in every way and seemed more personal. By accounts, Washington always rose to the occasion, did his duty and went home as soon as he could. Jefferson certainly enjoyed being home as well, but Monticello seemed to be designed to entertain more often and more elaborately. That said, Covid eliminated guided tours of MV and the entire second floor was closed, so my impressions might be different if we return without those restrictions in place.

Frank Lloyd Wright Pope-Leighey House

We are always on the lookout for Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and passed a sign on the way to  MV for the Pope-Leighey House. When we pulled into the parking lot, big signs said that advance reservations were required due to Covid. A quick look showed that tours were sold out, but we decide to walk around the outside and peer through the windows. It is a classic FLW design, though much smaller than any of the others we’ve visited. As usual, the building design and the setting went together beautifully.

Bagpipe practice

Alexandria was great fun, at least in mid-May. During the summer heat and among hordes of tourists I might feel differently. The river front area offers great walking, dining and drinking. Just sitting back and watching the people and the river traffic would be a fine way to spend an afternoon. Old town is several square blocks of really interesting period architecture, with a few contemporary places thrown in for seasoning. The whole area is sprinkled with small restaurants, boutiques of various stripe and ice cream shops. As we walked we very faintly heard …bagpipes?! Following our ears up one street and down the other we found a local pipe band practice session. That really was a “first”, and we celebrated with great local ice cream.

Trap Pond State Park

For no particular reason that either of us can articulate, we were looking forward to visiting Delaware. The state parks on the coast were already filling up, but we found space at Trap Pond State Park in Laurel, DE. If you are headed to the area, put this park at the top of your list. The park is surrounded by farms that are slowly giving way to development, some of them fairly upscale but not Macmansions, yet. I can’t think of a single negative about the park, and it made a good home base to explore the state. Yes, Delaware is small. In fact, it only occupies the northeastern portion of the Del-Mar-VA peninsula. We made it a point to get crab cakes on the shore at Woody’s Dewey Beach Bar. Recommended.

One day we drove down the coast to Assateague Island National Seashore. We didn’t see the famous wild horses, but we had a great time walking on the sand and driving all the roads. Schroeder was clearly delighted. He hadn’t seen a beach since Nehalem, last year. He had a ball. With better planning we could have camped right on the beach, something to remember for the next trip.

Our next destination was in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, but that was too far to drive in a single day. So, we needed an overnight spot in eastern Pennsylvania, somewhere near Allentown. None of the Walmarts in the area allowed overnight camping, but Harvest Hosts popped up Stony Lake Inn & Winery in Saylorsburg, a near perfect spot for travel the next day.

The people couldn’t have been friendlier and the site next to the lake (a small pond, actually) was terrific. There was a small grass airfield right across the street and we helped a guy push his perfectly restored 1949 Waco bi-plane out of the hangar. I love listening to that old radial engine when he took off! I’m sorry to say that the wine wasn’t as good as the setting and the company.

Peppermint Park Camping Resort in Plainfield, Mass wasn’t a gem, but it turned out to be pretty nice, if a tad pricey. The park is about 80% seasonal sites which usually means that it is pretty busy on weekends and quiet during the week. Seasonal sites on New England are usually rented for May through October, if not year ‘round. Everyone we met was friendly, but it was really quiet at this time of the season.

Despite growing up near Boston, I rarely visited the Berkshire region of western Massachusetts. We decided to spend several days exploring the countryside and sights around Stockbridge. The town itself is very pleasant. Low key shopping combined with a range of food options from ice cream to fine dining and the lovely setting was pretty neat.

There are many, many things to see and do in the Berkshires, but two of them stood out for us: the Daniel Chester French Museum and the Norman Rockwell Museum. Both were very interesting. The tour guide for the DCF workshops and studio really knew her subject and more than made up for the house being closed for renovations. Though best known for the statue of Abraham Lincoln in Washington, DC, he created many, many iconic and notable pieces around the country. The pieces that he worked on were often so big that he designed a set of railroad tracks under the floor of the studio to move the pieces outside for viewing and, finally, for delivery.

