Raleigh, NC to Fort Wayne, IN - Week 25

From the NC shore, we sped north toward Raleigh where we had dinner plans at my friend Carrie's place.  Her friend Ben was visiting from France and they had prepared an amazing seven course meal for us from supplies bought at the farmer's market.  Home-made grilled jalapeno poppers, cucumber salad, caprese salad, potato salad, grilled stuffed bell peppers, and grilled margarita chicken, followed up with a homemade peach and blueberry pie.  What an amazing spread!  Carrie even sent the leftovers home with us, plus some excess fresh produce.  Holy moly we were spoiled.

Luckily we had another day with Carrie.  It was Ben's birthday and they had morning kayaking plans.  But Carrie had recommended a a place called Poole's in downtown Raleigh for brunch.  We got there at 11 am when it opened and there was already a huge line.  We barely got seated in the first rush, then proceeded to have the best restaurant meal since leaving San Francisco.  Brian had huevos rancheros, I had eggs benedict and Lukas had a blueberry hotcake.  Each dish was topped with a sauce that really made the dish stand out.  Fresh squeezed orange juice, great coffee, speedy and friendly servers.  Our Poole's experience certainly backed up Carrie's statement that Raleigh is in the midst of a foodie revolution.

After brunch, Brian went golfing with birthday boy Ben while Carrie and I took Lukas to a train show at the fairgrounds.  That took about an hour, then we just toodled the rest of the afternoon away.  With the most special of friends it really doesn't matter what you're doing but you have a great time doing it together.  When the boys returned from golfing we had a little party with champagne, cake and ice cream.  The sun was dropping but we decided to take a dip in the neighborhood pool anyway.  Finally we left the duo to dinner plans and returned to the RV to eat our yummy leftovers.  Thanks for a wonderful weekend, Carrie!

The next day we began our Michigan journey in earnest.  That night we stayed in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.  The weather was beginning to cool down.  After two months of heat we had just put away our pants and jackets, only to need them again!  As San Franciscans we had forgotten about seasons.  It was mid-August and the nation-wide heat wave was breaking.

I grew up near Virginia, but never ventured to this part of Virginia.  This was the backcountry, where the  mountain folk reside.  Our campground had a Cowboy Church where anyone was welcome.  It was an open barn with a rudimentary wooden cross that had a cowboy hat resting on the base.  The walls were decorated with vintage toys and Coca Cola signs.  We weren't there for a Sunday but certainly enjoyed taking refuge from the rain in this most basic of cathedrals.  

Tuesday night we stayed just outside of Charleston, West Virginia.  This campground had by far the most interesting name and city of all the places we've been: The Rippling Waters Church of God Campground in Romance.  It seemed like many other campgrounds we've stayed at, except for the chapel and the rules against public smoking, drinking, or use of foul language.

We got in fairly early so decided to go explore Charleston.  When looking for a grocery store I found the Capitol Market, which is much like a smaller version of the ferry building.  Despite having just bought groceries, we didn't feel like cooking, so instead went to the Bluegrass Kitchen.  From the outside the place looked like a bust, but inside they had fresh and local fish and boasted of their organic ingredients and sustainably farmed produce.  Lukas was very well behaved considering, and we had a good time with the guys across the way who were on a business trip from Virginia.  They were experimenting with beer and shots of Frambois, a thick and sweet raspberry ale.  The final verdict: drop a shot glass full of Frambois into your Hoegarden and it will be delicious.

Overall, a fun time out in West Virginia.  We did not see any brother-sister pairs making out or barefoot teenagers missing several teeth.  Somehow West Virginia gets a bad rap.  However, our waitress was from Portland and she did allude to the fact that it's been a difficult transition for her and her girlfriend.  We may have stumbled upon a couple of the best places in the state.  Anyway, we didn't stick around long enough to find out.  Next stop was Ohio!

