We arrived at the campground around noon. Roger and Linda were already in their spot as we pulled up to the site next to them. After handshakes and hugs we decided to go out to dinner tonight for Chinese food. We met Roger and Linda at China by the Sea restaurant and had a good dinner. Sim did not really like her eggplant dish but my fried shrimp, scallops and fish with sauteed veggies was delicious.

Back at the coach, Roger and Linda came over and we talked and drank wine for a couple of hours before calling it a night. Roger was nice enough to let us use his wifi and internet connection and I was able to send the September pictures and travelogue off to Webmaster Dennis to publish to www.jimandsim.com.

Oct 2
Roger and Linda left this morning. They are heading up the road to another campground that is a Passport America campground. They get a 50% discount there. It is actually a pretty good deal. Sim and I had a membership the first year, but did not renew. There is a limited number of campgrounds and some of the ones that we stayed in were not very well maintained. After Roger and Linda took off around 11:00, Sim and I drove into Boothbay and walked around the town for a couple of hours. They have some nice shops there and we especially liked a shop called Mung Bean. They have crafts and gifts that are all made in the U.S. with most originating in Maine. We spotted a Hair Salon and decided that we both should get our haircut. Back at the coach we had dinner and watched Survivor and then the Biden – Palin debate on TV. Being Obama supporters we thought Biden won, but we did like Palin's “down to earth” demeanor.

Oct 3 (1 night, Scarbourgh, ME USA – Cabela's Parking Lot)
We are taking off this morning and driving south. We didn't get on the road until after lunch. Sim prepared dough for steamed buns yesterday so we could have stuffed chicken buns for dinner. Sim said working with yeast drives her nuts as the dough didn't turn out right. So, she turned the bun dough to the pizza dough. We had scallops and cauliflower pizza for lunch today. Back in June we tried cauliflower pizza in Manhattan and we loved it. We drove down to Scarbourgh and found Cabela's. Roger and Linda stayed here on their way up the coast so we are staying here on the way down. We parked the coach and went into Cabela's to look around. You have to go inside one of these stores to see it if you have never been. They have everything for the sportsman/woman. In the center of the store, they have a display of many game animals, from bear, elk, moose and all most everything in between all the way down to rabbit.

We drove to downtown Portland to get some groceries at an Asian market that Sim found on the web. After we shopped we drove down to the Old Port to find the Visitors Center to get the low down on Portland. We followed the signs to the VC, parked and then looked where the signs said it was located. After searching in vain, we asked a local who told us that the VC had moved a ½ mile down the street. We walked down to the new location and where greeted with the customary “How can we help you”, to which I replied; “You can fix your signs”. We gathered up a dozen or so brochures, asked directions to a restaurant that Bill, a friend of Sim, recommended and walked back to the car. The wind was blowing and it was really cold walking that ½ mile back.

We headed off to Eggspectations, the recommended restaurant and found it with only one wrong turn. It is so new that it is not in the GPS. We had dinner and my Chicken Milano was very good. Sim liked her Caesar Salad with Chicken, but didn't like Tomato Basil soup. Eggspectations is unusual in that it serves breakfast all day long. I guess that is its specialty. It also has free WiFi.

Pulling into Cabela's parking lot, we noticed a sign that said “No Overnight Parking”. We are not moving and are taking a chance that no one will come knock on the door in the middle of the night and ask us to move.

Oct 4 (1 night, Scarbourgh, ME USA – Wal-Mart Parking Lot)
It was 3 a.m. I woke up and realized the noise I heard was just my dream. Then I heard the knocking noise again and I realized that it was real. The police were here and told us that Cabela's did not want people parking overnight in their lot. I did not ask why the sign said overnight parking was prohibited because of a township ordinance. The officer said we could move up the street and park at the Wal Mart. We got up and moved up the street to the Sam's Club. I had a tough time going back to sleep but finally did and no one bothered us the rest of the night or in the morning.

We had breakfast and then unhooked the car and headed out for Cape Elizabeth. We ended up at Fort Williams Park and the lighthouse on the point. We walked the park trails and walked down on the rocky shore to get away from the busloads of tourists that come out here from the cruise ships that come into port in Portland. We drove back to the downtown area, walked around some more and bought 4 lbs. of Haddock filets, put them on ice in the cooler in the car, and then headed off for lunch at a Thai restaurant that was recommended by a friend of Sims.

