Collier-Seminole State Park - Part 2

Here's the continuation of some of our adventures at Collier-Seminole State Park but, first, check out this awesome shot of the eyeball of Otis in which Wendy has managed to also capture the reflection of the front of the Eurovan. 

So this guy Barron Collier donated the land for the park. At one time he was the largest land owner in Florida and he was very instrumental in the development of south-west Florida. Men of such stature always get at least one memorial and Barron was no exception. Here's me pontificating in front of the Doric colonnade erected in his honor. I forget what I was saying but I it was probably something ridiculous about two panthers in every pot. There's nothing like a podium for true inspiration.

 The park has a boat launch into this channel, but it's still a couple of miles before you can get to the bays that front the gulf coast.

Here's Wendy standing at the edge of a salt water marsh. One of the hiking trails here features some swamp access but when we read the trail description, which included the phrases "waist-deep water" and "ankle-to-knee deep mud", we decided against trying it. I certainly don't want to be in waist deep water anywhere where alligators are common. Plus, I've seen 'The African Queen'. Hello Mr. Allnut, indeed. Leeches. I hates leeches.

 So we took the milder alternative, walking this nature trail which had boardwalks over the wet spots. Wimpy? Perhaps. Leech and gator free? Absolutely!

 Beautiful, but I wouldn't want to walk through it.

 I was on the constant lookout for snakes and gators, but we actually didn't see a lot of wildlife, other than turtles and birds. There's a lot of great and unusual plant life here too.

 Here's the walking dredge that I mentioned yesterday. This shot is from the operator's stand inside the contraption. The dark blob in the center of the photo is the bucket. It's only a cubic yard and I was trying to make sense of the productivity factor of moving this lumbering beast through the swamp just so the bucket could dredge a yard of earth at a time. I don't know. The link above has more technical information.

 Here's the jungle eye view of our campsite. I like to think

that this is what a panther would see as he was trying to 

figure out how tasty I might be.

 We did some hiking along the drier trail, which featured some swampy areas, but none that you had to walk through. The trail head was almost a mile from our campsite and we had to walk along route 41 like a couple of losers in order to reach it. It was a really cool trail, though, and we saw some panther tracks in the soft sand.

 We stopped about halfway and had a picnic lunch on one of the wider sections of the trail.

 Walking this trail made me feel like I was Stewart Granger in 

'The Last Safari'. I was going to ask Wendy to just call me 'Bwana'

but I kept that idea to myself. Despite the low odds of a panther attack,

the idea is never far from your mind. For a suburban chump like me, this is

high adventure. Ha!

 Part of the forest that had suffered a burn-off. These palm

limbs looked like black dragon talons clawing their way out

of the white sand.

What's for lunch?

-The usual suspects.

Collier Seminole State Park

Posting this from my Droid, so this is short one. The Droid is great, but the keyboard does not lend itself to lengthy posts for the ham-fisted. Yesterday it rained and we put up the screen house right before it got torrential. It cleared in the afternoon and we woke to a clear sunny day. Just chilling with some Joe and then we're going go hiking through some mangrove swampland. This here is panther country so we're going to leave Otis behind, safely in the Eurovan.

-Gerry.

Fare thee well, Mary Land

Done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long;
Summer's almost gone, winter's coming on.

Done laid around, done stayed around
This old town too long;
And it seems like I've got to travel on,
And it seems like I've got to travel on.*

Even in my acceptance of expecting the unexpected and in my wildest paranoid daydreams did I ever expect to spend almost a month headquartered in western Maryland. In retrospect, however, I can only describe the outcome, despite being, perhaps, suboptimal relative to my initial Astral Nomads fantasies, as delightful. In a sure sign that we have exhausted the sightseeing cornucopia of local and near-local attractions, yesterday we went to the Hagerstown Premium Outlet center. If there's something that Wendy and I both abhor, it's shopping. But Wendy had lost her Opium, we think in the 'Otis on the Rolling Austro-Hungarian Bellhop Cart' episode and I needed some aftershave. Ergo, Perfumania! We rode around on some very rural roads (yes, there were cows) first so it wasn't a total loss. But I think we're both getting ready to say good-bye (and thanks!) to western Maryland.

The amount of sites to see, most within a relatively short drive, is truly staggering (here's a little recap, including shameless self-promotional links to the writing they inspired, well only a little shameful. Ha! ):

• Gettysburg National Battlefiled
• Harper's Ferry National Historic Site

Harper's Ferry, 2010

• Cunningham State Park
• Catoctin Mountain National Forest

Wolf Rock, 2010

Hogg Rock Vista, 2010

• Antietam National Battlefield

Zouave Ghost at Antietam Creek, 2010

Snavely Ford Trail, Antietam Creek, 2010

• Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Park
• Crystal Grottoes Caverns
• Ocean City
• Assateague National Wildlife Preserve

Assateague, 2010

• Assateague State Park
• Historic Downtown Hagerstown
• Historic Downtown Frederick
• Washington DC

Brunswick Line, 2010

• Washington Monument State Park
• Appalachian Trail

It's almost seems like a lifetime ago that I pulled off of I-81 for some gas (petrol) and the Eurovan wouldn't start up again. I finally got news yesterday that the replacement engine is in and running. I could have picked it up this morning but I asked the dealership to hold it and test it for one more day. Last thing I want to do is find out as much about Roanoke VA as I now know about Hagerstown MD. No knock against Roanoke, but we want to get to Florida to cook a turkey for Wendy's dad by next Thursday. The repairs would have been done earlier but the engine sat on the parts supplier's shipping dock for almost a week due to some paperwork snafu. Insurance companies are highly competent when it comes to collecting premiums, not so much when it comes to processing claims.