We tried to find somewhere to stay in Columbus, but instead ended up way out in cornfield and tobacco country.  It was a fun campground with lots of activities to keep Lukas busy.  The drive to Columbus Zoo was very pretty.  Cornfields gave way to a river, then suddenly there was the Zoo.  Columbus Zoo has long been associated with Jack Hanna, which adds publicity and funding to the venture.   A few years ago Columbus Zoo opened a water park and amusement park adjacent to the animal area.  They also own Safari Golf, a golf course across the street from the Zoo.  I have to admit that I was a little turned off by the dual entrance to the water park and the Zoo, but once in the Zoo the hectic feel of an amusement park dissipated and it felt more like a Zoo visit.

Columbus Zoo houses quite a few gorillas, and many of them are related to the gorillas at San Francisco.  Zura and OJ were born at Columbus during the era when keepers pulled gorilla babies from their mothers and hand raised them to increase survival odds.  Over the years we have learned that hand raised gorillas do not always learn appropriate gorilla behaviors and the current philosophy is to allow a surrogate gorilla mother, or in some cases father, to raise a gorilla infant that is not being properly cared for by its mother.  Columbus Zoo has pioneered the Birth Management and Surrogate Introduction programs and have done numerous surrogate introductions themselves.  When San Francisco Zoo found themselves in the position of having to hand rear a gorilla infant, it was Columbus Zoo who really came to our aide.  Maureen and Barb flew out to get our program started, then returned to make sure all was progressing on course.  They were tremendously helpful, infinitely patient, and just plain nice.

I was hoping to see Maureen or Barb during the visit, but was super last minute about contacting the Zoo.  Instead I planned to visit the gorilla keeper talk and bug them for more information on the relatives of the SF group.  Lo and behold, as I entered the indoor gorilla viewing, who should I see but Maureen!  As always she was so nice and proceeded to spend the next couple hours with me, giving me backstories on each of the gorillas and introducing every keeper we ran into.  It was a real treat to finally meet Colo, the first gorilla born in captivity, and the grandmother of Zura and OJ.  Colo is 54 years old but she looks great and is the spitting image of Zura.  Zura's mother, Toni, was waving her hands near her mouth just as Zura does.  Apparently none of the other gorillas at Columbus has that behavior.  I also met Mac, OJ's brother, whose face is vaguely similar and the mannerisms are spot on like OJ's.  Mac took a liking to me and followed me around the yard, just as OJ will often do with a young(ish) female observer.  Maureen also made sure I visited the bonobos and the manatees.  All the exhibits were well done and it was a very satisfying zoo visit.

Colo, Zura and OJ's grandmother

Toni, Zura's mother, tapping her mouth

Mac, OJ's brother

Gorilla hunt accomplished, the next day I decided to search for the Amish.  The area around Millersburg, Ohio is said to have the largest population of Amish in the US.  My curiosity was piqued, despite the two hour drive.  Brian was out golfing so it was only Lukas I needed to convince that this was a worthwhile journey, and he doesn't have too much say in such matters so it was an easy sell.  I figured there would be plenty of Amish sightings along the way to the epicenter of the community and we would not need to drive the full distance.

Well, I was wrong.  After two hours of driving along country roads we finally made it to the Amish Flea Market.  This had been much hyped on the internets as being a very special market.  There was a horse and carriage parked out front so that boded well.  However, inside it was a bunch of junk in a warehouse.  We left disappointed and I was feeling pretty dumb for driving so far.  I had seen a cheese factory a few miles back so decided we would stop there for a snack.

The Guissberg Cheese Factory was closed that week, but I was able to buy some of their famed Swiss cheese and ended up talking to an Amish woman selling baskets across the street.  We talked about the weather and their horses and how all children are interested in the horses and buggies.  Lukas watched a horse getting hitched to a carriage and didn't seem to notice that all the women wore bonnets and the men wore hats.