After lunch we went over to the largest mall in Maine, the Maine Mall, to see just how big it was. We walked around widow shopping, stopped into Ritz Camera and got a couple of photos, to send in with my passport renewal request, before heading back to the coach.

After dinner we moved the coach over to the Wal-Mart that is practically across the street from Sam's Club. We were OK where we were but we were right next to Interstate 295 and the traffic is loud even at night.

Oct 5
A good night sleep last night. No one knocked on the door at 3:00 a.m. and there was no highway noise. After breakfast we headed south towards New Hampshire. I found a campground that was fairly close to the ocean that was still open. Most of the campgrounds here on the East Coast close in October. We are headed for Hampton, NH and the Tidewater Campground. The drive is not very far today and we took our time, and stopped a few times along the way. We found the campground just fine and waved as we drove past, because the GPS said we had another ¼ mile to go. So we had to turn around drive another mile or so to turn around again before we negotiated the entrance. The campground is OK, but no end of season break on the price. The pool is closed, the recreation hall is closed, and there is no wifi and no cable. The rate is $39. /night. We got set up and headed off to explore the local area in the Jeep. We ended up in a cute little town called Newburyport. We parked the Jeep and headed off on foot following the signs to the Visitor's Center. We walked and walked until we hit a dead-end street, still the VC was no where to be found. We walked back to where we started and met some tourists that asked us if we knew where Michael's restaurant was. We told them that we had not seen Michael's in our walk because we were looking for the VC. They said they tried to find the VC too, but didn't have luck either. A few minutes later, we spotted an Information booth. We walked up and the first thing we asked was where the VC was. She said it was right in front of us. After receiving a brief suggestion as what to see and nearby places to visit, we noticed that all the handouts she gave to us were about Massachusetts. Sim asked where we were right now. The VC lady asked us where we thought we were. We both said NH. She said no, we were in MA. Along with usually not knowing what day of the week it is, now we didn't even know what state we are in. Newburyport is a cool old town that has retained some old world charm in the houses and buildings that line the main street into town. We walked around for a couple of hours looking at the historic sites. We found a kind of flea market called Oldies that sold all kinds of things that are really old. Sim and I both had fun wandering around in there.

Back in the car we headed back to the coach, but took the long way to get there. We drove along the coast and checked out Hampton Beach and Salisbury Beach. We also attempted to find some free internet to download our email and send a few emails off. We did not have much luck as everyone around here seems to be very diligent and has their networks password protected. We did finally manage to pick up a 2 bar signal in front of an apartment building and did get our incoming mail.

Oct 6
Today we are heading out to Plum Island. Plum Island is home to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. It is home to over 300 varieties of birds. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and spoke to the volunteers there and got a map and an overview of the Refuge before we headed out. The refuge covers 4500 acres and is on an island about 11 miles long and 3 to 4 miles wide. We drove the entire length of the island, spent some time walking the quiet and beautiful wide white sand beach at the end of the park and stopped numerous times to view the wildlife.

Next we are headed off to the historic town of Ipswich, birthplace of American Independence. Along the way we spotted the Clam Shack. We have been wanting to try some fried clams so now was as good a time as any so we pulled in. The parking lot was full and there was a line at the order window when we walked in. We had our clams and coleslaw in 15 minutes and we ate it all. I liked it, but Sim was not so sure. Later in the day Sim told me not to let her eat Fried Clams again. So now it is Fried Clams and Raw Oysters that are on Sim's “Never eat again” list. Ipswich is a delightful colonial town, founded in 1634. We drove out to the Glenwood Farm reserve and the old Paine house to see what life was like as a salt marsh farmer. We walked the Riverwalk and saw the oldest stone arch bridge in America and drove Main St. to see all the old and beautifully restored colonial homes. The restored homes on Main St. all have plaques denoting the year built and the original homeowners.

Oct 7-10 (4 nights, Litchfield, CT, USA - Hemlock Campground)
Buurrr.. it was chilly this morning. Thermometer read 35 F. The morning news reporters said it would be a nice warm day and the temperature would climb to 60 F by the afternoon. There is a differentiation of the definition of warm and cold between So Cal and NH. If the temperature doesn't reach the mid 70s, it is not warm for us.

We learned that the leaves were in their peak colors this week in the inland parts of New England, and next week they should peak along the shoreline of New England. So, we changed our plans of traveling along the coast to going inland and to the mountains. We agreed to go to the Litchfield Hills area of CT as we saw a few good sized lakes in the area. Off we go to Connecticut. We should be there in no time as it is approximately a 3 hour drive.