The Norman Rockwell Museum is also worth making a special trip to see. The building, the collection itself and the setting have all been carefully melded into a really attractive, informative and entertaining experience. Coincidentally, his house was also closed to tours. His artwork is so intertwined with our lives that it’s part of our national psyche. While he did use professional models, he used many of his friends and neighbors from town in his art. To say that he was popular would be an understatement.

We needed a break from the pace that we had been on since leaving Benson, so we decided to spend a week at Travelers Woods Campground in Bernardston. I think that this may be our shortest move in seven years, just 33 miles. We stayed here in 2018 and were glad to see that it hadn’t changed much, except that most of the sites had become seasonal, a trend we are seeing everywhere. I think people were afraid to travel during 2020, but still wanted to get away on weekends and on vacation. We met several people who live just minutes away from the park that come just for an evening. I am getting the impression that many people who tried seasonal camping last year won’t go back on the road, especially older folks. We met some very nice people here.

May 19^th is our anniversary, so we made a reservation at an appropriate dining place that was highly recommended online and by several locals. We arrived to discover that they seemed to have over-committed or scheduled parties too close together. The upshot was that the tables they had available weren’t acceptable, so we left. The limited dining options in the area were exacerbated by lingering Covid closures, but Kayeanne saved the day. We went to the local pizza place for our 36^th anniversary, ate good pie, drank house plonk and talked with a couple of local folks. We had a great time.

Bernardston is just eight miles south of the Vermont line. One of the people we met at the campfire one evening recommended visiting the Vermont Country Store in Rockingham, about 40 miles north of the park. VCS is filled with lots of nice, very expensive stuff, ranging from anoraks to gourmet local cheese, and kitchen gadgets to jaw breakers. Keep a close grip on

your wallet. We found some things that we couldn’t live without but the well regarded deli was crowded and I was ready to move along. We decided to take the road less traveled home and discovered a great place to eat, the Townshend Dam Diner. Add whatever inflection you’d like. I asked and the owner just grinned. There is a dam in Townshend, but the diner isn’t close to it. 

This unlikely looking place makes its own bread every day. It grinds and blends its own burger meat. It makes almost everything it cooks. I had the best cheese burger and fries I can remember, and Kayeanne’s veggie burger was also outstanding. I’d plan a trip just to eat there again.

The famous Flower Bridge

A couple of days later we headed to Shelburne Falls, a small, very pretty old mill town on the Deerfield River. We walked all over the place, sticking our noses into most of the stores and hiking a short way down the river. We stumbled into the Lamson Factory Outlet Store where Kayeanne finally found a pie server that met her exacting requirements. I bought a putty knife. <I know> Lamson has been crafting cutlery, tableware and various edged tools since 1837, so it looks like they have figured out the fine details of these items. Bring money, though, even to the outlet store.

As constant readers may recall, we like food trucks and we found a good one on Bridge Street in Shelburne Falls. It’s name says it all: Middle Eastern Food. Boy, was it good. We ordered ONE sort of curry burrito, fusion, wrap, whatever, and it fed both of us for lunch and we took some home for lunch the next day. For $12!  And, it was good. I’d go back again in an instant.

Grant and I at Heritage Gardens

We had a short list of must-see people for this trip and Kayeanne’s bother Grant was at the top. We haven’t seen him since 2018 and it was overdue. After a week in Bernardston we headed east to Cape Cod Maple Park RV Campground in Wareham, Mass., a few miles from Grant’s place in Onset. Maple Park was a test. It is NOT set up for rigs our size in the area they wanted us to camp. We had to be escorted the wrong way down a one way street to be able to get to our site. Once there I was relieved to discover that no one was home in the site across from us. That meant I could use their parking area to swing the front of the coach as I backed in around the trees and rocks that were everywhere. Once we got in, the site was fine. Most of the neighbors weren’t home when we left a few days later, making it possible to get out without another escort. I don’t think we’ll be back there soon.