Just past the Cheese Factory was Herschberger Farms, and this is where the real fun happened.  It was an Amish owned farm with carriage rides, giant draft horses, and lots of baby animals to feed.  In the adjacent building there was produce and baked goods for sale, as well as a little cafe.  We played with the animals for quite a while, had some lunch during a brief rain shower, then watched kettle corn being made over a fire.  It ended up being a great day, made even better by Lukas sleeping the whole two hour drive back home.

Big Ben, the Belgian Draft Horse, would kick his metal sign whenever someone bought animal feed from the table right in front of him.  Of course he got a whole food cone from us.

A "Zorse", yup, the offspring of a zebra and a horse

The evening didn't end there.  We went swimming, then picked up Brian after his 36 holes of golf.  Since it was Friday, the RV park was making pizzas, hosting a hay ride, and showing "The Great Outdoors" on the big screen.  It was a full day and we all slept well that night.

It was time to leave Ohio and make the next move toward Michigan.  Our travels would take us through Fort Wayne, Indiana, so we decided to stay the night.  We took a brief car trip downtown and were surprised to find a rock festival in full swing.  There were more alternative types than I would have expected from Indiana, but I didn't know much about Indiana and still don't.  Brian went out later and chatted it up with some locals and had a good time.  Overall the town seemed interesting, like I could have spent a couple more days there, but I wouldn't really fly in just to check it out.  We were eager to move on to the Great Lakes, so move we did.

RV PARK REVIEWS

North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh, NC: B-

  Lot behind fairgrounds, grassy, close to town, quiet most of the time.  Lukas loved the morning construction crew that was building a road behind the RV park.

Deer Trail Park Campground, Wytheville, VA: B
  Woodsy setting, small creek, scummy fishing pond, pool with slide, playground, Cowboy Church, friendly kids on bicycles, apple trees, horses living next door, a little dusty.

Rippling Waters Church of God Campground, Romance, WV: B
  Clean, well maintained, two ponds, pool, zipline, chapel, no ungodly behavior allowed.

Autumn Lakes Campground, Sunbury, OH: B
  Rural setting next to cornfield with "Back Forty" woodsy area, petting zoo with donkey and two goats, pool and splash pad, two playgrounds, store, pizza on Friday nights, weekend activities, no sewer hookup, some trash on ground.


Johnny Appleseed Campground, Fort Wayne, IN: B-
  City run campground, very friendly host, laundry, next to river, playground.

Caswell Beach, NC (and Bay Area, CA) - Weeks 23 and 24

Our long awaited beach vacation had arrived!  We pulled into Caswell Beach and parked our rig in front of the rental house.  The beach weather was perfect: hot and muggy with a bit of a breeze on the shore.  Our house was flanked by ocean and wetlands, with a family friend's house two doors down.  Our annual pilgrimage to Oak Island/Caswell Beach began twenty-five years ago when my parents joined up with two neighboring families to rent out a beach house for a week in the summer.  When I moved West it became a journey of planes and trains to reach the beach house, but it was always an enjoyable week with family.  Now with a kid in tow, it has been fun seeing him become accustomed to the waves and the relaxed beach house mentality.

Beach view

Wetlands view

This year was a little different.  First of all, we arrived in an RV.  Secondly, we invited our friends to join us for a second week at the beach.  Third, I was jetting off during the first beach week to visit with a close friend who had recently become a mother.

Just as we were settling in, Lukas loving the waves, everyone in full lazy mode, it was time for me to get on a plane.  Off to San Francisco I went, leaving Lukas and Brian to enjoy the beach with the grandparents and our family friends.  I had not been away from my husband and son for more than a few hours over the last two months.  I had not been in a big city for at least six weeks.  And I had been in the South for what felt like a really long time.

California

I arrived in San Francisco without a car reservation.  I hadn't needed reservations anywhere across the country and it seemed silly to make one in SF.  Well, I should have made a reservation because SFO was out of cars.  As in, none of the rental companies at SFO had any cars left at all.  Nor SUVs, or Lincoln Continentals, or anything except ginormous pick-up trucks.  I needed a vehicle, so I had to settle for the truck.  This thing had a large cab with four doors, a full truck bed, and a jake break for towing.  Thank goodness I'd been driving the RV for the last few months or I never could have pulled off driving this monster through San Francisco.

