Left the campground in N Carolina pretty early this morning. The caretaker wasn't even there yet. Up into the Alleghenies, through the fog, past the Appalachian Trail, the tree's had fewer and fewer leaves the higher the mountains went. Once again the dogwood and red bud tree's were in bloom as spring is just now coming to this region of the country. It has been wonderful to experience spring 5 or 6 times this year already.

   Followed the Interstate for some of the way this morning but finally managed to jump off once the border of West Virginia was passed. Heading down a country road that called itself Highway 19 we breezed through towns called Kegley, Shady Spring and Ghent and on past Pigshin Ridge and down the Bluestem River. Would of loved to have been in a little sports car, the road was just made for a low ride with about 5 gears forward. Not so great for a full sized pickup with a double axle trailer behind it, but we managed to make it okay.

   Made it into Fayetteville, WV around 3:30 this afternoon and found the RV park without to much difficulty. Had to phone up the owner to come down and check me in, but the porch on the camp store had a couple nice rocking chairs on it and the sun was shining, so what the heck. Picked out a nice site back in the trees and got the trailer set up with out to many problems. The site could be a bit more level, but with all my 2"x blocking under the downhill wheels it isn't so bad.

   Decided to go ahead and defrost the fridge and freezer this afternoon while I was doing a bunch of other errands around the place. After nearly 8 months on the road it was probably time to do it before things started sticking themselves to the walls of the freezer. Didn't take all that much time and it will probably make ice cubes a lot better now, a very important consideration now that summer is getting closer.

   Wanted to use up a few things in the fridge, so opted to make, or maybe build is a better word, a casserole for dinner. With a tortilla base, a can of refried beans, blackeyed peas, some spanish rice, diced zucchini, portobello mushrooms, fresh spinach, jalapeno slices, salsa and cheese. It actually turned out better, and tastes much better, than it sounds. Will probably end up eating it for breakfast in the morning also... cuz that's just the way I do things... oh, it probably won't be heated up either!

    Had a friend call this evening and talk for a little while. Very pleasant to hear her voice again. She'll be in town here this weekend for the dance so that will be nice, need to find a hike or drive or something we can do for a couple hours on Saturday morning. Will head out and explore a bit of the surrounding country in the morning. Need to find out where this weekends dance is going to be held, it doesn't look all that far on the map, and how long it will take to get there from here. Also need to go pick up some additional perishables at the store to replace the one's that got used up tonight. Otherwise it is likely going to be an easy week here for me while time passes before the dance this weekend.

    Speaking of dancing, here are a few photos of the camp from last weekend.

The main lodge at Camp Sertoma, a 4-H camp built by the CCC's, (Civilian Conservation Corp.), back in the late 30's or early 40's. Just a wonderful building to look at and all built in a time when 'hand tools' were all they had and really meant something. I particularly liked all the rocking chairs on the porch. 

The actual dancing took place in the 'Barn', a building also built by the CCC's. Not sure if it ever really functioned as a barn, not only because of it's interior layout, but also it's location on top of this little knob of a hill. A neat building though, built of 2"x6" studs on about 12" centers. Big metal trusses for the main roof supports with what looked like 2"x8" rafters on 12" centers spanning between them. The wooden floor was actually pretty decent to dance on, a few soft spots and some spots that seemed to alternate between being slippery and sticky. A nice stage for the band and caller and the acoustics were even pretty good considering it's nothing but a huge empty cavern. The decorations certainly helped as well as having a very good sound guy running the board this weekend.

Another view of the stage and dance floor. Forgot to ask anyone why the weekend was called 'Spring Dance Romance', there has to be a story there somewhere. Will have to remember to find out next year.

A view of the other end of the hall and a beautiful stone fireplace. At night when the dance was going on, the main ceiling spot lights would be turned off and the chinese lantern lights would be dimmed down to where there was a beautiful warm yellow/orange glow in the room.

This house was across the road from the campground I had the trailer parked in. All of the additions, I counted at least 4 main ones, intrigued me. It's a wonder what stories that house could tell. It made me curious about what the long, single story addition in the middle was all about and what it had been used as.

    Decided to get this posted a bit early today while I'm in a spot with decent WiFi. Finished up the last contra dance a couple of hours ago now and am still coming down from those last couple of dances. Fun, fun, fun.... I'm not sure what it is about the Great Bear Trio that make them such a fun band to dance to except maybe it is because they don't play a lot of 'traditional' style contra dance music. Tried to figure it out once, but the closest I could come to an explanation is that they play music that would of been right at home at any concert, or even prom dance, in the 70's. Except of course, they're music is so much better. Today a couple songs reminded me of Peter Frampton's guitar licks and a few others were like full orchestra versions of ELO or the Moody Blues. What ever it is, it's great fun and the dancing and calling were perfect. Also; made a mistake last time on the other bands name. It is Land of Sky, not Land and Sky. They turned out to be a very good band also and today near the end of the dance both bands joined together on the last 3-4 songs and it really rocked there. Lots and lots of happy faces. Sweaty.... but happy.

   Met lots of new people at this dance and had some wonderful dance partners. Certainly hope to run into some of them again at future dances, and what was really nice is that several pretty much said the same thing back to me.  I'm going to be a bit immodest here and say that more than a few women complimented me on my dancing skill and by the end of the weekend it was obvious that some were actually seeking me out for a dance. That of course is a wonderful thing to have happen and really helps build a guys ego. I don't think there is to much to worry about me getting too fat of a head though, I already have to wear extra large hats, when I wear them, and I don't want to have to go out and buy any new, bigger ones.

