Saturday, September 7, 2013, Stafford, VA

A couple of the tourists

Our day started as usual with coffee and computer.  The day was sunny and clear.

After taking care of business we headed into Washington, DC.  My only goal was to find a cache and add the city to places I had cached.

The North Portico of the White House

A view of the US Capitol Building

We found a parking place on the street a couple of blocks from the north entrance to the White House  All the streets around the White house are closed to vehicles. We saw scattered protesters with various causes, but nothing of any size.  There were a lot of people on the street taking pictures with the North Portico in the background.  It was interesting that so few of the tourists were speaking English.  I can only speculate why.  Curiosity, or is there still some admiration out there for this county and it's form of government?   Maybe they are there to see it before we throw it away.  In any event they are there by the droves.
We walked around for awhile and visited the Ronald Reagan Building.  I then got serious about finding a cache.  Most of the caches in the area are virtual caches versus traditional caches.  By that I mean there is nothing really hidden there.  The coordinates lead you to the location where there is some sort of interesting or significant item or structure.  You then have to send the person who established the cache some information they require to prove you were there.  I found two, one at Freedom Plaza and the other across the street, a statue of General Pershing.  Now the only state I have to find a cache in is Alaska and I hope to get that one next year.  I may never get to all the territories, possessions or outlying major and minor islands claimed by the US.  I have cached in the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and American Samoa.

Gerri, the White House in the background

After satisfying my geocaching goal we went on a bus tour of the downtown are.  The bus was double decked with an open upper deck.  The tour had numerous stops and you were free to get off and back on another bus.  We stayed on the bus, although we had to change buses once at Union Station.   The first bus had a recorded narration of the sites we passed, the second had a live narrator which made it more informative and entertaining.

The Washington Monument

We had bought tickets that allowed us to ride any bus on the red and blue line within a 24 hour period.  We stayed on the red line bus which toured the main downtown area and around the Federal Mall.  We saw a lot of monuments, many of which weren't there when we visited in 1977.  It was difficult to take good pictures from the bus.  Many of the monuments and memorials faced away from the bus were obscured by trees.  The narrator said that there are over 10,000 varieties of tree planted in Washington, DC.  Many of them gifts from other countries.  A clear view of the Washington Monument is obstructed by the scaffolding placed there for repair of the damage done in the 5.8 magnitude earthquake in August of 2011.  Other buildings still show the signs of ongoing repairs, Union Station and the National Cathedral.  Many other buildings are either under construction or being renovated.  In spite of the shortcomings of the current administration, downtown Washington, DC seems to be a vibrant, exciting place to be.

After the bus tour we made our way back to the Jeep.  I had marked a waypoint on my GPS where it was parked so we had no problem finding it.  

St. John's Luthern Church

The Jeep was parked near St. John's Lutheren church and there was at least one or maybe two large wedding parties there.  We also had passed several wedding parties taking pictures with the Capitol Building in the background.

We left the city at about 5:30 and headed back toward Stafford and the RV Park.  Gerri had read some information online about a highly rated seafood restaurant in Fredericksburg but couldn't find it again.  We stopped at the coach and she located an interesting sounding seafood restaurant in Dumfries, Tim's Rivershore Restaurant, about 14 miles away.  http://timsrivershore.com/  It had some interesting reviews and comments about the road leading to the restaurant.  Even though it sounded like we might have a wait before dinner we headed there.  The drive to Dumfries  was on I-95 and the the road changed to broad city streets for awhile.  Once we got on Cherry Hill Road, the road the restaurant is on, the road became more of a dark winding tree tunnel even tough it was still daylight.  We remarked that there wasn't much traffic for what we thought was described as a busy place.  We only passed five cars going the other way. It was dusk as we got close to the restaurant and we noticed cars parked along the road quite a distance before spotting the building.  We drove along a dirt road beside a railroad track for some distance with cars parked along side.  The road ended at the restaurant and we were lucky to find a place near the entrance.  

Tim's Rivershore Restaurant and Crabhouse

It was getting dark so we didn't get a full picture of the setting.  There was a lot of outside seating and it seemed very crowded.  We opted to take a table inside, there was no wait.  A good choice since it got cool later.  Even with the fading light  there was a panoramic view of the water and some nearby docks or small marinas.  There was a great expanse of water, the Potomac river is very large at this point as it approaches Chesapeake Bay.

The atmosphere of Tim's was rustic at best, one review on the internet described it as divey casual.  Besides locals Tim's is frequented by a lot of Marines from nearby Quantico and the place is very lively.