So today we're just going to chill and get ready to hit the road again tomorrow morning. We're going downtown to do a last load of laundry at the Universal Laundry and catch some Afghani Kabobs at this Afghani restaurant that we've been meaning to go to but just haven't been able to squeeze in. In terms of downtown dining in Hagerstown: Rocky's Pizza (incredible sauce, these guys must be from the NYC metro area), Bulls & Bears (American bistro with good food and a chubby chef), and Schmankerl Stube (very authentic Bavarian) are all very good.

Seems almost weird to have mixed emotions about leaving Hagerstown. The place kinda grows on you. But, for the Astral Nomads, it's time to travel on....................

-Gerry

(if you're jonesing for Wendy's photos, she publishes the ones's that did not get on this blog at:

Shuttering Heights )

*Gotta Travel On (Paul Clayton) Dylan's version in on Self Portrait

Taking the Day Off

After yesterday's great leg-wearying amble through DC and, given today's cool and rainy weather at our temporary headquarters in Hagerstown, we decided to take the day off from adventuring. Even Otis has hunkered down for an afternoon doze. I'm curled up with Buddenbrooks and Wendy with Jane Eyre. The menu for tonight: Falafel, Hummus, Pita, and Salad, served Nomad style. Tomorrow, if the weather breaks, we'll probably head up to Gettysburg for some historical meandering.

-Gerry

Astral Nomads Do DC

For today's adventure, we decided to take a train from Frederick, Maryland to Washington DC. Since the MARC Brunswick line to/from Frederick is strictly a commuter line, there are only three trains in and three trains out and they only run Monday through Friday. That meant that the latest train in that we could take was 7.10am. Since Frederick is a little than 20 miles by car from Hagerstown, that meant we were up at 5.00am and on the road by 5.45am. It was cold and I had to scrape my car windows free of frost with my Borders Reward card. Frankly, it's the only moment of value that that card has ever provided me.

The train left on time and, while coursing through the darkened woods and passed frosted cornfields filled with grazing deer, the sense of being in a story by Tolstoy began to filter through my mind. At one point we passed a rocky glen filled with trees in muted autumn colors through which drifted mists from a small mountain lake. Perfect. After about an hour and a half journey, the train arrived at Washington's magnificent Union Station.

Union Station

As we were leaving the station, Wendy was stopped and interviewed by a Japanese television crew that was getting opinions off the street regarding yesterday's mid-term elections. She looked fantastic and gave a damn good account of herself. I hope to find it on youtube some day. At the very least, I expect her to become a Japanese TV icon. Wendy-San rocks!

From Union Station, we walked to the Washington Monument, which was our number priority for this short day trip because, while we have both been to Washington multiple times, neither of us has ever been in the Washington Monument. The ticketing scheme there is a little bizarre. The tickets are free and are given out, marked for a given half-hour period, at a small stone kiosk down the knoll about 200 yards from the monument. I asked the ticket agent for 2 tickets and he slide open a transfer box (like they use in banks) and just stared at me. Since the tickets were free, I was confused so I asked "Am I supposed to put something in there?" He just looked at me and said "No, you are supposed to take the tickets". I was standing so close that I did see the tickets against the back wall of the transfer box.

We waited almost an hour with our 10.30 ticket and at 10.17, they still hadn't taken all of the 10.00 ticket holders. At 10.37, they announced that the elevator had broken down and it would take at least another hour before they would know if the elevator would be running again at all that day, so we decided to bag our initial attempt at the Washington Monument. Astral Nomads, denied!

Washington Monument

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Museum of American History and then headed over to the National Gallery of Art. There was a couple of interesting special exhibits there: Prints of Edvard Munch and Pre-Raphaelite Painting and photography. The Munch exhibit showed how Munch would evolve a lithograph by adding color and texture until he got the effect he was after. Best Munch quote from the exhibit materials "The angels over my crib were Sickness, Insanity, and Death." Ha! Now I understand The Scream. The Pre-Raphaelite exhibit was light on painting and heavy on photography, lots of Julia Margaret Cameron and some Charles Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll) whose penchant for photographing children is well known.

National Gallery of Art

Since we did not want to leave Otis alone in his pet carrier for too long, we caught a 3.50 train back to Frederick. Should have left him alone longer. The little pest keeps trying to bite my power cord.

-Gerry

(Wendy's photos to follow in the next post. I know that's the main attraction but she's still uploading)

Crisp Day on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal

It was a beautiful fall day here in western Maryland, so we drove over to Williamsport from Hagerstown and took a nice long walk on the old towpath of the former Chesapeake and Ohio canal. The canal original went from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington DC. The sun was bright but the air was crisp and the woods smelled fantastic. Wendy had the opportunity to take almost 100 pictures and here's some of my favorites:

Chesapeake & Ohio Canal

We also saw a church named the 'Holy Ghost Explosion Ministries'. I'm half-tempted to catch a service this weekend. Maybe the Rev. Les Clipp could exorcize my atheism. We took a picture of the sign but we're saving it for the next sign collage post.

We had lunch at Turtle's Subs in downtown Hagerstown. They added their own confusing twist to the American linguistic kerfuffle over what to call a long sandwich. Since we're from northern New Jersey, we call them 'subs', short for submarine sandwich, regardless of whether the filling is hot or cold. (As opposed to Hoagies in southern New Jersey, Grinders and Po'Boys elsewhere, etc.) Well, at Turtles Subs, only the hot sandwiches are called subs and the cold sandwiches are called hoagies. Confusing indeed. When we ordered, Wendy asked for Thousand Island dressing on her turkey hoagie and the proprietor said "You do realize this is a hoagie, right?". We weren't really sure what he meant so we just said "Sure". The hoagies were really good and topped with sweet pickled peppers, a first for me. As we were ready to leave, I told the proprietor that the pickled peppers were fantastic and he looked over his glassed and asked: "You know where you can get those those pickled peppers?" I said "No, where?". He said "Only right here. I make 'em ma-self". Ha!

Turtle's Sub

Tomorrow we're going to go by train from Frederick, Maryland to Washington D.C.