    Grabbed a shower at the dance camp before leaving there so I'm feeling clean and sweat free again. Will need to do some laundry this next week, but there won't be a whole lot of that and I'll have a full week to find a pay laundry to take it to. They announced the line up for next's years dance this afternoon and it is going to be one that shouldn't be missed. 'Hot Point String Band' and 'Notorious' will be the two bands, either one of which is good enough to carry a weekend dance on their own. The callers will be Nils Fredland and Diane Silver, again, two excellent callers in their own right. I also think I figured out a spot where I can park the trailer at the dance. The campground I'm at wasn't bad, but it was still off and away from everyone and it would of been more fun and easier to interact with some of the other dancers if I had been camped there with everyone else. Of course, with statements like that all of my friends will begin to think I'm turning into a extrovert.... rest assured; I'm not!

   Going to hang out at the campground I'm at for one more night, but am pulling out early in the morning and heading on over to Fayetteville, West Virginia. Not sure what there is around that area, but it will be fun exploring it. I do know they have a well known gorge and river right there. I'm thinking it's the Gauly River, a well know white water river, but not sure about that. Would like to find a nice short stretch of river to throw the canoe on again, but will have to check out what is there. It's kind of a hassle at times not having another boater to go with. Makes running a shuttle a hassle and there is always that safety thing hanging out there.

  Already looking forward to another dance weekend next week. Must seem at times like the only thing I do is go from dance to dance and ignore everything else in between. But I am also looking forward to exploring some more new country and meeting some new people. I mean, why else would someone go to Fayetteville unless they worked or knew someone there?  So the dancing is just a pleasant excuse to visit some of the places I do. Time to go get some dinner.

    Just finished up another night of dancing. Really, really fun this evening, both Seth Tepher and Great Bear Trio were right on the mark. So my feet hurt, and my knees hurt and my lower back and nearly all of the rest of me, but what a wonderful evening it has been.

   The dance went until midnight and then a bunch of us retired to the dining hall to continue the festivities. Lot's of bottles of wine and beer, but what surprised me was all of the harder stuff that appeared. These people really know how to party, that's for sure. I had a couple glasses of wine and some very good home made bourbon that Stephen makes and brought with him.  A couple other single malt scotches were also in the vicinity and the women I was sitting by, Cindy, made sure to snag a little bit out of each one.

   Lots of fun today but I've got to say that I am pretty wiped out right at the moment. Need to get this sent off and then go and get some sleep. One more day of dancing and then I'm done for the weekend. Oh, as a side note, for this dance next year they have all ready picked 'Hot Point String Band' and 'Notorious' for their bands with Nils Fredland and Diane Silver as their caller's. If at all possible it is a dance that I don't want to miss.

    Seems like it's been a long day today and since it's now close to 1:00 in the morning I guess it has been. Woke up early this morning, ate a little breakfast and got on the road again. Only had to do  about 80 miles so I drove for about an hour and then pulled into a McD's and plugged the computer in. Checked email and FB and read the comics of course, also sat and watched the latest episode of 'The Big Bang Theory'. One of the few TV shows on that I try to stay current with. This episode was a real hoot like usual.

    By the time that was over it was time to get back on the road again. Only a minor problem finding the place, Emma, my GPS took me to the YMCA camp in the area instead of the 4-H camp. Lucky for me there was a sign for Camp Seratoma right there where the YMCA was, so it was just a matter of staying on the road and following the signs.

   As was my plan I went ahead and pulled into the driveway to the camp when I got here. It almost turned into one of those really bad situations where you have pulled in but there is no place to turn around and it's a half mile of backing up to get anywhere you can turn around. But there was just enough room at the very end of the road for me to back up and swing around and head back out. Alas, no room to park the beast at the camp so it was on to plan 'B'. On my way up the last hill I had seen a campground sign about a mile before the turnoff, so I drove down there and pulled in. It's sort of a state campground, but the 4-H group once had it, and now there's no money, and no one wants to deal with it, and there are no real facilities, and some guy kind of administers it for 'someone'. Never did figure out what it all meant, but I did manage to find someone to pay $30 to so I could set up and spend the next 3 nights here. No hook-ups of course, so it's rather sparse camping. Still, it is a very pretty camping area, and there shouldn't be all that many people here over the weekend.

   Got the trailer unhooked and all set up before having a snack and then taking a nap for about an hour. Read some this afternoon, and took a short walk over to look at the river, otherwise it was an easy afternoon. Around 7:00 it was time to get dressed and head over to the dance. Checked in there and chatted with a few folks I knew. We were all in line and ready to go by 8:00 when the music started up. A new band and caller for me this evening. Land and Sky was the band and Louie Cromarterie (sp) was the caller. Very impressed with the band and the caller also, it turned out to be a really fun, high energy evening with lots of nice dance partners. Only sat out one dance the whole evening and that was when I went off to find a bathroom and got back too late. The dance hall is this huge old wooden barn like building built back in the 30's or 40's by the CCC's. Not a bad floor considering, and the acoustics are actually better than you would think. The dance went until nearly midnight after which a bunch of us ended up over in the dining hall for snacks and drinks. I didn't stay too late as I was ready for some sleep. Grabbed the truck and headed back down the hill to the trailer. Glad it's only a mile or so, but still wish the trailer was up at the camp instead.