We stopped at the first CT VC we saw to get information about the Litchfield Hills area. We got a campground book and there was only one campground in the area and according to the book they only took RVs up to 35 feet. I think we can fit because there is usually some margin of error in the listings so off we go to Hemlock Campground. While Sim prepared lunch, I went through all the information on the campground and set up our faithful GPS. We followed the GPS directions faithfully and she ended up taking us on a back road to the campground. I turned onto a gravel road thinking it would be a short entrance road. It turned out to be a 2 mile long fire road that was narrow, rough and barely wide enough for us. We met two cars coming the other way and it was a real challenge for them to pull off the road enough to let us by. I put a couple of scratches in the side of the coach from the tree branches while passing both cars. The park owner was very apologetic about the road and told us that many people fall into that GPS trap. She did put up a sign once warning people not to take that road but the local residents took the sign down right after it went up. I guess they get some sick sense of joy watching hapless RV owners navigate the fire road.

The owner did find a spot for us in the campground, but it was only good for a couple of days. Columbus Day weekend was coming and they were booked up completely. I think because we didn't give the owners a hard time about the fire road and the scratches, they gave us twenty dollars off on the daily rate and allowed us to boondock in their parking lot on the day the park was completely full. They also let us use their 20 amp power. Very caring and great customer service at this park.

Oct 8



Off to Kent Falls and points north today for sightseeing and leaf peeping. We got to the Kent Falls area and it is quite pretty. The falls are nice and I think during the spring snow melt they must be pretty spectacular. They have a few hiking trails at the Falls so we set out to hike all of them. A couple hours later we had hiked all the trails, climbed to the top of the falls and saw all there was to see. Before heading off we had lunch at the base of the falls.

Drove north, stopped at farm stand and bought some fresh Honey Crisp apples and made on the farm, non-pasteurized apple cider. It needed to be kept refrigerated so we found a store, bought a bag of ice and put the apple cider in the cooler with the ice. After checking our map we picked a different way back to camp and enjoyed a scenic ride through the mountains of Connecticut back to the campground.

Oct 9
Woke up this morning, looked out the window and we had a dozen wild turkeys grazing at our campsite. We took some pictures while they hung out for a few minutes and then they wandered back into the woods.

Drove south today down and around Bantam Lake which looks like a good prospect to do some kayaking. We stopped at a Lao Temple we spotted. We parked and walked to the temple. Since Thailand and Laos use the same alphabet, Sim assumed she should be able to carry on a conversation with someone from Laos. But, she found out that the Lao dialect was different from the two Thai dialects she speaks (central and southern). Luckily Sim found one Lao woman who grew up in northern Thailand and could speak some Thai. Sim talked to this woman for a while and during the conversation the two nuns working in the kitchen invited us to have a meal. We politely declined and said we were on a schedule and had to get going.

Next we are off to White Flower Farm. Apparently White Flower Farm is one of the most famous mail order nurseries in the world. We arrived, parked and walked to the main store. They gave us a map of the grounds for our self guided tour. We walked around and saw some interesting stuff, but since it was fall, there was not a lot of color in the gardens. They also raise their own beef and have packaged select choices of cuts of beef available for sale as well as plants, flowers, seeds and bulbs.

OK, next we are off to March Farm. March Farm has about 150 acres of apples, pears, and assorted other crops including, this time of year, corn and pumpkins. They have retail produce stand with 10 or so different varieties of apples or you can pick your own. We walked around on the farm and petted some farm animals then walked up to the Corn Maze, which is an annual event for the locals. We did the Corn Maze and it was fun. They have a short history lesson on corn at the beginning of the maze and then questions are posted on signs inside the maze about the history lesson. Answer the questions correctly and you get through the maze quickly. Answer wrong and you are directed to a dead end in the maze and are forced to back track.

After the maze, we picked some Cortland apples. We tasted several varieties before deciding on the Courtlands. The Cortland has a very white flesh, is really crisp and taste delicious right from the tree. We picked about 4 or 5 lb. of apples and paid $.90/lb..

Oct 11 (1 night, Fishkill, NY USA – Wal Mart Parking Lot)
Drove to Fishkill today. Our plan is to stay at a Wal Mart, if we can ever find the one we are looking for. The darn GPS told us to go the wrong way again. We finally found the Wal Mart and a Sam's Club and parked. We unhooked the Jeep and took a drive up the scenic Taconia Parkway. It was not very scenic, but I did see a sign saying the FDR's house was up ahead so we headed in that direction. We ended up in Poughkeppsie and found the Eleanor Roosevelt Historic Site. We decided to stop in and see what they had there. We checked in at the Information Office and found out there was a tour at 4:15 so we signed up for that. We had an hour to kill until the tour started so we walked the 1.5 mile trail that Eleanor used to walk daily.