-Gerry (text) and Wendy (photos)

Bloodied and Bowed but Undaunted

Oh! Mama! Can this really be the end?

To be stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again*

We are back in the apparently inescapable vortex known as Hagerstown, MD. It's actually starting to feel like home. We pretty much know where everything is and there's a half-way decent chance the roadwork on the Dual Highway will be complete before we leave. I think I could drive from here to the coast and back with my eyes closed. This is all very surreal. Almost Twilight-Zonish. But, of course, I kept saying that the plan was to have no plan. Boy, did the universe take that seriously. I must have double-crossed myself by actually planning to drive to Florida. Ha!

The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley**

Had a great week in OC, the mercury hit almost 80F a few days and there's nothing bad about watching the sun rise over the ocean every morning. Wendy even learned to play pinball. I couldn't believe she had never played before. There was a machine in every luncheonette when we were growing up, but they were usually crowded by slick-back dudes in leather jackets and silk socks so I can see why she never tried.

Pinball Wizard***

Here's the story on the Eurovan. The warranty company decided to have the dealership replace the entire engine. The new engine is used but will still carry the warranty and will be installed at no cost to us. Plus, they're gonna pony up for the rental car. The only issue is time. The engine is being shipped and then it has to be installed so we're gonna be here at least until Friday. We are already lining up the list of day trips so we can continue the full Astral Nomads adventure. There's Gettysburg for starters. I am not a huge American History buff but, since we're here, what the heck. Then there's the George Washington National Forest just over the border in West Virginia that is calling out for some hiking. The Astral Nomads are nature lovers. Next, we want to see if there is train service to Washington D.C.. That would be a cool ride. If not, we'll drive to the closest Metro Station and head in from there. Hankering for some Mall and Smithsonian action.

We're at a pet friendly Econolodge so Otis wants you to know that he's doing fine. See the photo (above) of the young rapscallion stretching for a snacky-snack.

BIG shout-out to my friend Bill Haddon who claims to read this blog religiously.

-Gerry

*Dylan (of course)

**Robert Burns

***Who else?

Meditative Interlude

While walking on the boardwalk yesterday we were the discussing the not original idea of running into someone you know when you are in a strange place. Since I am a firm believer in the concept of an n-dimensional multiverse (in which everything that did or could have happened, everything that is happening now or could be happening, and everything that will happen or might happen is actually simultaneously happening in every moment), I was therefore forced to conclude that I have already run into everyone I had ever known on this very boardwalk. As Kant laboriously pointed out, the perception of time and space is a function of human consciousness rather than a function of reality itself. Our path from birth to death is merely a continuous set of possible moments required by the immutable yet ultimately illusory laws that govern the physical shell of our bodies. It would be nice to be transcendent but it's time to do the laundry. Ha!

-Gerry

Surf-n-Safari

Forget the Museum of Natural History. When I'm in the mood for nuzzling a full-grown lion, I head straight for the Safari Motel in Ocean City, Md. This beauty is perched on a stand right over the lobby. We didn't even notice it for the first day since the lobby, like everything else in this small friendly motel nestled in high-rent oceanfront property, is tiny and cozy. The safari motif is evident every where and would be on the hairy edge of over-the-top were it not

for the harmonious and expected marriage of shore and kitsch. Hell, there's a food stand on the boardwalk here named Johnny Polock's. Hello, John Waters.

The Safari is a family run operation. From what I can ascertain, there are two sons in their thirties and a mother and father. They have an accent that is vaguely Eastern European or, I should say, east of Eastern European but, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, I hesitate to suggest a country because I don't want to be in the uncomfortable position of suggesting, for example, that a Belorussian is Georgian or vice versa. People get understandably touchy about those sorts of things.

The sons run the front desk during the day and the parents guard the small lobby like two thirds of Cerberus from their matching armchairs for much of the evening. There's only one way in and one way out of the Safari Motel and no way to pass their scrutiny even when the dad is in a snoring doze. One eye will partially part to identify you as a paying guest and then close again. The Safari Wifi (or Sawifi as I like to call it) here is password protected (as we found out after we checked in, of course) and when I asked the father about it, he couldn't find the info sheet at first but later, when we where returning from third floor deck (aka smoking lounge) he had a hand written password for me. I asked if the network was named 'Ocean', which I had noticed earlier on the network scan from my laptop and the mom says "Of course! What else?" Ha!

Safari Motel

From Near Disaster to Paradise

Every picture has a context. In order to understand this one, I'll need to provide that context. Since we had the Eurovan packed with everything we owned, when we had to switch to the rental car we wanted to take as much as possible with us. Not that we didn't trust the dealership, which is big, modern, and clean. It's just that we had lot's of electronics (cameras, laptops, etc.) and lot's of personal stuff like passports, checkbooks, and other stuff we don't like to let out of our sight. Plus clothes and toiletries and Otis and Otis supplies like timothy hay and kibble and bedding and...well. you get the picture. So we're packed into a rental Hyundai Accent the size of a roller-skate and we have to move all that stuff in and out of every motel room every time we check-in and every time we leave. So imagine the look on the desk clerk's face at the Econolodge in Hagerstown last night when I check in for one night and I look like I'm moving the luggage for an extended European vacation. Plus I'm using the bellhop cart in the picture with these huge brass tubes and a finial that looks like it's from the glory days of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Anyway, this morning I load up the bellhop cart and position it outside the front door of the motel, hand Wendy the room key to return to desk and go to get the car which is parked only about twenty feet away. As I am starting the car, something catches my eye in the rear view mirror and I panic as I realize it's the bellhop cart rolling away down a small incline. My panic increasing as it narrowly misses a parked car and starts heading for a drainage ditch. Mind you, Otis is aboard for the ride since his pet carrier is wedged between the two duffel bags on the floor of the cart. Luckily, the cart did not reach dangerous velocity and came to rest against a curb with a gentle thump. Still, I ran to check Otis and, of course, he merely gave me his usual 'Time for Carrots Already?" look. Near disaster averted.

