Klaatu Barada Nikto!

Ok, now that that bit of nerdery is done, let me say that the earth didn’t actually stand still today, we just got to stay in the same place for more than a day and will stay at least two nights in the same place from here on, at least according to current plans which are fluid (which fluid is left as an exercise for the reader).

Tonight is laundry night so we are sitting around in minimal clothing so we can wash what we wore today since we lost a laundry chance in Maine when our plans were changed.

Today we visited the Adirondacks, or at least a tiny portion thereof closest to Albany, namely Lake George. The town was amazingly crowded, the beach was full, our attempts to hike were thwarted because the parking at the trailheads were full. But we are nothing if not perserverent, so we were able to find parking and hike. The only people we met were right at the trailhead who pointed out an alternate trail – what are the odds? They pop up, say you ought to take this trail right here in the parking lot instead of going the thirty feet down the road to take the marked trail, disappear down the road, and then we don’t see anyone else the whole time there and back plus lunch when every other trail is mobbed. Life is stranger than fiction.

More things I struggle to understand: The Airbnb is in a neighborhood where the side of the street you can park on changes every day. The Airbnb has a TV in the bathroom, and no we haven’t turned it on (yet).

Tags: RTAWE

Today we visited Valley Forge in the morning and then it was on to Albany New York. We cooked our own breakfast (yay!) for the first time this trip – and for MBH that means pouring milk over cereal.

But in between we had our first Wawa experience as we needed ice for the cooler now that we have food. So many special milestones on this trip. We hope to get wawa-ed again soon.

The drive to Albany was another scenic drive in the mountains as we avoided the cities of the plain. It’s amazing how much empty terrain there is in this country. Despite seeing three or four state police cars (which is three or four more than we’ve seen before today) we managed not to get stopped.

After consultations with our former Maine host we have booked a cabin near Acadia so as of right now we have somewhere to stay besides the car for the remainder of the trip. But I’m not counting my beds until I’ve slept in them.

Tags: RTAWE

Today marks many milestones: we crossed the 1,000 mile threshold to much rejoicing, we drove through East Berlin, West York, Bird in Hand, and Lancaster county (only saw one horse and buggy sadly) and crossed the very wide but not particularly deep Susquehanna River before arriving at today’s final destination of West Chester PA.

If you are ever in West Chester, you should consider staying at the Brinton Inn and Suites as it is fairly informal. Dawn, who claims to be the only current employee, greeted us wearing a mask that said, and I quote “This mask is bullsh*t” and wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of Bill and Hillary smiling with the tag line, and again I quote “Clintons: we can’t all commit suicide”. Needless to say, we felt right at home although it was several minutes before I hung my mask off my ear. We were provided an actual key to the room – I feel young again staying here. The room has a nice patio that I’m sitting at as I write.

Despite all the milestones, and getting the same waitress two days in a row and three pieces of bacon at our Perkins breakfast, the highlight of the day was our visit to Longwood Gardens. The goods: beauty around every bend. The bads: now my sunburn has sunburn.

My biggest takeaway from our visit is that it’s good to rich as Longwood Gardens started out as a hobby for Pierre Du Pont. Now, because he found out about a farm with rare trees was going to razed, we have access to an amazing garden at merely high and un-discounted prices.

Tomorrow on to New York. We’ll try to sneak in so they don’t stop us at the border.

The odds of spending nights in our car got worse today: the Airbnb near Acadia National Park texted and said due to a family emergency it will be difficult to honor our reservation. We surveyed our options and found only one other, texted her back we’re going to switch and she said don’t be hasty as she is working her extensive friend network (my paraphrase) so I have no idea what she means or what will happen but tomorrow is another day and the reservation is for next week so I’m hoping the fact that I got three pieces of bacon instead of two at breakfast this morning means I won’t have to sleep in the car. You should see how I pick horses at the race track!

Unanswerable Questions: Why in Pennsylvania is it not enough that a restaurant sells food, why does the patron have to order food when ordering an adult beverage? Does the virus make that distinction between restaurants and bars? Unanswering for a friend.