    (Note:) My WiFi thingy wasn't working very well last night and kept fading out just when I would get ready to post this, so I had to wait until this morning to go and find someplace with a decent signal. Unfortunatly, McDonalds is often the easiest and most convienant place to go, and as we all know, they are everywhere. So it was a matter of getting in the truck and driving about 8 miles to find one. It's times like that when a GPS unit really comes in handy. Now if it can just get me back to the trailer in a little while.

    One of those really easy days that happen every once in a while. Up early (ier) this morning because it was a moving day. It was sunny again this morning, which was nice since it had clouded up and rained for a couple hours last night. By the way, the skylight vent still leaks, just not as much. Will wait to make sure it wasn't just residual water left over from the day before, but I think it means having to be a bit more aggressive at finding the leak and fixing it. Got all packed up and all the tanks dumped and was on the road by 10:30. Not real early, but then there was no hurry today as I have two days to go about 200 miles, or less. So after about an hour on the road, and the rain pouring down again, I pulled into a McDonald's and plugged the computer in. Had a chicken sandwich and a side salad and sat for a couple hours watching the news, reading the comics and doing a couple cross word puzzles. Hit the road again in mid afternoon after the rain had quit and the sun had come out again. Drove a few more miles and pulled into a super Wal-mart and walked around looking at stuff for another hour or so. By that time it was early evening so I went a few more miles and pulled into a rest area for the night.

   Kind of a nice place here. This particular rest area has a separate area just for cars/trucks pulling trailers. It even has individual pull-outs for each unit, so it's not a bad place to be. Except; the highway is only 100' or so from where the trailer is parked, so it's a bit noisy at the moment. I expect that to quite down as it gets later and later. Already there are a lot fewer vehicles on the road and it's only a bit after 9:00 pm.

    So I'll spend the night here and be on the road pretty early in the morning. Tomorrow I go the rest of the way up the YMCA near Danbury, NC for the next weekend dance. Not sure what I'll find there as several people have told me that there is plenty of space for me and the trailer, while others have said they weren't sure if there was room. Either way there won't be any hook-ups, but that's okay as long as I have access to a shower somewhere. Also, I plan to get there a little bit after noon so if it doesn't look good I'll have time to pull out and go to my fall back spot. Looking forward to a good night of dancing tomorrow night in any case. GBT are the main band for the weekend so I'm happy.

   The weather was finally back to being it's normal warm and sunny self today. Nice to wake up and see some blue sky through the skylight again. Had a bunch of routine stuff on my schedule today, but it wasn't all that bad really. Went and did another load of laundry so now all of the bedding, linens and misc clothes are clean, folded and put away again. Once that was all done it was time to grab the empty propane tank off the front of the trailer and go get it filled up. I have two 30 lb tanks up on the front of the A-frame under a plastic shroud that covers them both. I had both tanks filled just before leaving Colorado last September and the one I filled today ran dry only 3-4 weeks ago, so I'm not using very much propane on this trip, which makes sense since the only thing that uses gas is the stove/oven, hot water heater, space heater and when unplugged, the refrigerator. Since I'm usually plugged in, the only thing I've really used is the stove and HW heater, everything else has been running off of shore power. So the good news is that I should be good until I get back to Colorado and go back to camping off the grid again.

   Along with hooking and unhooking the tank, I needed to do some minor repair to the plastic shroud that fits over the tanks. About a year ago I was travelling in Nebraska headed for the Chadron area when I hit this steady 35-40mph headwind for most of the day. When I pulled into the state park that evening I noticed that sometime during the day the shroud that was on my tanks then had blown off somewhere along the way. I still envision some farmer on his tractor coming upon it somewhere out in the middle of his corn or wheat field. Anyway; had to get a new one, which I did, and put it together since it is made up and sold as a set of two nearly identical plastic castings. Unfortunately the hardware they supplied with it was sorely lacking, so I ended up using a bunch of hardware I had here in the trailer. It worked well except that the washers I had turned out to be to small of a diameter and two of them had pulled through one side of the seam. So I spent a few minutes this afternoon and put some larger washers on all of the fittings that were under the most pressure. With luck this should be all that will need to be done for a long time.

   Finally this afternoon, I got the ladder out and climbed up on the roof to see if I could spot where the water was coming in at. It was actually pretty easy to spot where the problem was, at least I hope that is the only spot, and get it fixed. Fixing meant putting a layer of the roofing stuff from Home Depot on and applying a little silicon caulking just for good measure. At some point I'll need to clean it all off again and redo the whole thing, but it should work okay for the time being.

   Once all the work was done it was time to head out for a little fun while there was still a little light left. Went over to a local park and took a nice walk around a lake before heading into downtown Durham for the evening. Stopped at one of the local brew pubs and had a wonderful hot turkey on rye sandwich along with a glass of their finest lager. It was good!

    At 7:00 I was over at the Carolina Theatre to take in a movie. On tonight's docket was 'Salmon fishing in the Yeman'. A very funny, cute and serious movie all at the same time. I can't figure out if it was  a fishing movie about love or a love story about fishing. Either way it was highly entertaining and I would certainly recommend it. Guys can even take their wives or girlfriends to this one and not be to bored with it. (Just kidding of course).

   On the road again tomorrow morning so there are still a few things to do here in the trailer this evening. I like to get a lot of the stuff put away that won't be needed in the morning. Just makes getting on the road that much easier. Of course there is no real hurry about it. I only have about 200 miles to go and I have nearly 2 days in which to do it in, so I won't be in a huge hurry to be out of here in the morning.

