Chuck and Naomi Adventures in RV Land

Jan. 25: Our first day near Charlotte was Naomi’s birthday and a beautiful warm sunny (although windy) day.  However, Chuck decided to bring the car in for servicing and it turns out there was a door latch recall which took all day to remedy.  As a result, we traipsed around in the woods near the campground and used our lawn chairs for the first time on this trip.

Fortunately we got the car back in time for a nice dinner out.

Just before bedtime, Naomi took a look at the itchy remains of the tick bite she got in Chapel Hill.  And like the last CH tick bite back in 2012 – there is a perfect bullet rash!  Did I mention that the KOA is well located?  Half a mile away there is an Urgent Care facility.  It was all pretty quick, as tick-borne diseases are all (currently) sensitive to the same antibiotic.

Jan. 26: It turns out that we have had to work a bit more than expected, but we are keeping our afternoons free for hiking and sightseeing.

In keeping with our theme of “National Parks” we headed out to the Kings Mountain National Military Museum, which is the site of a 1780 battle in the Revolutionary War.  This was really a civil war – the Loyalists were headed by a British officer, Ferguson, but were otherwise all Americans; the Patriots were the mountain men who had been neutral until the Brits threatened to literally burn them out.  Ferguson was heading 1/3 of the Loyalist forces, and had asked for reinforcements from Cornwallis and Tarleton who headed the remaining forces.
He was not on good terms with these officers, and whether for this reason or because they were both ill, they declined to join him. Kings Mountain (which makes Mount Nittany look like Everest by comparison) looked like a good strategic location – a rounded hill that overlooked a mature forest with little ground cover.  However, Ferguson’s forces were unable to shoot their muskets down the slope, and therefore could not withstand the surprise attack of the Patriot forces who overwhelmed them in less than an hour with more accurate rifles.  British forces had slaughtered Patriots who were wounded or had surrendered at Waxhaws – in revenge the Patriots were equally ruthless to the Loyalists until the slaughter was stopped by their officers.  This battle was the turning point of the war and led to Cornwallis’ final surrender in Yorktown in 1781.  (Thanks to Wikipedia for supplying the details I had forgotten.)

The site has since been lumbered, so there is second growth forest now – still fairly open between the trees, but with a lot of brambles off the trail.   However, it was a nice walk around the base and up to the top of the hill.  There are also several trails in the area.

Thursday was a lazy day around the RV, ending with a lovely dinner with David and Lucie.  (Gotta get some recipes.)  Even Rumple was happy playing with their puppy Buttercup.

Friday, Lucie and I left for Washington.  We spent the night with Lucie’s sister Yvonne and her husband Paul in Columbia, MD.  Columbia is a story in itself – a planned community with planned “interfaith centers” instead of houses of worship devoted to a single religion, and odd street names selected by literature enthusiasts.  (How would you like to live on “Broken Land Ave”?)  The interfaith centers were established to keep most of the development in taxable property – not to promote interfaith understanding, although I am sure that is a side effect.
We got up early to take the Metro into Washington. It was at 7:15 a.m. at the last stop on the Orange Line that we realized the scope of the protest – the lines for tickets and for entry were enormous!  There was a sea of happy people, with fuschia and pink hats bobbing in great numbers in the crowd.  Fortunately, Paul and Lucie had the foresight to purchase our tickets the previous evening, and so our wait for the train was short.   Anyone who planned to catch the train closer to Washington, including those poor souls trying to get to work, had a tough time getting onto crowded cars.

We got off the train outside the main march area, as we were supposed to meet up with members of Yvonne’s union at Farragut Park to march together.  The residential neighborhood we walked through was uncrowded, but many lawns and windows had signs welcoming the marchers – note the pink ribbons hanging from the trees in the background.  I am guessing that the new administration is not too popular among the people who will have to work for it.

Farragut Park was full of marchers – a Japanese-American group with drummers, several unions, immigrant groups, etc., but only one other person from Yvonne’s teachers union.  After a while, the groups coalesced into a march towards the main march.  As an immigrant myself, I decided to march with an immigrant group (CAVA) right behind my friends.  (My group of friends are in the picture above, with Lucie to the right and Yvone to the left.) Most of the people with me during this part of the march were speaking Spanish, but my main marching buddy was from Nigeria (which I consider my 3rd country, after Canada and the US).