Tags: RTAWE

Today was so super colossal it gets its own title. And we all know how sequels turn out.

Ok, enough fun and on to the dreary slog through one of my interminable vacation post.

Today we visited the Gettysburg National Military Park which pretty much surrounds and penetrates the town of Gettysburg. We started by walking a couple of miles near the (closed) visitor center which pretty much covered the union lines on Cemetery Ridge. Then we got in the car and drove the 16 stop auto tour which was many miles long – I couldn’t find out how long but let’s just say the first place we looked for afterwards was a gas station. At most stops we (and by we I mean me as the better half was more judicious) got out and clambered around. The battle itself took 3 days and was a sprawling affair.

I have noticed that children never walk when they can run or one of their parents want them to, so in an effort to be younger I ran to catch up to MBH or when she remained behind in the car and I got out. It was time effective but I did get some looks.

There are 1320 stone monuments of various sizes that mark the location of every unit on a given day as well as every event that happened plus some for leaders who did important things (including dying) plus this, that and the other thing. Apparently in the 1880s the idea was to provide a way for future generations to understand the battle. I admit at first I thought they got more than a bit carried away with stone markers literally everywhere but one I read the sign that explained the intent I understood even if the result is a little crazy. Ok, more than a little.

The big monuments did come in handy because they helped you see the scale of the battle. For instance when you are standing where the Confederates started Pickets Charge and you can see the largest Union Monuments on Cemetary Ridge you just shake your head and wonder.

There are also a lot of cannons, I mean a lot of cannons, but they were helpful because they oriented you to how the lines faced.

After a very late lunch we visited the Eisenhower National Historic Site but we could only walk around as every building is closed. The joys of a vacation in the time of COVID.

Tags: RTAWE

We drove the length and breadth of West Virginia, crossed the eastern Continental Divide, threaded our way through the needle that is Northern Maryland, and drove the entire length of I-68 before arriving starving and exhausted in Gettysburg Pennsylvania, just like Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. After six states in two days we won’t budge from this one for two days.

We were in the Mountains of Maryland, which having spent all my prior time in southern Maryland made as much sense to me as the Pyramids of Mars until I saw them. Who knew?

Tags: RTAWE

I have set two goals for our Road Trip Almost Without End: don’t spend a night sleeping in the car, and have 10 minutes a day that are pleasant. They don’t have to be consecutive.

We did stumble right out of the gate as I reserved a tasting at Bulleit distillery and a tour and tasting at Barrel House Distillery and making careful use of the map app to determine driving times and with allowances for lunch and potty breaks picked when to leave our house in the morning and the times for the appointments. Apparently my mastery of addition is not as firm as I thought since we discovered when we pulled away from lunch we would be arriving half an hour late. Oops. They could squeeze us in an hour and a half later, but we canceled to make the other tour. I shouldn’t have to make such hard decisions on vacation.

My addition was not completely off so we were able to arrive well before the second tour time and spent many pleasant minutes in Lexington’s distillery district. One goal down.

When we checked into our nearly deserted hotel we discovered that the A/C in our room didn’t actually cool. The front desk suggested we unplug the unit and press the reset button on the plug. That didn’t work the first or second time we tried it, so they moved us to another room which we could tell as soon as we opened the door had a functioning A/C. Whew. We just felt bad that we had made the old room unclean. Still, both goals achieved!

At this point I’m happy because we’ve set a pretty low bar for the trip.

On the other hand, tomorrow is just a long drive through West Virginia. Pretty scenery will have to suffice.

Tags: RTAWE

On the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again.

The more I travel, the less I pack. Clothes, toiletries, coffee, detergent. Nothing but the staples. One detergent pod is worth ten pounds of clothes, so now I take a credit card, a little cash, a few clothes, and a bunch of detergent pods. Given the terrible division in America, we have to take both coffee pods and ground coffee. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, calculate pods vs. ground carefully.

Tomorrow Kentucky, so sorry but no pretty photos.

Don’t forget, the secret to happiness is low expectations, so don’t overthink it, underthink it.

What, me worry?

Tags: RTAWE