The dealership (Sharrett's Volkswagen-Subaru in Hagerstown) is ripping open the engine on the Eurovan today to see what's going on in there. They think it's a cylinder head or something in the valve train so major surgery is probably in order. Hey, with the warranty, it will be like getting a new engine for free. Not like I need to be anywhere.

Since we had time to kill (at least a few days) we booked a room at a pet friendly ocean-front motel in Ocean City and drove back to the coast. It's another beautiful day here and it's real quiet and not crowded because it's off-season. Still, it's in the mid 60s and partly sunny. Might even get a beach day in tomorrow.

On the way over we stopped at Unicorn Books (Used and Rare) on Maryland 50 which I had noticed we had trucked over to Assateague last Saturday. I was looking for an used copy of the unabridged Don Quixote (did I mention I have time on my hands but the guy was sold out. Imagine that. He said he had a run on it lately. I said that's a good sign for America. We wound up buying paperbacks of Jane Eyre, The Wapshot Chronicles (Cheever), Love in the Time of Cholera, Atlantis Found (Cussler) and a 1931 Hardcopy of Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (Michaelian I will be mailing that when I done.) The proprietor added up the total on an antique

adding machine and rung us out on an antique cash register. Pretty cool.

Unicorn Books

-Gerry

Wendy's photos to follow but the Wifi scene hear is a little sketchy so we'll

have to see.

Incident at Cunningham Falls

This time of year, the drive to Cunningham Falls on Maryland

State Road 15 climbs and twists through the the autumnal reds

and yellows until an unexpected summit is reached and a quick

descent follows with more twisty turns that are forewarned with

flashing yellow lights and a diamond sign with a squiggly black

arrow. Just past the summit there's an immediate turn into a

parking lot which is marked with a blue handicap sign. I pulled

in thinking it was the general parking to the falls only to be bemused

that all of the parking spots were designated as handicapped. It

was only later, while sitting on a rock beside the regular boardwalk

below the falls that I realized that the second boardwalk across the

rocky stream must have originated at the handicap only parking lot.

That realization came slowly as I observed a family group consisting

of a gangly boy of about ten and a soccer mom pushing a large three

wheeled blue stroller. The woman, whose pale face was pleasantly

rodential, sat on a bench and leaned her head back on the fencing at

the end of the boardwalk with quiet resignation while her son silently

hopped and navigated through the rocky stream-side ground. It was

then that I noticed her special child. I could only see his face through the

slats of the boardwalk face but what a beautiful blue-eyed face he had

and he seemed so content to stare at the high cirrus clouds that were visible

in the leafy gaps of the high red and yellow trees. I wanted so much

to be able to lay my hand on that boy's head and somehow allow him

to rise up from that stroller and run among the rocks laughing with his brother.

He just stared at the sky and yawned contentedly. Eventually his mother

rose, reversed the stroller and the family disappeared down the boardwalk

into the foilage. Eventually, I too rose and backtracked the trail to the parking lot.

-Gerry

Hanging at Terrapin Station

Yup, still in Maryland. Go Terps! Life is good.

On our first day in temporary stasis, we decided to keep the road trip spirit alive and, following the advice of some gum-smacking twenty something at the rental car counter, took a trek over to Assateague State Park. Since we are stuck in Hagerstown, this basically meant traversing the entire state of Maryland from west to east and back again in our rented Hyundai sub-compact. The impetus for what otherwise might seem like an insane idea was the mention that Assateague Island has the only population of wild ponies on the east coast. I could hear the theme song from Chariots of Fire playing in my mind as I envisioned herds of wild ponies frolicking in the surf. So the idea of a three hour drive seemed trivial in the face of such a wondrous thing to see. Well, Assateague in indeed a wondrous place, a beautiful coastal island just south of Ocean City. But we only saw two ponies in the distance from the causeway. They appeared to be standing forelock deep in a salt marsh. So ponies frolicking in the surf? Denied. Lovely walk along a beautiful pristine beach on a sunny autumn day? Win! The drive was uneventful. I will say Maryland has a great highway system. Plenty of state troopers too.

Assateague State Park

Today we went to Cunningham Falls State Park, which is about 10 miles east of Hagerstown. Cunningham Falls is the highest waterfall in Maryland at 87 feet. It was a gorgeous autumn day here with high cirrus clouds and the autumnal colors were at their peak. It felt good to get out into the woods and do some light hiking. The falls themselves are not exactly breathtaking, more like some individual rivulets coursing down a cliff face. The park itself is really scenic and we saw a great blue heron standing beside a small lake, a small lake that was reflecting the colors of the trees. Nice.

Cunningham Falls State Park

Tomorrow we will be checking out of the Super 8 and hoping to hear good news from the Volkswagen dealer. Since I have a super-duper extended warranty with no deductible, I am not really worried about it except for the delay in getting south. On the other hand, since we have no plan, it's not like we need to be somewhere. If we are delayed further, we are going to find a pet friendly motel since neither of us has been completely comfortable with Otis smuggling. Since we can't leave Otis in the room, we've been putting his entire pet carrier inside my duffel bag and sneaking in and out through the side door. I usually send Wendy in first and when she gives me the high sign that the coast is clear, I hurry down the hallway to our room. Silly right? I am not even sure if 'No Pets' refers to rabbits since the set of humans traveling around the states with a rabbit has to be a rather small set indeed. I really just don't want to get yelled at. Ha! It's the Man, man.

Wendy took a bunch of photographs, so she'll follow up with a second post.

-Gerry

Astral Nomads Down

We regret to inform you that our first day on the road has provided some unexpected adventure. After stopping for gas (petrol) at the Sheetz in Hagerstown, Maryland, the Eurovan would not start. The Eurovan (who we have named Astrid) is currently at a Volkswagen dealership but they cannot work on her until Monday. AAA and the extended warranty will cover the costs so that's not really a concern at this point. So we rented a car and are hunkered down at a Super 8 motel. You may call this disaster; we call it adventure. Tomorrow and Sunday we plan to discover what Hagerstown and the local environs have to offer. We will report back on what we find. The people of Maryland thus far have been really nice which is always a shock when you're from the New York metropolitan area, where we are mostly validated by rudeness.