There was a lot of signage, some of it quite clever.  Lucie had suggested that we make our own signs the night before, which was a bit like being in elementary school again.  After scouring the internet for a good slogan, she settled on “Women of Valor can Change the World”, while I settled on “Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly – be the change”.  Both of us wanted something positive and not pointing directly at Trump.  However, I now feel that mine was a little too biblical.

 

 

 

 

 

People were marching for all sorts of reasons and there was a lot about “pussy grabbing”, reproductive rights and “Nasty Women”.  There were a lot of women my age and older with signs like “50 years later – I cannot believe I still need to protest this stuff”  and “Now you’ve pissed off Granny”.  There was also a lot of Gay Pride signage and a lovely poster of a woman in a headscarf in a US flag  print (and a real marcher who looked just like her).  There were also a lot of personal attacks on Trump’s appearance and some of his weirder boasts.  A fair number of signs supported immigration, denounced the “Muslim registration” idea, etc.  And of course there was a lot about the environment.  I did not see much about the free trade deals – I guess the left does not like them either.

It was heartening to see the number of people who brought kids – in some cases 3 or even 4 generations of women and some men marching together. (I got the permission of this young marcher’s mom to post his picture.)

There was a lot of chanting, too – “Show us what democracy looks like.  This is what democracy looks like.”  “Se puede”.  Anti-Trump slogans, etc.  Not much singing – although the press reported that the crowd had selected an “anthem” the only song I heard was “If I had a hammer”.

As the stream I was walking with merged with other streams and became a river and then a sea, it became apparent that the number of protesters was far beyond what the organizers had expected (200K) and more like 500K.  Pausing for a moment to take a picture (against Lucie’s advice) I managed to lose my group in the crowd.  I was able to follow some large posters that had been in our group, but apparently Lucie et al got swept into another group.  Cell reception was spotty to non-existent due to the crowd.

We were pushing towards the speakers’ stage which was between the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and Independence Ave.  However, the route was blocked.   The police monitoring the march told everyone this but people continued to push forward – some because the stage was in sight, some because they were being pushed from behind and me because I was sure my group was ahead.

I have to say I was having a pretty good time.  After someone announced that she was from Ottawa, I started asking people where they were from and chatting.  People were in a really good mood and everyone was happy to chat.  Although there were only a few people between me and the stage, nothing could be heard to the side or back.  I listened to some of the speeches later that evening on TV.

Finally I got a text stating that Lucie et al were on the Mall near the National Gallery, so I started to make my way back towards them.  By this time a couple of marchers had started to direct traffic, which helped a lot and it did not take too much to get to the Mall.  However, there were still hundreds of thousands of marchers.  After a while, the march started to proceed in 3 streams, along Jefferson, Madison and Constitution, so I waited downstream from the National Gallery, figuring I would see my friends when they passed.  When this did not happen, I strolled back to the National Gallery, and finally caught up with them when a text got through.

With that, we all marched towards the Washington Monument, from where the march was supposed to walk past the White House.  Of course, the 3 streams merged there, and there was a huge amount of confusion, as the police were not prepared to handle a crowd this big, and with minimal cell signal there was no way to redirect the group.  Amazingly, in this mess Lucie received a text from her son Isaac, and we were able to meet up with him, too.

 

Finally the crowd was redirected to the Oval.  People just kept coming and coming.  Most of the out-of-town buses were supposed to leave around 4:00, but it was 4:30 and the bulk of marchers were still streaming in!  People began to leave their signs as a display against fencing and on the ground as they left.  We decided to do the same, especially as some members of our small group were beginning to fatigue.

Despite our intention to leave as soon as possible, we found it impossible.  The Metro was so jammed that at our station the Metro staff were asking people to leave the station temporarily.  Fortunately we found a place nearby to stop for a snack and left without any problem around 7:30.  As the train passed the out-of-town bus parking we saw that the lot was still almost full!  The train that had been packed on the way in was practically empty, although the trains in the other direction were still jammed.