We met the Ranger at 4:10 and started our tour. First we saw a 20 minute movie about Eleanor and FDR, then we were taken on a tour of the house were she lived. It was interesting to find out that after Eleanor's death people came in and took pictures of the whole house. Using those pictures the National Park Service has been able to do a nice restoration of the house. It was a coincidence that we visited Eleanor's place on her birthday October 11th.

Touring her place, we learned that she was very simple woman. Her house was neither big nor elegant, but rather practical and thoughtful. She had chairs that were different styles and colors in her living room. She said the chairs in her living room were like her guests who were different gender different ethnicity, age, race, and country and they blended well together as a group. The Ranger suggested we try to picture world leaders like Churchill, Gandi, and others sitting at the dinner table when we were standing in front of her dinning room. Later, Sim told me that she had a bit of trouble trying to picture faces. She didn't remember some faces, including Churchills, but knew he was a bulky gentleman. So, a few of them had no faces while having dinner with Eleanor. Sim is pretty funny sometimes.

After we left Eleanor's house we did see another sign pointing the way to FDR's house but it was after 5:00 and it was closed, so we headed back to the Wal-Mart parking lot. We needed a couple of things so we went into Wal-Mart to shop. We could not believe the condition of this store. It was awful. The floors were filthy with litter and dirt. The check out lines were 10 to 15 shoppers deep with the slowest checkers I have ever seen. Back at the coach we noticed another camper had parked in the lot next to us and he had left his lights on, so I went over to tell him. He was a Prostate cancer survivor from California and is traveling by himself.

Oct 12 (1 night, East Stroudsburg, PA USA – Wal-Mart Parking Lot)

Drove to East Stroudsburg today. We are going to stay at another Wal-Mart again today. There is lots and lots of traffic on Rte 209. Don't know what is going on. We found the Wal-Mart and there were no signs that said “No Overnight Parking” so we found a good location on the outskirts of the parking lot and settled in. We unhooked the Jeep and headed up to a place called Bushkill Falls. We did not know what expect but what we found was pretty unreal. Bushkill Falls is about 10 acres or so of hiking trails that a river runs through. They have a gift shop, a small Indian Museum, and Miniature Golf Course and a couple of Snack Shops. They charge $10 for admission. As long as we were here, we payed and hiked all the trails they had to get our money's worth. It was a Sunday and the place was packed with people. You would have thought no one in this part of the country had ever been out in the mountains because everyone was here this Sunday.

Oct 13 – 19 (7 nights, Intercourse, PA – Beacon Hill Campground)
Today we are heading back to Amish country and specifically, the town of Intercourse. This will be our 3rd time to this part of the U.S. Sim really enjoys this part of Pennsylvania. We arrived at the campground, without reservations of course and they could accommodate us for a few days, but we might have to move to a different site occasionally. That was fine with us.

On one of my sessions on the internet forum RV.Net, I mentioned that we were headed to Intercourse and planning to stay at Beacon Hill. Another RV.Net forum member wrote me an email and said he and his wife would be at that campground as well and we should meet. So after we got settled in our spot, Sim and I walked up to site no. 14 and met John and Joyce from Maine. We visited with them in their RV for a couple of hours. John and Joyce come to Intercourse every year and spend a week or so. Joyce is into crafts and especially likes to visit the craft stores in the area. John is a Civil War buff who loves visiting the historic sites nearby. John and Joyce invited us to go with them to Gettysburg the day after tomorrow and we agreed.

Back at our coach we planned our activity for tomorrow and watched the Amish farmer across the street harvest his corn with a team of mules.

Oct 14
Today we are off to Valley Forge. Valley Forge is only an hour and a half drive east of Intercourse, PA. Valley Forge National Historical Park is a 3600-acre park where George Washington's Continental Army encamped during the winter of 1777-1778. After we went to the Visitors Center and saw an 18 minute movie that summarized the activity at Valley Forge we jumped into the Jeep and drove the self guided tour around the park. They have audio tours and cell phone audio tours as well. The park is nicely laid out with parking at the various significant locations within the grounds. You can stop at the various encampments where some of the state troops built their log cabins to spend the winter in. The cabins were rustic to say the least with just bunk beds and a fireplace for heat. You can also see and go inside the farmhouse where George Washington stayed for the winter. We parked the car and got the bikes off the back and rode the bikes to a few more spots that were inaccessible by car due to a road closure for maintenance. They actually have about 30 miles of trails for walking and biking in the park.