Otis is hunkered down after we smuggled him in the side door because this exquisite road house had a big 'No Pets' sign posted at the front desk. Luckily, a rabbit is pretty easy to hide. If you read this post, please keep that information to yourself. Ha!

BTW, we're still laughing.

-Gerry

Just About Packed and Ready

Well, well, well. Finally about to hit the road. Where 'about' means tomorrow morning. Yippee!

The Eurovan is pretty much packed with the essentials.

The top two pictures show the kitchen drawer and kitchen cabinet, respectively, which now contain all of the items listed in the Camp Kitchen section of the Expedition Manifest (which follows at the end of this post.) We still have two small storage cabinets to the rear of the kitchen drawer (where the goddess is perched) that are empty as yet. We will probably use them for dry goods food and long term bathroom and kitchen supplies. The blue rectangle in the top picture is our portable screen house. It's big, bulky, and pretty heavy. I was going to strap in into the storage bin over the cab, but there was no good way to lock it up there, so we decided to lay it on the floor behind the front seat. I took the mattresses off of the upper sleeping berth (which we will not need) and laid the unrolled sleeping bags, sheets, and wool blanket flat up there.

The bottom picture shows the bikes and chairs swung away from the tailgate on a Yakima Swing Daddy hitch-mounted bike rack. At the center above the rear bumper is a storage nook that is packed with camping gear that we won't need to get to while driving. There's another storage area immediately to its right that is accessible from the top deck as well as a storage bin beneath the rear seat. The sliding door up and to the left is the wardrobe which has towels and a couple backpacks in it.

Our clothes duffel bags we plan on strapping to the rear seat. My guitar will lay on the rear storage deck and the other backpacks will go either in the wardrobe or on the floor. Otis will ride in his pet carrier facing forward just behind the front seats. His pen, which folds like an accordion, I will strap in with the table which is stored behind the driver's seat. The Eurovan has two tables which clip into the edge of the kitchen deck and have a single leg that swings down for support. The table can be mounted anywhere along the kitchen deck so you can use it from the rear seat or from the front seats (which swivel to face backwards). We decided to leave one table behind so that Otis's pen can be stored unobtrusively. That should be fine unless we get on each others' nerves to the point where we are forced to dine separately. Four feet apart.

I tested the propane burners and they fired right up and burned clean (Yeah GoWesty!). The Eurovan has a propane furnace with a thermostat but my travel plans do not include going anywhere near where I am going to need that. The fridge runs on AC, DC, and propane. I will start that up tomorrow to keep our yogurt and beverages cool while traveling using DC. I emptied the wastewater and will not fill the clean water until we get to a camp-site to cut down on travel weight.

We are heading due south in the morning, probably just over-nighting at motels and/or Walmart's (there is free over-night RV parking at every Walmart in the United States) until we get somewhere where it's warm enough to camp. We're going to bump around Florida for a bit, hit Everglades National Park and then head west when we get around to it.

Now, the moment you've all be waiting for............

Expedition Manifest:

• LL Bean King Pine 6 Dome Tent and footprint
• SwissGear 10' by 10' portable screen house
• 12' ratcheting tie-downs
• Coleman Montauk 10/30 sleeping bags
• Woolrich wool blanket
• 2 pillows
• 2 Full Flat Sheets
• 1 Beach Blanket
• 2 Beach Towels
• 2 Body Towels
• 2 Hand Towels
• Igloo 17qt. cooler
• Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra retrofitted with DT Swiss 26" wheelset
• Trek WSD 6 series MTB
• 2 Faulkner Mesh Gravity Recliners
• Washburn Rover travel guitar (blue)
• Hohner Piedmont Blues Harmonicas (D,G,B-flat,E,F,A,C)
• Hohner Special 20 Marine Band (A,C,E,D,G)
• Coleman LED Quad Lantern
• Vanguard Alta Pro 254ct camera tripod
• Blackburn AirTower1 bicycle pump

• WorkForce 16" tool box:

1. electrical tape
2. assorted phillips- and flat-head screwdrivers
3. standard pliers
4. needlenose pliers
5. medium vise grips
6. tape measure
7. duct tape
8. pruning shears
9. kitchen shears
10. box cutter
11. hatchet
12. ball peen hammer

• 17" Macbook Pro
• Droid 2 (Verizon)
• 120GB iPod
• Bose rechargeable iPod player
• 350GB Passport external drive
• 500GB Passport external drive

• Rear Storage Nooks:

1. 2 Addidas Aluminium cycling water bottles
2. Northface fanny pack:
3. 26" MTB tube (presta valve)
4. CO2 tire inflater
5. 9 CO2 cartridges
6. Multi-size allen wrench set
7. Tube patch kit
8. Swiss Army Knife
9. 4 Tire Levers
10. 1 Panaracer Fire XCPro folding tires (26")
11. 4 toe clip straps
12. 2 26" MTB tubes (presta valve)
13. Hohner Special 20 Marine Band (Keys: C, D, E, F, G, A, B-flat)
14. Motorola Walkie-Talkies w/charging base
15. Bell MTB Helmet
16. Giro LiveStrong MTB Helmet
17. 2 pair Pearl Izumi fingerless cycling gloves
18. Bolle prescription cycling glasses
19. Swift binoculars Plover #7028 8x,40

• Northface Jester Backpack (green & grey)

1. Tire pressure gauge
2. 4 H. Upmann Corona Majors
3. Bjarne tobacco pipe + 4oz. Cherry Bomb pipe tobacco
4. Acoustic Guitar Complete Lesson Series
5. Guitar Fretboard Workbook
6. Guide to Playing Harmonica (for Wailin' Wendy Weigands)
7. Howl - Ginsberg (Pocket Poets Edition)
8. Remembrance of Things Past (Moncrieff 2 volumes)
9. Borges - Collected Fictions
10. National Audubon Field Guide to North American Birds
11. National Audubon Field Guide to North American Reptiles & Amphibians
12. National Audubon Field Guide to North American Insects & Spiders
13. National Audubon Field Guide to North American Mammals (Bears!)