Mayflower ll in the background

The campground issues aside, we had a great time. It was a pleasure to see Grant again. He has lived at Cape Cod for three years and appears to have spent all of his time visiting all the interesting places and eating at every restaurant within 50 miles. He really knows that area. We drove up to Plymouth to see the Rock, and toured Wareham, Marion, Onset and environs. I particularly enjoyed the Heritage Museum and Gardens in Sandwich. It was an unlikely combination of lovely trails, lush foliage and a car museum, but it all worked.

Grant still works for a living, so we spent a day visiting the mansions of Newport RI and the town itself. What with Covid closures and it being before Memorial Day, the Breakers was the only one open, but it is arguably the best of the bunch. Finished in 1895, it was a summer cottage by Cornelius Vanderbilt ll. No heating system was included. The house was in use for three months a year, serving as the summer headquarters for the NY Yacht Club and the family’s

The Breakers from the back yard

escape from NYC’s summer heat. It was built about the same time as Biltmore, George Vanderbilt’s even more extravagant country home in Ashville, North Carolina. It was quite interesting and the grounds and setting are beautiful. The house is aptly named. It was calm the day we visited, but the pictures of the waves on stormy days are spectacular. Once again, I’m glad we visited in May, not during the summer tourist season. Newport is an old town with narrow roads and lots to see and do. Even on a weekday in May it was getting a little crowded.  

The summer cottage

With the Memorial Day weekend about to begin it was time to say goodbye, and thanks, to Grant and to head north to our most favorite campground, Casa Kendrick in Campton, New Hampshire. We have been looking forward to seeing Charlie and Mollie again since we had to cancel our plans to get together last year. This year, we may stay long enough to wear out our welcome.

I found copies of Ted Kooser’s older poetry on Thrift Books and enjoyed all of them. It was interesting to read them in date order to see his writing evolve: Sure Signs, Flying at Night and Weather Central  

Since we landed on the east coast we’ve been finding more good wines than I can keep track of. Here are three that I would happily buy again. As you may have noticed, I’ve become a fan of big reds from Portugal:

Veramonte Carmenere 2017 – Portugal
Kirkland Gigondas - France 2018
Portal Douro Valley Red Blend - Portugal

More soon,

Bob

PS: Bonus footage!

 

Daniel Chester French Studio

River walk in Shelburne Falls

Plymouth harbor

Heritage Garden Auto Museum

Da boys checkin' it out

Mount Vernon

#79 – April 2021 – On the Road Again - Eastbound

 #79 – April 2021 – Eastbound

Welcome to Las Cruces

On the 7^th of April we pulled out of Benson and pointed Ripley into the rising sun. Ok, enough shabby poetry: we’re back on the road after sitting in one place for longer than we have in almost 7 years.  We love Benson, but we are always ready to leave, especially this time.

With our usual flare for planning we made no reservations, hoping that we can make it up as we go. That turns out to be a little stressful, because we quickly discovered that most state parks are already booked for most every weekend between now and snow-fall and after schools close, the mid-week days will fill up, too. Blame Covid and the record RV sales, I guess. We will have to rely on more commercial RV parks this time. The state parks have also figured out that they can charge a lot more than they used to, and all of them have raised prices to match or exceed the prevailing commercial park rates. One state park in Massachusetts now charges $70 a night for out-of-state visitors. We stayed at that park in 2018 for just under $30.

A casual glance at a US map will show that it is pretty difficult to head east from Benson without crossing Texas. Again. We found a unique inexpensive overnight parking spot at the Sunland Park Casino in New Mexico about a mile north of the Texas border. They offered power hookups and a security patrol for $10, which sounded like a good deal. Aside from the locals drag-racing their monster trucks all night, it was fine.