We got back to Yvonne and Paul’s place in time to watch the whole thing again on the news and listen to some of the speeches.

What astonishes me in retrospect is that there were no confrontations with Trump supporters, who had been there for the Inauguration only a day earlier.  A few bemused families wearing Trump paraphernalia meandered through the crowd but everyone was friendly.  It would have been a perfect situation for a few provocateurs to start a disturbance.  I am very grateful that it did not happen – all the marches around the country proceeded without incident.  I might add that the police presence was light and the officers were friendly.  People were thanking them for being there.

I am now left with the question of what to do to further the causes for which I marched.  Fortunately, my phone works from anywhere in the US or Canada.

The weekend ended with our drive back to North Carolina, with time out to visit with Isaac and with David’s lovely mother.

After working for a couple of hours in the morning. we headed out to Cary where friends from Chuck’s working group (from our 2012 sabbatical) had invited us to SAS for lunch.  SAS was one of the first statistical analysis systems and has won several “best place to work” awards in the past few years.

It was great to see Prof. Carl Meyer and his former graduate students Hansi and Ralph, whom we had talked with a lot during the sabbatical.  (Carl and Hansi are above with Chuck – as I mentioned, we have been bad about taking photos with friends!) Hansi and Ralph both work at SAS, and Hansi was kind enough  to take us for a walk on the large and park-like SAS campus.  We had to stay away from the buildings though – the mirror-like glass gave a perfect reflection or Rumple, which sent him into a frenzy of protective barking.  We were very impressed by the size and beauty of the campus, as well as all the artwork.

In an odd co-incidence another former PSU stat person, my friend Ruth Hummel,  who works for a SAS division in Orlando FL was at a SAS business meeting.  All of us went to the same cafeteria (in a building none of them worked in) and there I ran into Ruth.  We managed to squeeze in a sunset walk on the campus with her.

Between these two SAS walks, we scooted to the other side of Raleigh, to meet with another member of the working group, Shaina Race, who had a new baby just last week (and another 18 months ago).  Did I mention that we have been doing a poor job of taking photos of our friends?

Shaina lives on the Neuse River bike trail, so we also took a few minutes to walk along the trail (no photo)

 

 

 

 

 

Our final social event of the day was dinner with friend Amy Nail, a local statistician and rock climber.

It was great to catch up with everyone.  We hope to see you again soon.

We headed out to the Research Triangle NC, where we plan to visit friends. So far, from waking up to getting on the road is taking us 3 hours. This includes walking the dog, emptying the fresh water and sewage tanks and packing up (as described earlier). Here we are fully loaded and ready to hop into the cab.

Having enjoyed our morning kayaking at Picture Lake, we had hoped to camp at one of the state parks on Jordan Lake, just a few miles from the Triangle. Unfortunately, in the winter the park gates are locked from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. with no access to the campsites. Since this would have put a damper on our visits, we instead headed for a private campground, Springhill Park. This has proven to be very nice with large camping spaces and wooded areas between the RVs. It is also only a few minutes from Carrboro, one of our favorite towns in the Triangle region. Naomi took this picture of a hawk from her desk in the RV.

We arrived at the campground in the mid-afternoon, which made it feasible for Naomi to join friend Lucie for a unique cultural activity in the evening – a Yiddish songfest.

Yiddish was the language of the northern European Jews. Although it is written in Hebrew characters, most of the words are Germanic or mixed with local languages such as Polish or Russian.  Naomi’s vocabulary is limited to a few phrases of importance to her grandmother (such as “Kom essen” “come and eat”). Lucie’s vocabulary is improving as she is taking classes in the language.

The “songfest” was more an ethnographic review of how the singer has found the lyrics and music for songs from Yiddish cabaret of the early 1900’s. Because the catalogs are transliterated to from Yiddish script to Latin script with no standard spellings, this is a very interesting journey, as is the cultural context of the songs. As well, the lyrics often were not accompanied by the musical score, so she had to dredge up old recordings. The ethnographer, Jane Peppler, has also done some very good translations, preserving the meter and the rhyming scheme. The songs were far from traditional being the pop tunes of the day. Ms. Peppler has a lovely voice and was accompanied by an accomplished pianist, so it was a very nice program (which also benefited a local charity).