It was wonderful to be in San Francisco and it really felt like home.  The scenery is awesome, the food is quality, and our friends are the best.  The only downsides are the traffic and the crowds.  It took half an hour to get a burrito from Papalote on 24th, but it was really good.  I had better luck at Tartine and Dynamo.  I was determined to eat as much as possible while in SF and store up the food memories for future lean times on the road.

But I did not go to SF to eat.  I was there to meet Finnbar, the son of our wonderful friends Jenesse and Dylan.  Jenesse was extremely helpful and present when Lukas was born, so I felt terrible being out of the area as she entered the world of motherhood.  Even though I only visited for a few days, I hope it helped to have a couple extra hands in the house and some food in the freezer.  As luck would have it, our other great friend from elementary school came to visit at the same time!  It was a reunion centered around Finn, who is really a lovely little boy.  It was amazing how quickly we were sucked into the baby vortex, when suddenly the day would be over and we were not sure where the time had gone.  Between feedings, changing and nap time the days stretch out then disappear.

Daddy

Little Finn

Sarah and Mommy

My visit was over all too soon and I was realizing that I would not see little Finn again until he is four months old.  So much will change in my absence!  I hardly slept that evening between a late night with my wonderful hosts, Dierdre and Zeev, plus the early flight time of six in the morning.  Once I was on the road, all I wanted was to get back to the beach and my family.  Of course there was a cancelled flight and a long delay and I ended up getting to NC hours after my scheduled arrival time.  I did enjoy chatting with folks at the bar and realizing that I knew a little something about their home towns, like Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Louisville, Kentucky.  This trip has certainly opened my eyes to life in the rest of the United States.

Back at the beach, we had a fun day of digging for coquinas (a small bivalve with colorful shells that digs itself into the sand after being unearthed by a wave, or a small child and his mother).  Then our friends began arriving!  Shia, Patrick and Ayla had a worse flight than mine and came without luggage.  The next day Sarah, a mutual friend from junior high, flew in with no problems at all.  The energy in the beach house shot up a few notches as we ran around after children and planned meals or outings.  It was such a treat to have our friends at the beach and we will have to repeat in years to come.

Patrick and Ayla

The girls' afternoon out at the wetlands

It ended up being a very turtle filled week.  On Caswell Beach it is common to encounter a turtle nest which has been marked and covered with netting by the Turtle Watch volunteers.  Loggerheads are the most common species and the eggs have an incubation period of roughly sixty days, depending on weather conditions.  It just so happened that there were three turtle nests within a hundred feet of our boardwalk all ready to hatch.  Shia and Patrick's first night at the beach we saw eighty four turtles hatch out and run down to the ocean.  On Sarah's first night we were able to watch the turtle "boil," where all the turtles erupt from the sand together then race down to the water.  The following night the third nest hatched, but we missed that one.  The fourth night it was time for the volunteers to dig up the first turtle nest that hatched and free any turtle survivors who had not managed to climb out on their own.  They uncovered five turtles from the first night.  When digging up the second nest, they found four live turtles and a couple dead ones.  The dig of the third nest uncovered a ghost crab, which the volunteers proceeded to pound with a shovel since it was certainly to blame for the deaths of a turtle or two.  It is estimated that only one of a hundred hatchlings will survive, which is poor odds indeed.  We may have seen a turtle being picked off by a sea gull just as it entered the water.  Good luck to all our special turtle friends, we hope you will come back to nest on Caswell Beach in thirty years.

Then suddenly our beach vacation from our RV vacation was over.  We readied the motorhome for habitation and drove Shia, Pat and Ayla to the airport.  It was hard to say goodbye to our parents and our friends, knowing that it would be a while before we saw them again.  Luckily we had one more friend to visit in North Carolina, so we set off for Raleigh and embarked on the next leg of our US adventure.