   Finally cleared up and turned sunny today. Still cold though, only a high of 60 degrees or so and the wind was blowing hard too. Cool enough out that I knew it would be better to spend most of the day inside if possible, so that is what I did.

    Headed off to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences after breakfast this morning. No problem getting there and only a minor problem finding some place to park, as the building is right in downtown Raleigh. Got there around 11:00 and didn't leave until almost 6 hours later. Probably wouldn't of left even then but my stomach was starting to growl from being empty for so long. Lots of stuff to look at of course, a little bit for nearly everyone I would think. Dinosaurs of course, not a lot of them, but like all of their displays what they had was done very well. Other sections on space, and geology and minerals and oceans. Their major portion of the exhibits had to do with the outdoor environment of N Carolina. Lots of neat dioramas of all the various types of habitat you would find on the state. So big scenes of hardwood and pine forests, salt marshes and the sea shore. All complete with all the plant and animal species you would find in the wild. Had to look at everything of course including the gift shop where I found a couple of 'shot' glasses to add to the growing collection, as well as a star chart to keep here in the trailer.

   Once done with museum I went and did a bit of grocery shopping. Needed to pick up some more fresh stuff. Really had a craving for a good salad, so I mixed up a big one of those and also had some roasted chicken that I had picked up at the store. Right now I am trying to wait patiently for this lemon pie I made to firm up. It's not working though and I know I'll have to have a slice before going to bed, otherwise it is going to be calling to me all night long.

Here are a few pictures to look at.

Museums often mean dinosaurs and this one was no exception. This rather ugly guy is a male Pachycephalosaur. Having a skull that might be as much as 3" thick it is thought they might use head butting as part of their mating ritual.

Looks like a T-Rex, but it's not. It is actually a subspecies called Aracto-something-something-saurs, sorry can't remember everything. Slightly smaller than T-Rex, this one is still big enough, even though it is only a young one, to make me glad that they don't still roam around at night looking for something to kill and eat. I kind of like being pretty much the top of the food chain where I live.

This one is a duck-billed hadrosaur. A large plant eating dinosaur that was noted for laying eggs in nests and possibly taking care of its young in a fashion similer to what modern birds do.

A model of a Hadrosaur nest based on fossil nests that have been found. Kind of cute.

Museums also often have whales hanging around and this one had more than usual. This one is a Hump Back I think with the jaws of a Sperm Whale above it. For some reason the skeleton makes me think of space ships like you would see in a Star Trek or Star Wars movie.

The inner rib cage of one of the whales, not sure which kind this is.



The two smaller skeletons are of a cow and calf Manatee like you would find down in Florida. The whale in the background, looking like it might be trying to eat them is a Blue Whale, the largest animal to ever roam the earth. It isn't actually going to eat the two it's just a function the angle I took the picture from. Of interest to me is the fact that the reason the head bones of the whale are so much darker than the rest of the bones, even though they were all processed the same way, is because the head of a Blue Whale has a higher precentage of whale oil in it than in the rest of the body. Something the whalers of old evidently knew well.

They had a butterfly area on the top floor where they hatched out lots of differnt kinds, all of which are from Costa Rica. So I'm afraid I don't have names for any of these.



  

   Not a very exciting day today either.Woke up and it was still cloudy, rainy and.... cold! Very glad that I have the little space heaters in the trailer for those times when the temp gets down around freezing, or colder. Since it was raining still this morning, decided it was just a good day to stay inside instead of running around outside, so the Science Museum will have to wait until tomorrow.

   Instead it was time to go get a load of laundry done while I have the chance. Got all the clothes done this time, but still need to do one more load of linens and sheets later on. Everything is changed out again though, so it's going to be nice to be on clean sheets again.

   I went over to some friends for dinner this evening. I met Sue on a river trip in Montana about 10 years ago and she and her partner Rebecca invited me over for a home cooked meal. I would of been happy just to show up and drink tea, so a full meal was just an added bonus. Good food too, homemade chicken taco's with beans and salad on the side, cold corona beer and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Oh man it was good! It was fun to reconnect with Sue and very nice to finally meet her partner.

   The other dinner guest this evening was a friend from more than 30 years ago. Cheri and I met while I was home on leave from the Coast Guard after coming off a one year long tour of duty on Attu Island in the Aleutian Island chain. Young, cute, single, (and that was just me), we hit it off immediately. I think it must of been because she owned her own kayak. She ended up going on the 'long' (72 day) canoe trip 5 of us did the next summer. Lot's of fun, but eventually she moved back east and drifted away from us all in Colorado. She's still pretty much the same though, a little older, a little greyer, like us all, but certainly as feisty as ever. Always fun to see her and talk about old times. The one thing that was different about her, and my friends back home that know her won't believe this, but she gave up drinking hot beverages made out of 'burnt bean juice', also known as coffee, and now only drinks tea like the more civilized people in the world do.  I am hoping that I put a bug in their ear about doing another canoe trip with us one of these days soon. Gotta do it before we all get to old to want ti do it any more.

   Still cold this evening, they expect frost here by morning. The heater is running again and I'll leave it on low all night just so I can get up and take a shower with out turning blue. The rain has pretty much stopped also and there are reports that the sun may actually come out for a bit tomorrow. The second picture below is what I finally came up with after the roof vent over the bed started to leak the other night. It wasn't a big leak, just enough to be annoying and put this big wet spot on the bed right down where my feet usually was. It isn't a pretty fix, but it worked okay and hopefully I'll be able to find and patch that dam leak once it dries out on top of the roof.