Tim's menu cover

Our waiter, Joshua, was very attentive.  We had a crab dip as an appetizer it was hot and very tasty.  Gerri ordered a fried crab cake dinner and I ordered the broiled seafood combo. Both were served with a choice of sides including hushpuppies.  My dinner had fish, shrimp, oysters, scallops and a crab cake.  Gerri's was two crab cakes.  The crab cakes were good with only a little filler to hold them together, but Gerri said she prefers crab cakes with lumps of crab.

Entrance to Tim's

The drive back to civilization was of course along the same road we came in on.  I went slowly and carefully in case of deer, we saw none.  We stopped at the Walmart in Dumfries to pick up a few items and then returned to the RV Park.

It was a long day with a lot of walking but we watched some TV before turning in.  I also downloaded pictures from the camera and iPad and captioned them.

Friday, September 6, 2013, Stafford, VA

We got up at six and started getting ready to travel while having our coffee and doing computer stuff.  

Our last view of Swan Lake

It was foggy out but not enough to be a hindrance to travel.  We left Rippling Waters at 7:20 and headed out to I-77.  I have always kept the GPS set to avoid toll roads, I changed that for this segment of the trip.  Avoiding the West Virginia Turnpike added 60 miles to the distance and didn't change the travel time by very much.  So I opted for the toll.  We picked up I-64 in Charleston and continued south east.  There were two toll booths on the section we traveled.  When we went to Beckley in the Jeep the toll was $2 at each booth.  I was surprised that with the motor home towing the Jeep was only $3.25.  At prices in this area that is about two gallons of diesel, a better deal than the 8-10 gallons it would have taken to travel the 60 miles to avoid the tolls.  The fog was with us until we passed Beckley, WV, but never was thick enough to cause a problem.

An overlook on I-64 near Charlottesville, VA

We exited West Virginia near Princeton and continued a few miles on I-64 past Charlottesville, VA before turning more north east to pick up I-95 into Fredericksburg and on to Stafford.  The route between I-64 and I-95 was through rolling hills with a lot of historic markers.  Mostly battlefields that we had visited before when I went to school at Quantico.

We arrived at the Aquia Pines Camp Resort at 3:15.  We had traveled 344 miles in a little under 8 hours. I thought this was the same RV Park that Gerri and the kids stayed at when I was at the FBI Academy.  I asked about it at the desk and learned that that campground had been on the other side of I-95 and had long since gone under to other development.

We got setup in site E-13.  I noticed that it wasn't as humid here and only the rear air conditioning unit came on and ran for awhile.  I put out all the awnings to dry, this morning they had all been wet from the fog and dew.

I checked on a few nearby caches and tried one before dark.  It was a puzzle cache and I had no success with it.

Last night Gerri had picked up a roasted chicken at Walmart and we had that along with some cottage cheese and the pasta left over from a few nights ago.  All in all a good satisfying meal and of course left over chicken for later.

We were in bed by 10:15.

Thursday, September 5, 2013, Romance, WV

Swan Lake, the Swan and the Chapel

Our last full day in West Virginia started very foggy.  We had our coffee and computer time.  The fog cleared up and we had a good photo opp with the swan on Swan Lake. This swan is about 15 years old.  Her mother died last winter at age 25.


At about 10 Lottie called and told us that Eddie was going to be released from the hospital today and that he was going to have the rest of the tests closer to home in Charleston.  I called Eddie at the VA Hospital in Huntington and found out that they were planning to release him at about 1 PM.  We wrapped up some things around the coach, got cleaned up and left for Huntington at about noon.  Huntington is about 75 miles from Rippling Waters.  We got to the VA hospital at about 1:30 and they hadn't released him yet, saying the paper work was in the system.  By 3 PM Eddie was ready to go and we drove back to his home in Charleston.

For dinner we decided to order a meal from the Cracker Barrel.  They offer a family style meal that is supposed to be enough for six.  The Cracker Barrel website said it could take up to 2 hours to prepare.  After making the order Gerri was told it would be ready in ten minutes.  We drove to Cracker Barrel and the cashier said that would be $9 and something.  We knew right away that wasn't what Gerri order.  It was a single meatloaf dinner.  The manager had to come and void the ticket and take a new order.  It took about 20 minutes to get the meal.  The manager was very apologetic about the mix up and gave us extra corn bread muffins in addition to the sourdough toast we had ordered.

Of course the meal was more than the four of us could eat.  We divided the left overs and will enjoy another meal on another day.