• High Sierra Backpack (black, corporate swag branded Celgene):

1. Dell Latitude D530 laptop and power supply
2. 2GB thumbdrive
3. Logitech M305 wireless mouse
4. Sony MDR-642 headphones
5. TI-1706SV solar powered calculator
6. Checkbook
7. Moleskin 4"x6" notebook
8. 4 blank journals
9. 2 fountain pens
10. 1 bottle ink
11. 5 Pilot G2 gel pens (assorted colors)
12. 1 Pentel mechanical pencil
13. Samsung N150 Netbook (2G RAM) and power supply
14. 1 book blank checks
15. 1 box envelopes

• Camp Kitchen (in Eurovan Cabinets):

1. Le Creuset 2.75qt Dutch Oven
2. Stansport Enamel Tableware (4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 cups)
3. Wooden salad bowl
4. Tea Kettle
5. Tea pot
6. GSI 32oz French Coffee Press
7. 4 anodized aluminium drinking glasses
8. Rubbermaid 1 gallon cold beverage jug
9. 8"x12" plastic cutting board
10. OXO 12" tongs
11. Grill basket
12. Vegetable steamer
13. Whisk
14. Kitchen Shears
15. Vegetable peeler
16. 2 Steak knives
17. 12" Henkel Chef's knife
18. Henkel paring knife
19. Bamboo skewers
20. 4qt Stockpot w/lid
21. 3 mixing bowls
22. 10" Cast Iron Skillet
23. Dishwashing Liquid
24. 1 Sponge

• Gerry's Duffle Bag:

1. 3 pairs Cargo Shorts
2. 2 long sleeve Addidas shirts
3. 1 pair Levis Jeans
4. 1 pair Columbia camp pants
5. 6 pairs Body Glove briefs
6. 2 pairs swimming trunks
7. 1 pair Oakley flip-flops
8. 1 pair Merrel Gore-tex trail shoes
9. 1 pair Hi-Tech hiking boots
10. 4 colored T-Shirts
11. 1 NorthFace fleece Jacket
12. 1 Marmot hooded rain-jacket
13. 1 Under Amour scully cap
14. 1 Painter Lizard baseball cap
15. 5 pairs Under Armour short socks
16. 1 pair long rag socks
17. 1 Patagonia polypro long sleeve shirt
18. 1 blue denim workshirt
19. 1 pair Descente cycling shorts
20. 1 pair Pearl Izumi cycling tights
21. 1 Cannodale sleeveless cycling jersey
22. 1 Troy Lewis long sleeve cycling jersey

• Gerry's Toilet Kit (dark blue Northface Jester Backpack):

1. 5 disposable razors
2. 1 Tube shaving cream
3. 1 Mennen Speed Stick
4. 1 British Sterling aftershave
5. 1 tube topical cortisone
6. 1 battery operated electric tooth brush
7. 1 Conair electric hair clippers
8. 1 tube Tom's of Maine toothpaster

• Otis's Corner:

1. 1 16" x 9" Pet Carrier (aka Otis's Rockin' Road Hutch)
2. Timothy Grass w/Marigold
3. Bedding
4. Carrier Liners
5. Folding Metal Small Animal Pen
6. Kibble

• Wendy's Duffle Bag:

1. NorthFace fleece jacket
2. Denim Jacket
3. 2 cycling shorts
4. 1 long cycling tights
5. 3 sleeveless cycling jerseys
6. 3 long sleeve cycling jerseys
7. 3 pairs shorts
8. 3 sleeveless tops
9. 3 T-shirts
10. 1 Sweatshirt
11. 1 Cotton skirt
12. 1 silk robe
13. 1 dressy top
14. 5 pairs socks
15. 8 sets of unmentionables
16. 1 pair flip-flops
17. 2 pairs sandals
18. 2 pairs sneakers
19. Hiking Boots

• Wendy's extras:

1. Tarot Cards
2. Journal
3. Runes, Candles. Goblet. Magick Tools
4. Dragon Tapestry
5. Babe
6. Dags
7. Crayons, Colored Pencils, Drawing Paper
8. Frisbee
9. Prayer Beads
10. Magic Stone

• Wendy's Toiletry Bag:

1. FaceWash
2. Shampoo/Bodywash
3. Moisturizer
4. Masacra, Lipstick
5. Eye Shadow
6. Sunblock
7. Razors, Shaving cream
8. Nail Clippers
9. Nail Polish
10. Nail Polish Remover
11. Q-tips
12. Deodorant

The Eagle Has Landed

We picked up the Eurovan this morning. It seems to be in absolutely stellar condition both inside and out (Thanks GoWesty!) Since I had to meet the transport driver in the parking lot behind a nearby Best Buy, the whole thing seemed strangely clandestine. The Eurovan was off the truck already but I had to switch out the California tags for some good old Garden State (NJ) ones. I felt like a hood from some 1950's juvenile delinquent flick kneeling there switching out the plates. I was waiting for Officer Krupke to stroll by and put the kabosh on the whole caper. If I had hair I would have slicked it back greasy and black and my fleece would be replaced by leather. No dice on that and we got away clean. The Eurovan sailed through NJ inspection as expected and we're good to go as far as that's concerned. I also installed the hitch mounted Yakima swing-away bike rack before calling it a day.

The next big trick is 'the packing' which is scheduled for a trial run on Wednesday. Tomorrow we still have a few more loose ends to tie up with our lawyer (Yikes! A will in case we meet a bear who does not fancy our kind) and to finalize some plans with our daughter Tara who is serving as our postmaster while we're out of NJ. So our tentative shove-off looks like Thursday morning. Hey, what's the rush?