Tennessee to Florence, SC - Week 22

Driving from Kentucky to Tennessee we noticed a decrease in Confederate Flags and an increase in God speak.  First stop was Nashville, where we settled down to enjoy a weekend of music.  Every Nashville tourist must walk down Broadway Street, which is lined with country western bars.  Many of them had live music, even during the middle of the day.  We stopped into "Legends" for a brew and some tunes.  Lukas loved it - he was banging on the drums (aka table) and playing his air guitar.  I've had Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Snake Farm" in my head ever since.

On Friday afternoon we went to check out another Nashville tourist haunt, this one out of town.  Loveless Cafe is located by the Natchez Trace Parkway, a road that follows the ridges of the watershed divide and was once a bison migratory route between Mississippi and the Cumberland Plateau.  Later the trail became a Native American foot path and finally was turned into the national park that it is today.  We drove a bit of the road after our ginormous lunch.  But back to Loveless Cafe: this place has been a fried chicken and biscuits institution for sixty years.  It is exceedingly popular and is often frequented by the stars visiting Nashville.  In fact, we had a Chelsea Clinton sighting during lunch!  As expected, the chicken and biscuits were mighty fine.

That night we got all gussied up to go the Grand Ole Opry, another long lived institution.  The Opry began in 1925, soon after the birth of the radio, and has been showcasing country western talent ever since.  We parked in the Opryland complex and proceeded to get lost in the cavernous hotel.  We passed through several atriums with fountains and restaurants before realizing that the herds were heading to the shuttle bus for the Opry.  We followed along and made it to our seats just in time.  Little Jimmy Dickens was one of the hosts.  Talk about a long life, he is 92 years old!  Little Jimmy was really on it for his age, and his jokes were naughty in a sweet old man way.  Not all the music was to my liking.  There was more than a little mention of God and Diamond Rio isn't really my speed.  But it was very special to experience the Opry and soak up the history.  It was definitely worth the price of admission, even though we had to leave half way through to get Lukas home to bed.

Saturday had more of a food focus.  We were craving something fresh and healthy and our search led us to a sushi place in downtown Nashville.  Reviewers warned that the chef is not very friendly.  The listed address was not correct, so we wandered the area for fifteen minutes before finding the unassuming restaurant.  "Sam's Sushi" was empty, yet he almost threw us out because we weren't regulars.  It's true, he had a "regulars only" sign on the door that we had chosen to ignore.  We were also told not to sit at the bar.  We would be given two rolls each.  He said he would not make edamame for Lukas, though a couple minutes later we saw him boiling up an entire bag.  The rolls were huge and tasty.  Sam insisted we eat everything and refused a tip.  That was the cheapest and most filling visit to a sushi place I have ever experienced.  And definitely the rudest.  But I can see why people go back.

The next food adventure of the day really needs no explanation, the picture says it all.

Evening plans took us to Leiper's Fork, a historic town from the late 1800s whose block long main street has been preserved.  We parked in a grass lot that had been freshly mowed and was dotted with alfalfa bales, then wandered up the hill to the block long main street.  The town has a free outdoor concert every Saturday, followed by more music in the general store/restaurant/bar called Puckett's Grocery.  This Saturday the free tunes were gospel music.  I have heard some amazing gospel in my life, but this quartet was not it.  Their performance was more of a sermon interspersed with songs about God.  We couldn't hang and went for dinner at Country Boy restaurant instead, chuckling at their  motto: "Release your inner redneck, y'all!"  Later at Puckett's it was more rock and roll than gospel, but one of the singers sang about a transvestite, leading to hoots, hollers and table slapping in the bar.  I found myself longing for an SF crowd where there hoots would be replaced by whistles of appreciation, and the singer would be a tranny herself.  Lord help me, that singer's next song was about God.