We pulled out early the next morning headed for Lamesa, Texas. In 2018 we
discovered that Lamesa has a few free campsites in the city park on a first-come basis. I also needed to visit a state DMV office to renew my driver’s license and Lamesa had Covid- mandated reservations available. Everything was fine until a passing truck waved me over about 10 miles shy of town. I pulled right over and first thought that one of the dolly wheels had come off. Closer inspection showed that the wheel hub was still attached to the dolly, but the tire, the wheel rim, and the fender, fender brackets and the light were gone. Apparently I’d been dragging the frame of the dolly down the road for some time. 

Luckily the road had a wide shoulder and the traffic was light, so we unloaded the car. Having no way to move a one-wheeled 400# dolly, we left it there, went to the park, claimed a space and made martinis. My first inclination was to leave it right where it lay and look for a used one to replace it. That dolly has been an expensive, unreliable piece of crap. After more wine and further reflection I decided to go back and see if I could resurrect it. The following day we managed to jack it up and remove the remains of the wheel hub and the disk brake, mount the spare tire and tow it back to the campsite in the park. I spent the rest of the day making sure it was safe to tow and looking for parts to replace the damage. By wine time that evening it was back in service. It still needed a new fender and brackets, but both lights now worked and it was safe to use.

The next day we added a new state*: Oklahoma. The roads in Oklahoma are as bad as any I can recall, and then they have the temerity to charge tolls! We got beat up for over a hundred miles and paid $1 a mile for the service. Pecan Grove RV Park in Chickasha was a real gem. Family owned and operated, the spaces are very large, the facilities are spotless and the price was a bargain. I can’t think of any reason to go back to Oklahoma, but we’ll willingly stay there, again. The Walmart in Marshfield, Oklahoma was fine, too. The lot was level, quiet and there was lots of room to walk Schroeder.

Dr. Edmund Babler State Park

We went through OK because it is the most direct route to St. Louis. Kayeanne hadn’t seen her  cousin Tom and his wife Emily in many years, so we decided to make visiting them one of our goals this year. We were able to get a site at Dr. Edmund Babler State Park, a huge, lovely, quiet gem of a park just west of the city. It was a pleasure to meet Tom and Emily, and to hear the stories about Kayeanne's family’s past.

We didn’t get to see much of St. Louis. The city seemed to be under construction everywhere, and the signage was uniformly lousy. Even the Google Maps lady was befuddled. We finally gave up touristing and fled back to the suburbs and went to Trader Joe’s.

Best part of Loretta's place

Kayeanne wanted to visit Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. The ranch combines an RV park, museum, performance venue, motocross track and her former and current homes. The museum was truly boring, and the RV park was poorly laid out, indifferently maintained and littered. The house tour was mildly interesting and the grounds were scenic, but for me, the best part of the visit was the Amish country store a few miles down the road. In fairness, Kayeanne did enjoy the museum.

There are two Escapees parks that we haven’t visited and Raccoon Valley in Heiskill, TN, was one of them. It is located about ten miles north of Knoxville, a city that several people suggested we see, so we decided to take a week off the road and really look around the area. Raccoon Valley is different from any other Escapees park that we have seen. It is not structured as a Co-op or as a Rainbow park, it is a commercial RV park that is owned and operated by the Escapees organization. The sites were ok, nothing special, and a little close together. The showers were adequate, the laundry was good, and there were a couple of short trails thru the woods to walk Schroeder. It is good value for the area, but we were ready to leave at the end of the week.

Knoxville's Riverfront Walk

We liked Knoxville. It ticked all of our boxes: a large college, good food, pretty easy to navigate, a Trader Joe’s and interesting stuff to see. It is also located in really beautiful country. We had fun touring the city, exploring the river front and eating the first sushi in quite awhile at Fin-Two in Old Town.

Unfortunately, the museums about the history of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Manhattan Project were closed due to Covid, but we had no trouble finding other  interesting places to visit. The Coal Creek Mining Museum in Rocky Top is small, but worth a visit, especially when combined with lunch at the Coal Creek Smokehouse BBQ located directly behind the museum. Some folks we spoke to call it the best ‘Q in Tennessee. I don’t know about that, but it sure was good. Kayeanne and I split a platter and had leftovers for Schroeder.