We'll do a post on packing, the Expedition Manifest (and what did and did not fit) and have some more photos of the Eurovan soon.

I'm waiting on my man

Van was in DC last night. Should be here this morning. So I'm waiting on my man, set of license plates in my hand. I don't completely understand the mysteries of auto transport and, frankly, given the frequency of my existing and planned experiences with it, I don't really care. There are so many opaque processes run by the Man . At least this driver has given me daily updates since he crossed the Mississippi and I can tell he ain't exactly traveling as the crow flies.

The plan for today to get the van, get the van inspected. I have plates, registration, and insurance so I am not expecting any issues. Then I need to continue with the Expedition Manifest, which is about 5/6 complete. I still have some other administrivia loose ends to tie up tomorrow so it looks like a Wednesday am launch.

Wednesday morning at eight o'clock as the day begins
Silently closing our bedroom door
Leaving the scene that we've all seen before
We go down to the garage clutching our manifest
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside we are free*

-Gerry

*Beatles, with apologies

Oh, Eurovan where art thou?

Just got off the phone with the transport trucker. Our Eurovan is in Tennessee so it looks like delivery will be tomorrow at the earliest.

Got a letter this morning, baby all it read,
You better head back to Tennessee Jed.

I dropped four flights and cracked my spine,
Honey, come quick with the iodine,
Catch a few winks, baby, under the bed
Then you head back to Tennessee Jed.

Tennessee, Tennessee, there ain't no place I'd rather be,
Baby won't you carry me back to Tennessee*

Now you might think that that news would be a disappointment (and it IS a bit anticlimactic since last night I was like a kid on Xmas eve) but actually it is a bit of a blessing in disguise because we're still trying to organize our stuff. I completely underestimated the complexity of simplifying my life. Just going paperless on all of our accounts (bank, credit union, health insurance, van insurance, etc.) was epic in complexity. Numbers, User IDs, Passwords, Alert and Notification Options. Blah, blah, blah. The talons and tentacles of the Man are sharp and tenacious and the Noble Savage remains cowed and confused.

Then there's the organization of the physical objects that we plan to take with us. Like Lewis and Clark, I have concluded that it will be necessary to create an Expedition Manifest. The last few weeks of living out of storage bins and packing boxes has just about pushed me over the edge. The normally simple task of finding, for example, a particular charging unit for some gadget becomes akin to an arduous quest for the holy fecking Grail. I have, on occasion, slumped to the ground in bitter defeat. No, I do not know where the reticulated doohicky for the mini knick-knack thingee is. Your frosted mini-pads? Aren't they in the box with the spices, batteries, and toiletries, dear? Sheesh.

The Expedition Manifest will surely be my salvation. The digital voice recorder? Yes, green pack, inside pocket 2. Binoculars? Hmmm....blue pack, main compartment. A place for everything and everything in it's place. The smug complacency of the bourgeoisie. Ha! Or, perhaps, still too much stuff.

At any rate, here's the Expedition Manifest creation process I've been following and that may help you understand why an extra day or two before the Eurovan arrival is not really such an odious thing. All of our remaining crap is/was in my daughter's spare bedroom (along with Otis and his luxury accommodations). So I've been moving stuff bit by bit to the garage (aka the Eurovan Expedition Staging Area or EESA) but each time I move a set of stuff I repack into its assigned road container and write the contents on a master inventory sheet which you may also know by its more formal title: the Expedition Manifest.

I will post the contents of the Manifest soon, although I may have to edit it down when I see what will actually fit in the Eurovan. Stayed tuned.

*Grateful Dead

-Gerry

Plunging into Wanderlust

Two years after the inception of the dream, the Eurovan

arrives tomorrow. So I've had two years to mull and mulling

is one of the things I do best. I've been around the block

enough to know that there can often be a ginormous gap between

a fantasy and the realization of that fantasy:

Between the idea

And the reality

Between the motion

And the act

Falls the Shadow*

So if you think I haven't, on occassion, concluded that

this whole idea is insane or felt the fears of leaving it all

behind, think again. I suspect that the desire to chuck

it all is universal, but to actually do it requires either

an act of courage or, perhaps, extremely uninformed

stupidity.

Ha!

But somehow the road is calling. There is enough evidence

of the journey as metaphor in world myth and literature for

me to conclude that wanderlust is, also, universal. I don't

suspect that it is necessarily a search for something, which

implies an arrival at some point of certainty, as it is the call of the

journey into the unknown itself. Besides, I no longer believe in a

certainty that can be expressed in the limited rational tool

of language and I am increasingly comfortable in the ambiguous

gray goo of the Now.

So, in order to drop out, I've had to strip away the usual

layers of socialization, ignore the little voices suggesting

my insanity and prepare to plunge into the unknown.

Ain't you been properly socialized? Yeah, didn't take.

I am leaving behind a beautiful house, a lucrative (yet essentially

unrewarding) job, and a set of patterns that are warm and cozy

if mostly unnoticed in the dream of everyday life.

Exciting? Yes. Scary? Sure.

Wendy once said that one idea of Hell would be to die and only

then to be able to perceive all of the things that you could

have done and didn't. Indeed.

Time to take the plunge and I'd be a damn fool if I didn't.

I'm going where the sun keeps shining

Thru' the pouring rain

Going where the weather suits my clothes

Banking off of the north east wind

Sailing on a summer breeze

And skipping over the ocean like a stone**

-Gerry

*Eliot

**Nilsson

A Last Bit of Extravagance

After receiving the check from the sale of our home... our one big worthy investment... we decided to head South for some much needed rest and relaxation. At first a cruise sounded like a good idea, but then the realization hit that there would be too much packing and travel for the short amount of enjoyment time, and besides I get boat sick and that is  gamble I didn't want to take since I haven't been feeling that well lately. So after a few frustrating attempts on Travelocity (boo!) we finally booked our flight and hotel through Expedia for a Miami Beach getaway on Friday. Thursday night we had a nice get together with the kids and woke up very early Friday morning in preparation for our trip. In the cold October dawn Venus and Mars were eyeing each other in the darkened sky, but Orion took center stage in all of its astral glory. It was a good omen.