The next day we visited our old haunts in Carrboro, particularly the Weaver Street Market.

Walking into Chapel Hill, we ran into current Penn State stat lecturer Kwame Kankam who was here visiting friends.  (Oddly, this will not be the only non-local friend we run into accidentally this week.)

We then headed off for dinner with former PSU stat student Jianping Sun and her husband Xianming and their two children who have settled in Chapel Hill.  (We are not doing a good job of taking commemorative photos with our friends.)

Having warm lovely weather, the next day we went kayaking on Jordan Lake.  Rumple is an old dog who learned a new trick.  Although he is afraid of the water, he was coaxed along and became Rumple the Kayak Dog.  One advantage of the season is that hardly anyone else was on the lake except for a few fishers who were very quiet.  We saw a bald eagle and several great blue herons.

To reward Rumple for his good behavior, we also took a walk in the woods.

Jan. 16 (Picture Lake Campground) We ended up spending 3 more days at Picture Lake, in part to enjoy the kayaking (at least while the weather remained warm) and attractions, and in part to have the TV available for the UConn women’s volleyball game, which gave them their record-breaking 91st consecutive win.

Downtown Petersburg is far from beautiful, but it is thriving with lots of restaurants and shopping. It has an excellent historic walking tour. The building below is the remnant of one of the oldest colonial era warehouses.

 

Although Petersburg suffered extremely heavy bombardment during the Civil War, during which many buildings were damaged, what really shaped its appearance were devastating fires – before and after the war, which destroyed most of downtown. Most of the historic buildings are industrial-looking brick boxes. I was reminded of the brick buildings in Toronto, legislated after most of its downtown was destroyed by fires.

I guess because the buildings, although brick boxes, are historic, Petersburg has decided to have its murals on the sidewalks rather than on the side of buildings as has become popular elsewhere.  You can see the effect in the photo of Chuck above.

Unfortunately, the Black History Museum on Pocahontas Island which we planned to see was closed. Instead, we decided to visit the Keystone Truck and Tractor Museum. Although neither of us is a truck or tractor afficionado, it was fascinating to see these old machines, particularly the early tractors from about 1917 which were built to use what had been the horse-drawn farm equipment. The scale of the trucks was impressive – we are talking about huge tractor trailers, not just 4x4s.

On the quirky side, the museum also had a number of other displays – old soda bottles,  Coca Cola paraphenalia,  old
washing machines, garden tools,logging equipment, and the chainsaw tree.

And while I am sure we are all familiar with the Oscar-Meyer Weinermobile, who knewthat there was a Thermosmobile?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason we got a late start the following day, which we regretted as we did not get to spend quite enough time at the Museum of the Civil War Soldier.

This private museum has a number of interesting exhibits about the daily life of soldiers during the war, as well as the remains of a plantation that was occupied by the Confederates during the months of the battle for Petersburgh. It has an excellent audio program which covers e.g. food, medical care, supplies, tents, etc, as well as letters from the soldiers. An expert told us about muskets during the war, and how the inexperience of the soldiers, the peculiarities of the weapon and the smoke from the gunpowder rendered the weapons effective (for the most part) at only a couple of hundred yards, rather than the 700 yards which can be attained by a sharp-shooter under ideal conditions.

The plantation house, which is small, was furnished as it might have looked during the occupation by the army. The tobacco barns and some of the slave quarters are still available for viewing.

The dreaded RV event occurred – our grey water tank filled to the top and we had to do something to empty it. It turns out that the campground has a pump truck (called the honey wagon) that comes around to empty filled sewer tanks. Unfortunately, when we got home, we found that the driver had not shown up. Fortunately we had prepared for this eventuality by stopping at Walmart (a traffic nightmare, even in our car with no RV) and getting another hose that connects to our regular sewer hose making it long enough to reach the drain after some heroic efforts by Chuck. (Although we feel it is prudent for both of us to know how to look after everything, Naomi is not jumping up and down demanding her turn at emptying the sewage tanks.)

Jan. 12 (Picture Lake Campground) Today was gorgeous – 70 degrees and sunny.  And boy did we take advantage of it!