On another trip we drove through Norris Dam State Park, a lovely area of steep
hills, sweeping vistas and, of course, a dam. While the park itself was interesting, the highlight of the visit was discovering the W G Lenoir Museum. This is a small museum displaying part of the private collection of Will and Helen Lenoir. For over 60 years the Lenoirs collected everything they saw about Appalachian life in the 18^th, 19^th and early 20^th centuries, filling several barns with stuff. The ranger on duty said that

they keep rotating material and changing exhibits because of the sheer volume of items that the Lenoirs acquired. The grist mill and additional farm related buildings on the site were closed due to Covid.

The next day we visited the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton. It’s a living history museum displaying a combination of preserved and recreated buildings depicting rural farm life in the area in

the 1800’s. While interesting, it certainly made me glad I wasn’t born a hundred years earlier. People had to constantly work really hard just to survive. The farm is home to a few head of various period livestock including sheep, cows, horses, etc., but I strongly doubt that the resident peacocks and musk oxen were natives. The small restaurant in the gift shop is really, really good.

Charlie and Mollie Kendrick sung the praises of the Kentucky Horse Park Campground, so we made that our next stop. It’s located on vast acreage in the heart of the bluegrass region just north of Lexington. The campground is one of the most attractive places we’ve ever stayed. It’s impeccably maintained and the sites are spacious and shaded but it has one major flaw: mud. The sites have narrow gravel or paved pads barely big enough for the RV, but the rest of the site, including the vehicle parking, is beautiful, lush grass. Any rain turns the grass areas into mud as soon as you touch them. We arrived just after a couple of rainy days and constantly worked to keep the mud outside the coach.

A very big, friendly lady

The Horse Park is worth the price of admission. The grounds are simply beautiful. Acres and acres of grass and shade trees surround buildings that look like they truly belong where they are sited. Clearly, a lot of thought and skill went into the design of the place. The lower level one of the two museums had been flooded in a violent winter storm and they lost hundreds of items. The upper level might be interesting to thoroughbred fanciers, but it just looked like lots of pictures of the same horse with different jockeys to me. That notwithstanding, the rest of the park was really worth seeing. There was another museum and several barns to tour. Most of the thoroughbreds hadn’t yet arrived for the season, but a number of draft horses are in permanent residence. One of those weighed over 2,000 pounds, a really imposing animal. Several of them seemed to welcome company and attention.

Probably not period-correct...

Lexington is more city-like than Knoxville, but it was manageable. Kayeanne dragged me (complaining all the way) to visit Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate, but I ended up having a good time. The house tour was interesting. Clay was a real factor in pre-Civil War politics at the state and federal levels. He was also an ardent innovator, especially in agriculture and animal husbandry. Among many other things, he introduced Hereford and Durham cattle to the US, both significant improvements to the extant colonial livestock breeds. Clay died in 1852 and the house passed to his son and then eventually to his granddaughter who both updated and conserved the house, and continued his flare for innovation.

I hope we can return to Appalachia. The countryside is a pleasure to explore and there is much, much more to see and do; we barely scratched the surface. But, it was time to head east, and then north, so more about that next time.

This month I enjoyed John Sanford’s Neon Prey, one of his Davenport series.

The backlog of good, inexpensive wines that we have tried recently has grown beyond the two or three that I have listed each month, so to catch up a little, here are a few more than usual:

Coppola Claret (Cab)– Diamond Collection 2018 - Napa
Kirkland Pinot Grigio - Fruili 2019 - Italy
Bottega Vinaia Pinot Grigio 2019 – Italy - Good
La Enfermera Toro - Tempranillo 2017 - Spain
Columbia Winery Red Blend 2016 - WA – Really Good
Elevation 1250 Red Wine - Paso 2018 – Trader Joe’s

More soon,

Bob

* We count a new state when we stay overnight for the first time

Loretta's place

Life sized horse made out of farrier files --->

Cause....

....Effect