Me, Cheri, Sue, Rebecca. Dinner in Durham, NC April 23, 2012

An engineers temporary solution to a leaky roof vent..... Hey, it worked so stop laughing!

ps     This is my one month anniversary of starting this Blog. It seems to have worked okay so far, no one has complained about it yet, not to me anyway. More than 250 view's so far, not exactly lighting the world on fire with my literary prowess, but then that really wasn't the idea in the first place. Hope it has been okay for you all and that you will continue to check in once in awhile and let your friends who may be interested know about it.

   Still raining today, really hard at times. I slept in late because it seemed the thing to do on a rainy Sunday morning. Got up and going around 9:30 and took a good shower. Made breakfast burritos while listening to 'Car Talk' on NPR and reading the comics. Would like to meet the car guys some day, they sound like it would be a real hoot to have lunch or a beer with.

   Got a couple calls from my friends here in the area and have dinner set up at one of their places tomorrow night. Looking forward to seeing them both again and meeting some of their partners and friends. Figured out that it has been about 10 years since I've seen them so I made photo disks for each of them of canoe and other trips we were on together. One of them I have known since my Coast Guard days, so we go back a pretty long time.

   Went over to Home Depot this afternoon and picked up another roll of this 6" wide sticky repair tape they carry. Will see about putting it around the base of the roof vent that is leaking if it ever stops raining and dries up enough to use. It's been a long time since I've spent any time in a home center. Seems like it was my second home once upon a time. Sometimes I miss working on a project or fixing something around the house. I feel like I was pretty good at some things long ago.... now I'm pretty happy that I'm not constantly having to work on something around the house. Still....

   Called a couple friends up in Colorado and talked to them for a little while. Guess it's beautiful there today. Sunny, nearly 70 degree's, sounds like heaven, it's also the reason I go back there every summer for a couple of months. My friends are all doing well though and plans for trips this summer are starting to gel. Besides the big trip down the Grand Canyon in late August, my friend Tom is talking about a canoe trip to Montana in early August with some of his hiking buddies. Doesn't matter to me as long as I get to go along.

   Went and saw a 'Guy's Night Out Movie' this afternoon. This is a movie that generally has a lot of gratuitous sex and violence and very little plot. Today's movie, The Wrath of the Titans fit the bill perfectly. I'm glad I was at the $5.00 matinee, would of hated to pay full price for that movie.

    Still putting together some more iPod playlists for use in the car. Have been going through all my contra dance CD's, and there seems to be a lot of them, in order to put together a good list of my favorite contra dance tunes. Also doing a new waltz playlist since that was another one of them that got lost when the last computer went kaput! Kind of fun shuffling through all of the songs. Makes me want to get up and dance again.

   Did a little research of the area I'm in on-line and have a few idea's of things to do if it's still raining tomorrow. Top of the list is going to the Science Museum in Raleigh. I love going to those and pretty much get lost in them for hours at a time. It's probably good that I'm alone on some of my adventures like that because I'm the kind that likes to stop and read all the display signs and look at every exhibit. Also on the list is a Railroad Museum and a park with a working grist mill. will wait for sunshine for those two tho.

  Here's a couple picture's of the last project I was really involved with. A friend and I designed it, I drew the plans and engineered what needed to be engineered and then, with some help of friends, we pretty much put it all together ourselves. The only real things subbed out was the excavation and foundation, the siding and the wiring up-grade from the pole to the garage. Otherwise we did all the framing, insulation, door's/windows, electrical, etc. I think it turned out pretty well.

   Made it into the Raleigh-Durham area early this afternoon after a quiet 3 hour drive through some very pretty country. Up through the towns of Red Springs, Antioch and Sanford and on into Raleigh and then on to the Chapel Hill area. Pulled into the Birchwood RV Park and met the owner on the way out as I was headed in. He had a nice spot for me even though it wasn't a full hook-up. (No sewer connection). Still; it backs up on some woods and has water and electric and there's a dump station close by for when I leave.

   He actually led me over to the spot and helped me back in so I could miss the trees on either side, which was a nice touch. Got all set up and finally had a late lunch, after which it was time for a short nap since sleep last night at the rest area, wasn't all that restful. An hour or so of sleep on the couch and the day was looking much better. Plenty of hot water by then so it was time for a quick shower before dressing for the contra dance this evening. Had visited one of my favorite dance sites, Contra Corners, while eating lunch and found out that there was a contra dance over at North Carolina State College this evening. Had a few reservations about going, as dances on college's are often over populated by young, over hyped young dancers who are full of enthusiasm but aren't very good dancers. But what the hell, missed the regular weekly area dance that was last night, so there wasn't much choice.

   As it turns out, the dance was actually a lot of fun. It was overloaded with young kids who weren't very good dancers over all, but there were enough older people, as well as a few younger one's, who knew how to dance, that it turned out okay. Danced enough to get a bit sweaty and have some fun at least. Wish I was going to be here on the 5th when one of my favorite bands, Contrazz, are playing and Beth Molaro (sp) is calling. That is going to be an awesome dance, but I'll be dancing to the the Contrarians and Avant Gardners, so I'm not going to complain to much.