 The flight was uneventful except for the fact that I must have been harboring a sinus infection because as the plane went into it's decent I got a searing pain in my ear and felt like screaming, being sure the eardrum was going to burst. Luckily I keep a magic stone in my denim jacket and quickly applied it to the back of my ear with some gentle pressure. The pain became bearable and then there was only the dread of the connecting flight to deal with. Repeat performance. It was all forgotten hours later as I sat on the balconey of the Fontainbleau Hotel watching feathery dolphin like waves race to the beach in the turquoise water, clouds floating overhead and palm trees quivering under the warm setting sun. Later we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was fancier than anything we experienced in quite some time, and Gerry and I giggled and joked in our romantic corner booth like two courting teens.

Today it was all about the beach, which unlike the Jersey Shore where you flop down on an old blanket and bake in the sun, there were real cabana boys who set covers on recliners that already have umbrellas shading them, and give you towels, and ask for your beverage orders. We came prepared with a quart of water and our books, feeling very spoiled just sitting there reading for hours. Of course we went swimming, and as usual we were the only two far out in the water (which was over our heads) and paddled around without a worry in the world. Sharks? Who cares. This is paradise and nothing is going to spoil our fun!  

-Wendy

P.S.

Flying north Wednesday.  Eurovan arrives Friday.  True Astral Nomad adventure begins shortly thereafter. Yabba-Dabba-Doo!

-Gerry

P.P.S

Is it time for carrots yet? I really like carrots.

-Otis Redding Rabbit

Astral Nomads Quote of the Day

We're on pre-adventure battery-recharging hiatus in Miami Beach so here's a little thought from the Astral Nomads canon:

"What are the stars but points in the body of God where we insert the healing needles of terror and longing?" - Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

Indeed.

-Gerry

A Day for Banking and Booking

The closing went off without a hitch and now we're officially property-less. Today we need to tie up a few more loose ends and get our financial affairs in order. That's the Banking part. Boring but necessary. Plus, the whittling down will be easier when we can actually see what will and will not fit in the van. I can hear 'The Bare Necessities' from the Jungle Book playing in my head. Wendy keeps saying that, when we come rambling back through to visit the family next year, we'll probably have pots and pans hanging and rattling from the outside of the van and that the kids will have draw straws to see which of them has to suffer the embarrassment of letting the wandering gypsies park in their driveway. Ma and Pa Kettle comes to mind.

But we have still time to kill before the van arrives. We were going to do some more whittling down of possessions but I think we're both at the point where looking at another packing box will push us over the edge. So, it became obvious that, with some time to kill, a wad of jack, and the emotional and physical exhaustion of the past few weeks, we could sure go for some battery recharging. That's the Booking part. So we're gonna fly somewhere warm tomorrow and lolly-gag on a beach for a few days. I know what you're saying: "Hey, this was supposed to be a blog about a road-trip! What a rip-off!".

The runes council patience.

-Gerry

On Stuff and the Jettison Thereof

"I see ..[those]... whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. " - Thoreau

True that Mr. Thoreau! In preparation for adopting the nomadic lifestyle, our general plan was to rid ourselves of unnecessary material possessions and I foolishly considered that to be an almost trivial task. Man, was that ever an underestimation! I suppose that when you have a house, after the the initial moving in, it's hard to be consciously aware of the fact that you continue to acquire and bring home items one at a time. For us, that was sixteen years of carting in new objects, one by one.

So, to be honest, we are both exhausted from getting rid of stuff. We had 1-800-JUNK by twice in the past year (what a racket they've got going, huh?), gave away a lot of stuff to friends and family, had an estate sale, moved a small amount of stuff we wanted to save and stuff for the road trip to my daughter's house, and still put out to bulk pick-up a pile of unwanted stuff 100 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet high.

The estate sale was a curious study in micro-economics. No-one bought the $20 Limoges china plate priced at 50 cents but someone bought our half-empty plastic jug of laundry detergent for that same 50 cents. Pretty funny how things get valued. The other funny thing about people buying the contents of your house is the way the absence of little things alerts you to your own reality as a creature of habit. After the first night of the two-day estate sale, we went to have some ice-cream only to discover that someone had earlier purchased all of our flatware! Wendy starting eating hers with a quarter teaspoon measuring spoon until I had the bright idea of checking the dishwasher and found two spoons the buyers had missed. Every time I walk into the upstairs bathroom I still look at the blank spot on the wall where the clock used to be.

On the topic of valuation, I also had a personal library of over 2,000 volumes, a good many hard-cover, some first editions. For me, the value of a book cannot be measured in money but I found that even used book stores were not interested in offering anything more than store credit. That was no good for me since I was trying to divest myself of the physical objects, not position myself to acquire more. Luckily, I have some book-loving friends and acquaintances who were happy to relieve me of that portion of my burden. CDs? Forget about it.

So my house is pretty empty for the closing tomorrow but I'm still not completely devoid of stuff. There's a pile at my daughter's which I may need to whittle down once I determine what will fit in the camper van. Tonight's our last night in the house and we're down to two camp chairs, two laptops, and a guitar. I am starting to feel free.

So it begins.....

One man, one woman, one rabbit.........the adventure begins soon!

Ever feel like chucking it all?

We are in the final stages of doing just that. Disentanglement is almost complete.

Our open-ended quest to visit every national park in the continental United States

with a pop-top camper van and a sense of humor is starting very soon. This blog

will chronicle the hilarity.

Cheers,

Gerry, Wendy, and Otis Redding Rabbit

(coming soon!)