Oct 15
We are off to Gettysburg with John and Joyce today. It is a couple of hours south of Intercourse. John is driving so I get the chance to enjoy the scenery. I guess they have a new Visitor's Center as John, who has been here many times, had a bit of trouble finding it. We did get there and picked up our trusty Visitors Guide and our first stop was the Battlefield museum. It was a big museum and it could take a half day to see every thing. We spent a too short one hour at the museum because the Cyclorama was due to start. This is a 360 degree painting of the battlefield that was painted sometime after the war. It depicts all of the horror of this one battle in a very realistic manner. It almost looks 3 dimensional in it’s presentation. There is a narration that gives a brief overview of the battles as the days unfolded. It was interesting and should not be missed. The battle here at Gettysburg on July 1, 2 and 3rd 1863 was the bloodiest of all battles during the Civil War. Total casualties (killed, wounded, captured and missing) for the three days of fighting were 23,000 for the Union army and as many as 28,000 for the Confederate army.

After the VC we were getting hungry so John took us to one of their favorite buffets; Pickett's Buffet, named after General Pickett I would guess. Lunch was good and we are ready to tour.

John drove us around the Battlefield on the self guided route. The Battlefield is quite large and it took us about 3 hours to visit all the most interesting spots. One of the most memorable was the Wheatfield where over 4,000 men were killed or wounded in one battle. This is where the Confederates marched across an open field and tried to take a Union position up on a small hill called Little Round Top.

It was a long day and it was dark by the time we got back to camp. Thanks again John and Joyce. We had a great time.

Oct 16
We walked to downtown Intercourse this morning. They have a large complex called the Kitchen Kettle Village with lots of shops and stores to shop in and visit. We walked around and went inside many of the shops. They have a large parking lot and there were about 6 tour buses in the lot, so all to the shops were full of tourists buying up Amish goods. The most crowded shop was the Jams and Jellies shop. People wree walking around with their baskets full of jars of various jams, jellies, relishes and pickled treats. The check out line was 30 people deep.

We resisted the temptation to buy anything and headed back to camp. We jumped on the bikes and headed off on the back country roads to sight-see. We rode about 5 miles before heading back to camp, but first had to stop at the Swan Pond that John and Joyce told us about. They are supposed to have a couple of swans in the pond and one of them only has one leg and still manages to swim in a straight line. We have to see this. Well we found the pond and the two swans, but both seemed to have both legs. I think John was pulling my leg. Both swans came swimming right to us when we approached. I think they have been well trained and expect some food whenever people arrive. They also have some rather large carp and what appeared to be trout swimming around in the pond with the swans.

Oct 17
Today we just rode our bikes around and looked at the neat well kept farms. The Amish were just going about their daily lives. The laundry was neatly hung outside and the women were tending their gardens while the children played in the yard.

Oct 18
More bike riding today. Sim can never get enough of bike riding or the Amish. Today we rode back into town. Sim noticed a couple of young Amish boys with a wagon heading for the Kitchen Kettle area so we followed them to see what they were up to. They pulled their wagon into the courtyard of the Kettle Kitchen area, parked the wagon and began to setup their wares for sale. Their wares were old horseshoes that had been cleaned up and painted various colors and with different decorations. They were selling them for $3.00 each and if you wanted a piece of string so you could hang up your horseshoe that was another $1.00. People were buying.

Oct 19
It is Sunday. All the stores, owned by the Amish, will be closed. I'll bet you cannot guess what we are going to do today. Ride bikes? How did you know? We took off in a new direction today. I saw a covered bridge on our trusty map and decided that would be a fun thing to see on our ride. We found the bridge but it was not as picturesque as I had imagined in my mind, so no pictures. Sorry. We continued on and happened to come across a park where 15 or 20 Amish buggies were parked. Curious, we rode into the park to find about 20 Amish and non-Amish boys playing together a game of American football on the field.

We watched them play for about 15 minutes. The game looked like a stalemate. Neither team could move the ball down the field. I think all of these Amish boys are on their 1 or 2 year holiday where they can go out and experience the English world before they have to decide whether they want to continue to be Amish or give it up. We saw one young man who was obviously drunk and another who appeared to be passed out on the grass. There were several non Amish and Amish boys riding around in a truck with a couple of Amish girls, cigarette smoke billowing out of the windows as they drove by. It appeared they really had a good time.