   Hit some heavy rain on the drive back to the trailer and couldn't help but remember that I had left most of the roof top vents open when I left. It of course rained pretty good in the trailer while I was gone, but nothing a towel and diligent mopping couldn't take care of. Besides, the floor needed a good mopping anyway. One lucky thing is that I had left the vent over the bed closed when I left and even had the insulation pillow still stuffed in it from today's travel. Good thing because that vent has sprouted a leak somewhere around the outside rim. Not much of a leak, but really annoying when you are trying to sleep. Plan to get up on the roof in the next day or two anyway and see what the problem is. May need to  put down a layer of rubberised roofing material all around the vent seams if the silicone caulking isn't going to do the trick. Noticed a Home Depot on the way in this evening, so if need be they will have what ever materials I'll need to get it fixed.

   Was getting the electric kettle and a few canned goods out from under the dining table seat, where they live while on the road, when I noticed the jug of lemon-cello there that my sister, Barb, and her husband Marty, had made several months ago down in Florida. Couldn't help but wonder if it was ready yet as it usually takes a couple of month's for it to 'ripen' into the real thing. So I opened it up and gave it a good try.... Whoo-ee, that is some strong stuff that's for sure. The taste was pretty good though, so I took out about 20 oz's and stuck them in the freezer while closing the rest up and sticking it back under the seat. Will taste this over the next week or two and by then the rest should have mellowed just a little bit more. Taste's pretty good, but I have a feeling it could knock you on your ass if you aren't careful.

   Hope to meet up with some friends of mine in the next day or two. Haven't seen them for a good 15-20 years so we should all have some new stories to tell. Looking forward to seeing some of the area around here also. Very pretty, what I've seen of it so far, hilly and tree's so thick you can't see more than 50 yards into the woods. Which reminds me.... saw my first magnolia in full bloom this morning while driving. It was spectacular and I hope to see many more over the next week or two.

   One final note; passed the 200 view's limit for this Blog yesterday.... I know, it isn't all that many, but I think it's kind of cool. Still have a good contingent in Russia and China that are reading this. Sure hope they aren't using it in order to practice their English reading and writing skills. For that it would be better to find someone who is a bit better at writing than I am.

   Very easy travel day for me today. Left the campground around 10:00 this morning and finished up in a rest area just inside the southern border of N. Carolina. Only 200-250 miles total for the day so it was easy to stop multiple times during the day just because I could. A couple of rest stops, gas fill-up, a couple hours at a truck stop so I could get on line. Pulled in here around 7:30 and am now just waiting for it to quiet down enough to get some sleep.

   Spent several hours reading a new book this evening. A friend of mine gave me a couple real 'paper' books before I left and I'm just getting started on this one. Very interesting so far, the book is 'In Harms Way' by Doug Stanton and is a history about the men who were on the battle cruiser USS Indianapolis that was sunk at the end of WW II. Lot's of interesting facts that I had never heard of before including the fact that it had carried the trigger device as well as the cesium that was to be used in the 'Big Boy' bomb that was dropped on Japan. All very hush-hush at the time of course. Even the crew had no idea what it was. Looking forward to reading some more of it tonight.

    Finally, I had picked up one of those box sets of old movies at Target a few weeks ago so I got it out and watched one tonight. First were two 'Three Stoogies' shorts and then the movie which was basically a biography of Jerome Kern. He a song writer at the turn of the century who was responsible for many of the songs in Broadway shows, and then later, movies, for the next 40-50 years. He wrote the tunes to the play 'Show Boat' among others, a show that was perhaps most famous for the song 'Ole Man River'. Pretty good movie, but not great. Still; it was fun to see young versions of such stars as Dinah Shore, Angela Lansberry, Judy Garland, Lena Horne and Van Johnson.

  

   A light rain for most of the night last night. Most people would assume that rain would be good for people with allergies, but the reality is that unless it rains really hard for a long time all it does is wash off all the pollen and stir it back up into the air. In most cases it leaves me like this morning, all plugged up with a huge headache. Lucky for me they have good drugs for that these days. Thirty minutes after popping a couple allergy pills and an aspirin the day was looking much better.

   Spent most of the morning cleaning and putting stuff away. Need to be on the road tomorrow morning and it's always better to have a head start on things like that. Went back into the city this afternoon and did some last minute grocery shopping. Mostly fresh stuff this time, broccoli and fruit, (gotta have my banana's and blueberries in the morning), but also picked up a package of tortilla's and a couple packs of shredded cheese that they were having a sale on.

   Of course the main reason for going in was to look at a few more bikes. Found two that might be possibilities. Neither are very expensive, I decided what was needed was just something to ride around campground roads and city bike paths and either of these would be good enough for that. There is enough difference in cost and quality between them though that I'll need to think about it for a day or two. No problem finding them again, they are both at major name stores so they should be at most any store in the country.

   Spent the evening loading new music on to the iPod in preparation for the road tomorrow. It's going to be nice to have some new music along again. NPR is okay most of the time, but it's hard for me to put up with all the inane commercials that go along with regular radio stations. In fact I don't put up with it, not for long anyway. Have decided that the next truck, or car for that matter, will have to have an input jack right into the stereo system for the iPod or mp3 player. The current one doesn't have one and it has made life a bit hard trying to find something that will work and that still sounds decent.

    Also spent a little time this evening and watched the original 'Shrek' movie on DVD. Still the best one out of them all and just an amazing bit of creative fun. Need to finish up though and hit the rack. It's going to be earlier than I like when the alarm goes off in the morning. Yuck!