The theme of this trip – did I mention that we have a theme? – is National Parks and quirky museums.  Due to the parks component, we assumed that we would be getting lots of exercise.  But the weather has been miserable, so we have mostly been in the car or indoors.

But today the weather was windy but otherwise perfect!

We started the day by kayaking on Picture Lake, which was frozen when we arrived but is now open.  Actually, it turned out that only the sunny side of the lake was open, and we had some fun being ice breakers.  We posted a very short video to YouTube  because the sound of breaking the ice was really crunchy.  https://youtu.be/tdg59RmEQ9g.

A view of the campground from the lake.

 

 

 

 

Then we headed off to Five Forks National Battleground (the Civil War) for a 3 hour hike through the piney woods.  There is a small interpretive center with a film giving the importance of the site – the Union army routed the Confederates here, which allowed them to capture the last remaining supply line, leading to the Confederate surrender.

The quality of these interpretive films at the National Battlegrounds is excellent.  However, for us the main attraction was the hike.  We walked to the junction of the 5 roads (and our route home also took us through the junction) but mostly we walked in the woods with towering pines.

Rumple (who is 14+) kept up valiantly.  Fortunately for him, tomorrow we will likely go to historic sites and give him a chance to recover.

Jan. 10: (Picture Lake Campground) Having turned the heat down to 55F, we awoke to a chilly but still heated RV.  Not a problem though – since we do not need propane while on the road, we turned up the heat and got comfortable for breakfast.

Preparing to move is quite an operation – pack everything up securely inside the RV, retract the slide out, raise the balancing jacks, put the bikes and kayaks on the car, attach the car to the tow hitch and RV lights, attach the towing brake and finally detach the car battery.

Once we had completed all this, we discovered that the person who fills the propane tanks was not available, so we headed off to Richmond and filled up en route (at which point we discovered that both our propane gauges are very pessimistic and we had over a 1/4 tank left).

We are now camped at Picture Lake Campground, between Richmond and Petersburgh, an area rich in colonial and Civil War history.  The area is fairly suburban but our campsite has a nice view to the west over little Picture Lake.

 

Jan. 11: With temperatures overnight above freezing and quite a lot of rain, we woke up to find much of the snow was gone (or slush).  As the temperatures sky-rocketed into the 50s  we decided to fill the fresh water tank. Since our first attempt led to water pouring out almost as fast as it went in, this required dismantling our bed (the pump and valves are under the frame) and calling the dealership. After tightening the valves, we were able to fill the tank, sterilize it, empty and refill. Turning on the hot water went smoothly and we are now left with only one conundrum – the process pretty much filled our “grey water” tank which holds the output from the sinks and shower. And our sewer hose is too short to connect to the outlet provided.  We will deal with this if the need arises – otherwise we can dump the tank at the dump station as we leave.

The rest of the day was a work day. I have a very nice flip-down desk in the cab of the RV.

As you can see, I have a nice view towards lake as well as a view behind the RV via the rear view mirror.  OK, you cannot really see this, but the lake is beyond the white swing set and is in my view when seated. (The white material in front of the desk is the windshield sun screen.)

Chuck works at the dinette. This arrangement lets me have my back to the TV which is over the dinette, so I can work while Chuck is watching sports. The internet has been pretty good at all of our campsites so far, but if it is not we have our phone wifi hotspot as backup.

The heater which is sitting beside Chuck’s computer moves as needed.  It was so warm today that we turned off both the electric and propane heaters.

RV campsites seem to cater to 3 types of RVers: transients (or travellers) like us, vacationers who park their RV for months at a time and use it like a vacation home and “permanent” residents who live in their RV often while working at relatively short-term jobs such as construction.

The latter two groups often have fairly elaborate set-ups with wooden porches, fenced gardens and even sheds. I am not sure I understand the economics of this compared to renting an apartment – the site rental is certainly cheaper and includes electricity, sewers and internet but not heat. But there is an upfront cost to purchasing an RV which is relatively high.

The pictures here are of a single RV with a built-on porch, two sheds and a very elaborate garden (with a nice Xmas display).