We said our goodbyes and headed back to Rippling waters.  Tomorrow is a travel day so we went to bed early.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013, Romance, WV

This morning the fog was to thick to see Swan Lake from 20 yards away.  The chapel was out of sight behind the fog.  We had our coffee and usual computer activities.  By 9:30 the chapel was clearly visible.

I talked to Eddie by phone, he is still in the VA Hospital in Huntington.  They want to keep him for more tests.  He may be released tomorrow.

The New river Bridge on US 19

New River Gorge from Grandview

Gerri and I decided to drive to the Beckley area and see the New River Bridge and Gorge.  When it was built in the 70's it was the largest and highest steel arch bridge in the world.  An example of bringing home the pork by longtime Senator Robert Byrd.  I think he was West Virginia's Harry Reid.  Both the bridge and the New River are quite striking in different ways.  The bridge is a graceful example of fine engineering and the river an example of God's handiwork and it's ability to recover from man's ravages.  The New River is one of the premier white water rafting destinations in the world.  The trip was worth it but was mostly a misadventure.  I hadn't been to the bridge the early 80's, so I didn't know the way.  I was depending on the GPS which was a Garmin struck with gremlins once we were in the Beckley area.  First of all the bridge wasn't listed on the unit as an attraction.  When we left Charleston for the 70 or so mile drive I set the destination as New River Grandview Center.  The gremlins struck and the unit kept going off and locking up.  We circled North Beckley two or three times and finally got to Grandview.  The view of the gorge and the new River was spectacular, but no bridge.  The area wasn't very busy, two other cars in the huge parking lot.  Gerri asked another tourist where the bridge was.  Luckily she was a local and gave us directions.

Rapids on the New River

 The grimlins were taking a rest and we set the GPS for Canyon Rim Visitors Center on  the other side of the river.  Back through North Beckley again.  We walked out to a couple of view points but didn't attempt the stairs that led 200' down to a view up at the bridge.  I did a geocache near the bridge and we headed home.  We did stop at a Tudor's Biscuit World and had hot bologna sandwiches for an early supper.

We got a call from Lottie on the way back.  Not much news other than they wanted Eddie to under go more tests.  He wants to have those done closer to home in Charleston.  Getting out of the hospital tomorrow is still a question.

We were back at Rippling Waters before dark.  Quite a day we had driven about a 140 miles and paid $8 in tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike.  They even have a sign where the Turnpike ends thanking you for traveling on it.

Our last view of the chapel tonight.

A little after dark the fog was already starting to rise off the lake.  I took some pictures but they fall short of showing the real view.  Some computer time and old westerns on TV wound up the evening.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013, Romance, WV

It is really quiet here, we slept in until 8:30.  I fixed coffee and we caught up on internet stuff.  Gerri still wasn't feeling well, so we nixed the idea of going to visit the New River Bridge.  We hadn't planned to go into Charleston until early evening.  Tonight is Ed's Lions Club end of summer pool party.

Ed went to an appointment at the VA hospital in Huntington for an endoscopy and a colonoscopy.  He had a  retired doctor friend that was driving him there and back.  I called Lottie early in the afternoon and she hadn't heard from Eddie.  I did some quick math and figures with the procedures scheduled at 10 AM, procedure time and travel time it might be 4 or 5 o'clock before he was home.

I decided to go geocaching.  The closest cache was only 1.09 miles away.  But that was direct reckoning.  By road it was about 5 miles.  I went there; http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=de3a75b4-3a6f-4f5a-a21c-7567f1d7227b.  After the DNF I went on to find three other caches.

I went back to the coach about six and called Lottie.  She still hadn't heard from Eddie.  A little latter we learned that the hospital is keeping him there at least over night.  He had high blood pressure and was dehydrated.  The doctors want to run some more tests.

Gerri fixed a creamy pasta dish with chicken for dinner.  It was delicious.  

TV, and computer time finished the evening at 11:30.

Monday, Sept 2, 2013, Romance, WV

The chapel at Rippling Waters

We slept in until about 8:30.  I fixed coffee and we caught up on our e-mail and Facebook.  I also started entering the tens and fives that I got from the credit union to use for tipping once we start the trip to Spain, the cruise and back to Ft. Lauderdale into WheresGeorge.com.  The connection wasn't good and the job went slow.