    Nice easy day for me today. Spent a leisurely morning with a late breakfast and the reading of the comics and doing a couple of crossword puzzles. I wanted a day around the area so I hung out around the trailer for most of the day. Read part of a book, I'm trying to finally finish up 'Walden', worked on the computer and did some work on my model train layout. I have put together a 2'x5.5' layout on a couple of pieces of 2" thick rigid foam and have been busy laying roadbed and installing track and switches. Today I was trying to finish up the wiring so I could actually start to run trains. Yes, I am a guy, yes, I am old, and yes, I do still play with trains.... and I like it. :)  Will put up a couple pictures in a day or two and give you all and idea of what it is all about.

   Spent several hours finishing up putting my music files back together. When my computer died last month I had everything backed up, so I never lost anything, but some how when it came to reloading everything back into iTunes many of the music files got doubled or moved to a new place or both. The end result was that more than 8,000 songs were duplicated, some of them as many as 4-5 times. It has taken a while to go through and clean it all out while trying not to erase files that I can't reload because the original CD's are back home in storage. Finally got it done and it is now backed up not only on the regular hard drive I use for music but also on the hard drive I use as a back up to the back up. Cheap insurance compared to all the hours I had to sit here and erase files one at a time.

   Did take a couple of hours off late this afternoon and went down to the beach for a nice walk. The ocean is still a bit cool this far north, but the sun was warm and it felt good to wade in the ocean. Not many people out there either, I think most of the spring break crowd are done for the year.

   Will head back into Charleston for one last time tomorrow. I need to do some grocery shopping and I'm going to look for a bike a bit more. There is also a 'Fire' museum in North Charleston that I saw the other day. I assume it is a museum of fire engines and equipment, but if it is open I thought it might be interesting to take a look.

    Finally; have heard from a couple of people that they are having problems logging on to this site. If any of you know anyone that is having a problem please help them if you can or let me know so I can see what I can do from my end. Also, not sure if the 'comments' feature finally got turned on when I played around with it the other day cuz I haven't gotten any comments as of yet. This may just be because no one has tried to write one yet, but if you did try and had trouble posting it please let me know that also so I can figure out what needs to be done. It's all new to me so I'm not very good as this yet.

   One of those days where a lot of things got done, but none of them were very exciting. Cleaned up the trailer a bit this morning, it doesn't take very long cuz there isn't a whole lot of it. Still it's nice to have all the dishes put away and the floors swept.

   Once I was out and about it was off to the big city. Went in for several errands, not the least of which was to look for a new bike. Just tired of not having one to ride once in awhile, and the one I broke probably won't get fixed until I get back to Colorado this summer. In the meantime it would be nice to have a simple, inexpensive one to ride around on right now. Didn't find anything that looked good though, so it will mean looking at a few more yet.

   Also on the list was a hair cut.... found a decent place for that, submitted to sitting still for about 15 minutes, paid my money, and I hope that is done for another couple of weeks. (Which will more than likely stretch into a month or so since I really dislike getting my hair cut).

   Went and gave the truck a bath, got what ever dirt, mud, salt and bugs off of it and it looks a lot better on the outside. Even vacuumed the inside out and threw out a bunch of old magazines I've been carting around. It won't last long, but it looked nice this afternoon.

   Still cleaning up computer files this evening and listening to some music. Going to stick around here tomorrow and walk on the beach and maybe work on a model or two. Also need to get next weeks location pegged down and some RV park reservations made. It's been nice exploring this part of the country, but it is starting to feel like it is time to move on again.

Monday, April 16th, 

 Guess the time just got away from me last night. Got involved on a computer project and before I knew it, it was two in the morning and time to get some sleep. As it turned out, there wasn't all that much that happened yesterday to talk about anyway.

   I went south in the morning and ended up in the town of Beaufort, SC. A nice little town in the lowlands of the state that is probably more well known for the Parris Island Marine base that is in the area. Wandered around the old part of town for a couple of hours, caught a bite to eat at a little cafe down there and just spent a pleasant afternoon. Wonderful country all along the drive down and back. Lot's of salt marsh, a few great looking swamps and some small planted fields. It was interesting to see sweet corn that was already knee high in a few fields.

   Came back and spent some time dealing with some routine computer issue's. Backing up stuff, creating new emergency disks and such. Nothing hard about any of it, just takes a lot of time once in awhile. Did take a short break and watched an old movie, 'American Graffieti', on the computer. Hadn't seen it for maybe 30 years and it was still fun to see all the movie stars that were in it that I kind of grew up watching. And while it was set about 10 years earlier than I was in high school, it still reminded me of a lot of the things that were going on when I was 17-18 years old. Fun!!!

    Here are a few pictures of houses and other buildings I saw while I was wandering around downtown Charleston the other day.

Seems like most of the regular homes in the downtown area of Charleston were similar in form to this one. A basic 'Shotgun' style arrangement where the house has all the rooms arranged in a row from front to back leaving a very narrow footprint. I thought at first that this type of arrangement might be because of a lack of room and that this was a way of cramming a lot of houses into a very small area. But a friend of mine set me straight by telling me that most of these homes were originally built and owned by recent immigrants from England where they were accustomed to having what was known as a 'window tax' assessed on their property. Essentially a tax based on the number of windows that fronted on the main road, and therefore loosely associated with the frontage width of the building. The narrower the frontage, the fewer the windows, thou not in this case, and the less tax owed..... And I just thought it looked like a neat house.  

Another version of the 1st house, this one showing the multiple stories they often have. Most all of the homes had some sort of privacy gate or door that opened onto the 1st floor porch. Many would also have full length privacy curtains for each or the porches. That way, in the heat of the summer when temps and humidity were high you could drag your bed out onto the porch and sleep out there where it was generally a bit cooler.