From Nashville we went to Cumberland Mountain State Park for a couple nights.  We did the campfire thing and tried numerous times to rent a paddle boat but never pulled it off.  It was nice to get away from the RV parks for a few nights and enjoy the katydid chorus and dry lightning show.

Despite it being the summer holiday, there were plenty of open sites and few people to deal with.  However, the few people I did speak to fell into the same pattern I had noticed throughout Tennessee.  It's not that people are rude, they just don't go out of their way to be friendly or helpful.  For example, if I asked the woman at the state park office where she would recommend I take Lukas (given that the paddleboat plan failed due to the park's short staffing) she would likely look at me like that was the dumbest question she'd ever heard.  Then she would probably say in a slow drawl, "There's a playground..." and dismiss me in favor of addressing the otherwise empty room.  At least that's how I interpreted this conversation and many similar interactions throughout the state.

Our final stop in Tennessee was the Great Smokey Mountains, also known as God's Great Smokey Mountains.  Did you know that the Smokey Mountains are the most visited National Park in the United States?  I'm guessing that is due to its proximity to Dollywood.  Dollywood is Ms Dolly Parton's country western themed amusement park, located just outside of the park boundary in the town of Gatlinburg.  Gatlinburg probably has America's highest density of tourist traps per square foot sustained over two miles, and as such should be in the Guinness Book or at least Ripley's Believe it Or Not, which does have a museum in Gatlinburg featuring a taxidermied six legged bison.

Lukas is not known for his desire to walk long distances and he's getting heavy at almost three years old, so we knew that hiking would not be part of our equation in the Smokies.  Instead we opted for the six mile Roaring Fork Motor Trail.  It was a tiny one way road with a 10 mph speed limit, no trucks or RVs allowed.  We saw some beautiful forests and nice views and a babbling brook and some old settler's houses.  For all it's popularity I was a little underwhelmed with the Smoky mountains.  I'm sure it would make for a great hike and a fun weekend of backcountry camping, but be sure to bring your bear and tick sprays!

Holy Moley, we left Tennessee without being adopted into the Church.  And what a treat awaited us.  Asheville, North Carolina.  Portland of the East.  A city for road weary foodies to replenish their taste buds.  The vibe is independent, local, sustainable, vegetarian friendly, artsy and more than a little hippie.  The town is in the Blue Ridge Mountains and as such is cooler than most of North Carolina.  We wandered the downtown, ate at a veggie restaurant where they not only recycled but also composted, ordered a few hipster t-shirts at a printing shop run by a local artist, bought some recycled yoga mat sandals, and ended our trip at the slow food chocolate shop that serves microbrews and port.  I could have visited Asheville for another week.  It didn't hurt that we were staying at one of the best RV parks we had experience thus far.  But we only had two days to get to the coast of North Carolina, so we had to keep moving.

We stocked up on veggie food before hitting the road to Florence, South Carolina.  Florence was an overnight stop out of necessity.  Nowhere that I would plan to go again.  It was the perfect launching spot for our final drive to Oak Island, North Carolina, where we would see family and friends for the first time in six weeks.


RV PARK REVIEWS


Nashville KOA, Nashville, TN: B
  Close to Opryland, short drive to downtown, pool, laundry, Wienermobile visit, crowded.


Cumberland Mountain State Park, Crossville, TN: A-
  Nice forest, lots of space between spots, good shade trees, no sewer connection, trucks speeding on roads, pool and boat rental closed on Mondays.


Smokey Bear Campground, Cosby, TN: B-
  Pool, playground, shade trees, short walk to trail in national forest, tight spots, biting gnats, staff really hung up on their previous high ratings, self described as "top of the line", given a hard time for not making reservations.


Campfire Lodgings, Asheville, NC: A+
  Beautiful spot in the forest with a view of the Blue Ridge mountains, wild turkeys hanging out behind RV, tastefully decorated store and bathroom area, lots of forest trails, close to town.

Florence RV Park, Florence, SC: C+
  Right next to highway, pond with ducks, pool, separated into areas for long-term residents and visitors.