 

We try to make a point of chatting with someone every day. Sometimes this is just RV logistics – that is how we learned that winter RVers use their fresh water tanks to preserve their plumbing (from a Floridian heading to the snow with his extended family of 6). The laundry room is a great place to start a conversation, as everyone is stuck there for at least a few minutes loading the machines or folding the clean clothes.

Jan 9: This was supposed to be a work day, but we got up late due to a restless night with the dog, and did a laundry, which brought us almost to 3 p.m. with no work being done. On the other hand, we did learn more about using water in our RV in freezing weather.

When we started out, we put RV  anti-freeze (non-toxic) in the toilet, and this was the only “wet” facility we used. If we wanted to wash our hands or some spinach for the salad we poured water out of a pitcher and into the toilet. We took our showers at the campground facilities, and also lugged our dishes there to wash.

After a couple of days of monitoring the temperature in our storage compartments, Chuck concluded that it was safe to use our “grey water” tank which stores the output from the regular drains. Even though we were still bringing water into the RV via pitchers and heating it in the kettle, it is amazing how much more convenient it is to have sinks to wash, brush our teeth and do the dishes.

There are a lot of RVs parked here for the winter and most of them have hoses connecting the RV to the water supply. Today I chatted with a more experienced camper – she uses a heated hose to connect to the water and relies on the warmed water coming into the RV to keep the other lines from freezing. (This works if you are stationary, but if you drive the RV to the next campsite, water already in the lines can still freeze.) At the same time, Chuck discovered that our fresh water tank (which is pretty big) is essentially under our bed, and hence in a heated part of the RV. Conclusion: at our next site we will fill the fresh water tank and then we will have water in the RV, which will be much more convenient. (Filling pitchers at the tap when it is 15F or coming back from the showers with wet hair is really not that much fun.)

Filling the fresh water tank for the first time is an operation in itself. The RV has been winterized, which means that all the incoming water lines are filled with RV anti-freeze. It may be non-toxic, but we do not want to drink it, so the lines need to be flushed. And who knows what has been growing in the tank while it was “empty”?  So it needs to be sterilized with bleach solution before use. All this seems like a full day’s work. We will wait until we have a stretch of days above freezing before doing it all.

After 6 nights of temperatures in the teens, our propane tank which runs most of the heating is registering empty.  We realized it was running low, but filling the tank means moving the RV to the filling station.  And that means packing everything up so that it does not rattle around while we are driving, retracting the leveling jacks, and retracting the slide-out in.  It is a big deal – especially with an inch of ice on the slide-out roof.   However, the indicator is only good to the nearest 1/3 tank.  It turns out that there is a better level indicator on the tank itself, and we have enough propane to keep the furnace running.  We will keep the RV in the 50s tonight and refuel after packing but before leaving the campsite tomorrow.

 

 

Jan 7 (Misty Mountain RV Resort): Our plan was to go to Monticello. However, with 3 inches of snow on the ground, this part of Virginia ground to a halt. I was impressed at how well the windy road up to Monticello was cleared, but the site itself was closed.

We had lunch at historic Michie Tavern, which is very atmospheric with hewn log walls and cozy fireplaces. However, the museum parts of the Tavern were also closed.

 

 

 

We took another trip into Charlottesville – it was very cold and windy. The walking mall downtown is nice and we went into a few stores when we needed to warm up.

We also visited the historic central quad of UVA, designed by Thomas Jefferson.

However, Charlottesville does not have many inside attractions on a bitterly cold (low teens) winter afternoon.

What the area has in abundance are wineries and cideries. Taking advantage of this, we went to Albermarle Cidery for a tasting and a cozy time by their fireside.

 

Jan. 8:

We went on a tour of Monticello. It was quite fascinating to learn about Thomas Jefferson and his many talents, which included engineering and horticulture, as well as political science. It would be interesting to understand why he did not free his slaves, not even his mistress and his children, when he had the opportunity. Ruined financially by the 1820 depression, I suppose he felt he could not release his human assets later in life.

 

 

 

The view from Monticello is stunning in every direction.

 

 

 

After that it was time to head off to Richmond.
We had a brief stop at the impressive Jefferson hotel, with its stained glass ceilings.

Then it was off to the airport to send Elisabeth back to Boston.