Gerri wanted to go to Macy's to check on some bedding she was interested in.  I went with her, she didn't buy the bedding but picked up a chili pot that Lottie wanted.  After we left the downtown mall we headed to Lowe's to pick up some light bulbs for Lotties's kitchen light.  On the way we went to Blackhawk Hollow to take a look at where I was born and raised.  My Mother sold the house about 6 years ago and about three years ago a tree fell on the roof.  The house was condemned and torn down last year.  The lot is pretty much overgrown and didn't look large enough to hold our old house.

The Navy at Charleston Landing

After stopping at Lowe's we went to Ed and Lottie's and dropped off the chili pot and light bulbs.  We didn't stay long since Eddie was starting to prepare for his colonoscopy tomorrow and we wanted to get to Ripping Waters and set up.  On the way back to the coach we stopped to take pictures of a Navy LST that is touring the Kanawa River.

Camping at Cabela's

Display at Cabela's

Display at Cabela's

My birthplace

We did go into Cabela's to do some shopping.  Cabela's usually has t-shirts with the store name and city on them.  Gerri didn't find a shirt, so we went back to the coach and hooked up the Jeep.  We left Cabela's where we had stayed two nights without hookups.  Even with our bad experience when we arrived there on Saturday, we looked forward to setting up there.  It is still the closest RV Park to Charleston and a beautiful setting.  It didn't take very long to travel the 26 miles from Cabela's to Rippling Waters.

The office was closed but the campground manager was home and directed me to site 10 and said to come see her in the morning.  Site 10 has been our favorite and we have parked there three times before.  We got parked and I did all the hookups and unhooked the Jeep.  I had no problems with the sewer hose and got hooked up with no spillage and dumped both tanks.There was thunder and lightning and it looked like it would rain soon, so I didn't put up the flags.  Like I said this is a beautiful place and in the past there have been a pair of swans and a lot of ducks.  This year there was only one swan.  I will have to ask about the other.  I do know that swans mate for life and it would be sad if the other swan died.

The tugboat Charleston

The rain came with a eavy but short down pour.  Not enough to effect the satellite reception.  That didn't hold true for the steady longer rain that came later.  All in all we didn't loose reception for very long.  The internet connection through Verizon seemed to be better here than in town.  I completed my entries into wheresgeorge.co

Sunday, September 1, 2013, Charleston, WV

When we went to bed last night I set the genset on auto run and turned the air conditioners off.  When I got up there was still power until I turned on the coffee pot.  The batteries were below 12 volts and wouldn't start the genset.  I used the auxillary start to get the genset running to charge the house batteries. I need to look in the instructions and set the start point higher when there is no a/c demand.

Generally the night here at Cabela's was quite, no cars driving by.  However, the store's gigantic generator came on at 6 AM and ran for half and hour.  I don't know if it was a periodic test or if it does that every night.

Over all we slept pretty good, getting up at about 8 Am.  We had coffee and did our usual computer stuff until time to tune in Church services from Oakey Blvd.  Which we did at 1 PM EDT.

Gerri had put out steaks to thaw last night and the plan was to grill them at Ed and Lottie's for supper.

In my confusion over the site at Rippling Waters, I had forgot that it had been a week since we dumped the holding tanks.  The red light came on the control panel for the rear toilet and it won't flush while that light is on.

Not wanting to drive the 25 or so miles to Rippling Waters to dump I looked for dump stations on the internet.  It listed two, one was at the Elks Lodge and the other at a city park in St. Albans.  The one in St Albans is in a city park.  Since the Elk's Lodge was listed as Members or guests only Eddie and I opted to drive to the city park and check it out.  It is about 15 miles to the to the Park from Ed's house.  It is a nice park along the Kanawha River with a boat launch ramp, picnic shelters, the dump station and three pull through RV sites with 20 Amp power.  There is a limit on stays, 2 nights every two weeks.  One space was open, but since I'm not sure of the weather 20 Amp didn't seem enough.   The distance was pretty far and I decided not to get the motor home and go there to dump, but to wait until we get a full hookup site at Rippling Waters Monday afternoon.

Back at the house Lottie and Gerri got the steaks ready to grill and fixed baked potatoes, peas, homegrown tomatoes from a neighbor and fruit.  The grilling duties fell to me, so dinner was in danger.  I did a pretty good job.  The steaks came out well and we had an enjoyable dinner.

Gerri and I headed back to the coach at 9.  Since I had decided not to move and dump, I made sure the cap was on the sewer hose and opened both valves to equalize the amount in each tank.   I have to remember that and be careful when I do the hookup not to have a nasty spill.

As we did last night we ran the genset and air conditioners until the coach cooled off.  We called it a night a little after 11.