Oct 20 – 22 (3 nights, College Park, MD – Cherry Hill Campground)
We have decided to go back to Cherry Hill Campground in Maryland again so we can go back into Washington DC one more time. There were a couple of places that we really wanted to see but did not have the time on our last visit. And there were a couple of places that we wanted to see again. We made it to the campground without incident except for the awful traffic on the Washington beltway. One more reminder of why I hate large cities. I could never understand why people put up with sitting in traffic day in and day out. Cherry Hill had room for us, but boy they seemed pretty busy even for this time of year.

Oct 21
We walked to the front of the campground where the bus picks you up to take you to the subway station. The bus comes at 9:40 so we were there at 9:30 to buy our tickets. For $5.50 each you get a bus token and roundtrip subway ticket. Coming back off the subway you get a transfer ticket and pay only $.45 for the bus ride back to the campground. Buses run every 30 minutes and the subway about every 10 minutes. So off to DC we went. We got off the subway near the Smithsonian and headed over there to pick up a museum guide and to find out if the American History Museum was open yet. It was not. Bummer. It is scheduled for late November of this year. Oh well, we headed off to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery that was featuring Asian Art and after that went to the Freer Gallery that showcases Asian and American Art. Next on the agenda is the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, but first we need something to eat. I went up to one of the Security Guards that are stationed everywhere in DC and asked for a good place for lunch. He suggested the cafeteria at the Dept. of Agriculture that was just down the street. We walked down there and went inside but they required picture identification to get in the building. Sim did not have her ID with her, so that was that. We went back to the Holocaust Museum and had some lunch in the Cafe right next door. After lunch we decided to do the Holocaust Museum first before we did Engraving and Printing. We spent about 2 hours in the Holocaust Museum. It was really emotional and kind of depressing, but I think everyone should see it.

Now we are off to see some money being printed. Usually you have to get tickets but this time of year we just walked right in. There was no line and only 6 people in our tour group. They take you on a very orchestrated tour and hurry you along. No picture taking is allowed. You get to see them printing up mostly ones, fives and twenties.

After the tour they have a gift shop where you can buy sheets of uncut bills. They also have a display of some unique bills. Too bad that they didn't give out a free sample at the end of the tour. Worth the time to go see this place, however.

Oct 22
Back into DC again today. We planned our arrival at Union Station as the Postal Museum is right next to Union Station. So our first stop was the Postal Museum. The Postal Museum is actually pretty interesting. They have a table with 5 or 6 boxes of postmarked stamps and they give you a clear envelope and some tweezers and you can pick out 6 stamps to start your own stamp collection. They also have part of the collection of a noted collector whose name escapes me right now. But he did have one of the 100 24 cent airmail stamps with the inverted Curtis Jenny that is worth several hundred thousand dollars to collectors. Next we walked over to the National Mall and paid another visit to the Botanical Gardens. This is a great place to go when it is cold outside. After we warmed up inside the Botanical Gardens we walked toward the Washington Monument. Along the way they have a model of our Solar System. Starting with the Sun at a scale of 1 billionth, the Sun is about the size of a softball. As you walk along the Mall each planet is represented along with interesting factoids until you get to Pluto (recently downgraded from planet to asteroid). It is interesting to see the relative sizes of the planets and we learned that some of the planets have as many as 20 moons.

Along the way we went into the Air and Space Museum. We spent an hour or so inside. Sim had fun with the infrared camera. Next we are off to the Natural History Museum. The last time we were here we did not get to see this entire museum as they closed just 30 minutes after we arrived. The Hope Diamond was on our list of must see items so we are going to see that for sure. The Museum has a new Ocean Hall exhibit with a full scale model of a Right Whale and a 1500 gal. aquarium. They also have a Live Butterfly Pavilion that was closed but I am sure it was really neat. The Dinosaur Hall is cool along with the Hall of Mammals where you can see 274 stuffed animals.

Oct 23 – 24 (2 nights, Staunton, VA – Walnut Hill Campground)
Drove to Staunton VA today. No place to be so just drove until I was tired. Just making time through Virginia. Also wanted to be closer to a big city as we are having some electrical issues and I may need a new battery isolator for the coach. The alternator has gone into high charge mode and my batteries are getting 16V unless I have the Boost Switch on which connects the house batteries with the chassis batteries.

Oct 24
Today we just stayed in and did not much of anything. We did walk around the campground and watched all the campers that were decorating their campsites for the big Halloween Party on Saturday.

Oct 25 (1 night, Asheville, NC – Wal Mart Parking Lot)
Happy Birthday to me. We are heading to Asheville today. Decided to take the Skyline Parkway as it should be really pretty this time of year. The drive was pretty and after we satisfied our craving for Autumn leaves we jumped back on the freeway towards Asheville. We got into town and followed the GPS to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Guess what, no Wal Mart at that location. We punched in the other Wal Mart and headed off again. Once again, there was no Wal-Mart at the second location either. We parked the coach and went looking for some internet access which we found at a Holiday Inn close by. We got directions and an address for a Wal Mart in town and got back to the coach and headed off. By this time it was dark and getting late. Finally we recognized the road and in a short time were back at a familiar Wal Mart.

One of the reasons we came back to Asheville was that Sim wanted to go to the fancy McDonalds near the Biltmore Estate. She learned about it from watching the Travel Channel show. She said it was a rare opportunity to have fast food with her consent and I should take it. So off to McDonalds we went. Since it is my birthday, Sim said I could have anything I wanted. I had a Big Mac and a Chocolate Shake. This is a classy McDonalds: fresh flowers every table, a fireplace, and a grand piano. The inspiration for this McDonalds came from its proximity to the elegant Biltmore Estate. Unfortunately there was a rather rude woman serving customers. She was also wearing a really dirty shirt and lacked any form of customer service skills. The dining room also had not been bussed in a couple of hours. So the ambience was not quite what we expected.

Oct 26 – 29 (4 nights, Smokemont NC, Great Smokey Mountains National Park)
We are leaving Asheville this morning and driving to the Smokey Mountains. We picked a campground up in the National Park. It is at about 2500 ft so the leaves should be really pretty. Sim has not sated her fix for Autumn leaves yet. Drove a couple of hours toward the mountains and finally found the campground. Sim was pretty tense and scared of the winding mountain roads. It is a National Forest campground, so it has no hookups, but it is only $10/night with my Golden Access Card. We picked out a nice sunny spot and settled in for the next 3 days.

I went out in search of firewood and found a downed tree and got some wood for a fire tonight. It is supposed to get down in the 40s tonight. Sim made a really delicious dinner to make up for my not great Birthday dinner experience yesterday. Ah.. I could not ask for anything else: great food, gorgeous view, campfire, and funny stories from Sim.

Oct 27
We are driving the Jeep back toward Maggie Valley today. We saw some really pretty scenery on the way here but there was no where to park the coach so we are backtracking a bit to do some picture taking. Fall has arrived here big time. The entire mountain is gold, yellow, red, and brown. There are also some fruit stands along the road that we want to stop at as well. We only went back about 20 miles to find the lake that we saw on the way up. We drove around the lake, stopped at a nice spot and had lunch. After lunch we continued around the lake. It looks like this might be some kind of religious retreat/learning center as there are many meeting halls and assembly places.

Back on the road towards the campground we stopped at a couple produce stands and ended up buying a peck of apples. A peck is about the size of a small grocery bag. Back at the coach we headed off in search of firewood. They allow you to collect any dead downed wood off the forest floor. We found the log that I was sawing on yesterday and cut up the balance and toted it back to the coach. We now have enough wood for tonight and tomorrow.

Sim started dinner and I started the fire. By the time dinner was ready I had a roaring fire going and we sat outside in front of the fire with some delicious rice soup that Sim made. While we were eating, it started to snow. The evening was a bit chilly but beautiful. Our campfire kept us warm and we sat outside to enjoy the evening until the last piece of wood was burned.

Oct 28
We woke up this morning to snow flurries and 1 inch of snow on the car. We are not that high up in the mountains but the temperature is at 34 degrees this morning. Sim wanted to go on a hike today, but I think it might be a bit cold for hiking.

After breakfast we got in the car and headed down the mountain into town to find some internet. We noticed that the road going up the mountain was closed due to snow and ice. We found a Best Western right on the edge of town and parked in front to check for a wifi signal. Viola, we have full bars. Unfortunately the battery on the laptop quit after 5 minutes. We have a bad battery that will not charge. Apple will replace it free of charge even though it is out of warranty but we have to get to an Apple store somewhere. Anyway we went inside the lobby and found a comfortable chair with a 115V outlet nearby and did the email thing, uploaded some pictures to PicasaWeb, and checked Google Earth for places to go next.

It was getting close to lunchtime and there was a restaurant on premise so I went to see. They had a buffet and I saw a sign that said Buffet $5.95. A good deal so I convinced Sim to eat there instead of going back to the coach. Well it turned out that the buffet was really $7.95 and the $5.95 price was for EMT, Police and Firefighters in uniform. Oh well, the buffet was still OK.

When we drove back to the campground, the road up the mountain had opened up so after a bathroom break at the coach, we headed out again and went up the mountain to see more snow. At the top of the Smoky Mountains here is the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee. The elevation is just over 5000 ft. When we got to the top, all the trees were covered in snow, the wind was blowing at 15 – 20 mph and the temperature was a brisk 24 degrees. I have no idea what the wind chill temperature was. All I know is I could only stay outside of the car for about 5 minutes before I was shivering so bad I had to retreat to the car. It was a little nicer down at about 3000 feet and Sim and I stopped multiple times coming back down the mountain to take pictures and play in the snow.

Oct 29
Our original plan was to leave today for Tennessee, but that changed when we realized just how few days we have left before we are due in Texas. So we were going to drive to Atlanta today and spend two days there. One day to look around and one day to visit with my third cousin whom I met on the internet in the course of my genealogy work. But Sim has not had enough of the Smokey Mountains and wants to stay one more day. So today we need to go back into town and let my cousin know we are a day behind schedule and go to the park office and pay for another day.

We didn't have buffet at the hotel for lunch today. Sim cooked up 2 last pieces of Haddock we bought from Portland, MA. She just fried them and flavored them with ground black pepper. We ate it with grape tomatoes and jalapeno sauce. Sim got the sauce recipe from her Hispanic employee while working at the Biltmore Hotel in CA.

After lunch we decided to hike the Smokemont Loop Trail there at the campground. The Trail is almost 6 miles long. We started off and it started going uphill very quickly. We climbed and climbed and ended up going uphill for 3 miles when we finally got to the top of the mountain. The good part was it was all downhill on the loop back. It was a nice hike and we got to see lots of tree color and even saw a snake. If we didn't have any other commitments, Sim would probably want to stay here for at least another week. She loves hiking especially the uphill climbing kind. She said it was such a great joy to have the opportunity to stay in these glorious ghostly mountains. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park completely satisfied her autumn foliage craving. It is in the top ten list of her favorite places.

Oct 30
Off to Mc.Donough, GA today. We are staying at Atlanta South Campground. My cousin called and left a message today saying that something had come up and he could not meet us today, but after a couple of phone calls, we will get together tomorrow.

We found the campground after getting lost on the first attempt. The pulls through sites are right next to each other and the wifi, although free, is useless. You can do limited web browsing but sending an email or uploading anything is next to impossible.

Oct 31
Happy Halloween. My 3rd cousin Terry is coming over for lunch today at 11:30. Sim is preparing the ingredients for Pad Thai and I am working around the coach and doing a couple of loads of laundry. Terry showed up right on time and we ate Sim's delicious Pad Thai and then talked for an hour or so. Terry suggested we go out to see some sites, so we jumped in the Jeep and headed out. We stopped at an old mansion that was typical of the old South and did the audio tour of the house. It was quite interesting. Do you know where the saying “turned down” when you are refused a request came from? Back then when you went to a lady and gentleman's home you presented your name card to the servant upon your arrival at the front door. The servant took the card to the lady of the house and if she was receiving visitors that day the card was returned to you and you were escorted to the parlor. If the lady of the house was not receiving visitors, the corner of your name card would be “turned down” when it was returned to you so you would know to come back another day.

After the mansion we headed over to the Gone with the Wind Museum. This is the area of Georgia that Margaret Mithchell grew up and this area was the inspiration for her novel. We browsed the memorabilia in the museum which is housed in the old train depot, and then headed back to the campground where we said our goodbyes to Terry. Terry has been very helpful with my genealogy tree and using his data I have filled in many branches of my tree.

Well October is over and we are heading south towards Texas. This chapter of Jim and Sim's Great Adventure is drawing to a close. We have had a couple of people interested in the coach but no offers yet. We have appointments set up for Xtreme to do the paint touch up and Motorhomes of Texas to do some scheduled maintenance work. Our present plan is to arrive in Texas 3 to 4 days before our Xtreme due date to clean and refresh the inside.