Not sure what this building was originally, I just liked the looks of it with the arched front and all the stone and masonry details. It also looked like it had some wonderful stain glass windows.

Another similar house to the first two, this one is a little wider and it has a different front detail with the bowed porch. This one is located much closer to the bay which is where the wealthier people would of had their houses in order to take advantage of the breeze's off the bay. I love all the pastel colors these house's and buildings are painted.

One of the many large churches in the downtown area. Charleston was noted for it's religious tolerance and the many differant religion's that had a presence in the area thereby earning the city it's nickname of 'The Holy City'. One other interesting historical tidbit is that there are no lofty skyscraper type buildings anywhere in downtown Charleston because of a city ordinance written long ago that stipulated that no other building could be built that was taller than the highest church in the city at that time. Therefor the tallest non-church building there is now a couple feet shorter than the top of the tallest church steeple in the city.

This one is a little bit different, more along the lines of a conventional house but still showing some great southern details, a little brick, a bay, columned porches. A really nice looking home that is probably well over a hundred years old.

Another style seemed to be this one which is common down here in the south. Don't know what the style is called but it is noted by having a central entry way and hall that usually runs from the front all the way through to the back of the house. The main stairway is then located in this space with all the rooms branching off to both sides. With warm humid weather the doors and windows on either side could be opened for some good cross ventilation in the days before AC.

This house was just 'cute'. Kind of reminded me of a boat for some reason with it's hurricane shutters opened up like they were. A very nice color scheme too.

One of the business streets downtown where a series of row houses have been converted into small shops.

Another one of the churches downtown. This one isn't so tall, but it had some interesting ornamentation on it. My friend Max might have something interesting to say about the number and size of all the spire's on the roof.

Not sure why this building appealed to me other than it looked to be very old and I liked the top ornamentation on the chimneys. Looks like a good old sea port building, as if ships captains and crew might stay there while in port.

   The end of the weekend already. The dance ended a couple of hours ago after 3 final hours of bliss. It feels really good to be sitting down now drinking a cup of tea. Will need to drink a couple of gallons worth of fluids yet before I am back to being hydrated. The Great Bear Trio were hot, from the very first dance to the last waltz they played. Anna's Banana's were also a wonderful band, not quite of the same caliber, in my estimation, but certainly fun to dance too and with some more experience they will also be first rate.

  Wanted to go back a little bit and write more about yesterday since I was so tired last night that nothing much was going to happen once I got back to the trailer.... Was up early, for me anyway, in the morning and on my way into town to meet up with a friend of mine, Cathy, from Nashville. We had lunch together and then went in search of this miniature doll house town that her mother had made many, many years ago. (Hope I'm getting these details right). Anyway; it ended up being sold or given away and was kind of lost to the family. Cathy did some investigation of it and found out that at least part of it was out at a retail store for doll house hobbyist's in the town of Folly Beach. Long story short, we drove out to Folly Beach and found the store and they did have the town... unfortunately, all of it except one display case, was in some vague place called "storage". The lady was very nice though and told Cathy they would contact her if and when they got it out and had it set up again. So only a partial success, but better than nothing.
 
  We went on out to the beach and wandered up and down it for a good hour or so watching all the college kids on their spring break. Interesting to watch all the posing and preening of both sexes going on, or as one of my good friends would put it, all the 'Heing and Sheing'. Pretty cute really and actually very polite too.

   Went back into town and dropped Cathy off at her hotel while I went and did a little shopping while I was in town. Went back and picked her up later on and we went on to one of the local restaurant's that was recommended on one of the dance handout's. The restaurant was named 'Runaway Bay' and specialized in food you might find in Jamaica. I wanted to have 'Roast Oxtail with Butter Beans', because.... come on.... how many times do you see Roast Oxtail with Butter Beans on the menu? Unfortunately; I was evidently not the only one who craved that meal as they were all sold out of it. So I ended up having to 'settle'  for a spicy shrimp meal with rice and beans. To top it all off was an Island Rum Cake with ice cream and whipped cream. Good thing we were going to go dance yet because it had to be about a gazillion calories. It was a very nice meal overlooking the Cooper River and the company was very pleasant.

    The Saturday night dance is almost always the best night and last night was no different. Lot's of good music, wonderful dance partners and it wasn't so hot that you were drenched in sweat like you can sometimes be. It was a lot of fun.

    For those who have never been at a contra dance before, let me try to quickly describe what it is. Imagine you and a partner facing another couple all in a column of two set's of couples. You have a caller, similar to a square dance caller, who is responsible for picking and teaching the dance. The dance is an assortment of several moves, do-si-do's, alamands, swings etc, that you are doing with your partner as well as the couple you are with. Each dance is made up of only a few different moves, but how the individual moves go together makes each dance unique. The goal of all of this maneuvering is that after several moves done with your partner and the other couple you are with, and sometimes with even more people in the column, you end up moving on to the next couple in the line, as the other couple you were with moves in the other direction. Then the whole pattern starts all over again with this new couple you are dancing with. In the end you should have pretty much danced with everyone who was in you column. After awhile you pretty much know what the pattern is so the caller stops calling and you continue dancing for the next 10-12 minutes. Now, if you are still confused, or even more confused, I recommend you go to 'Youtube' and watch any of the thousands of video's that have been posted. Just know that very, very few of them really show what it is like and almost none really give you an idea of how good the music is.

   Did talk to a couple good friends from back home this afternoon. One, a person I use to work with, caught me up on what is going on at the job I retired from. Sounds pretty much like what was going on while I was still working there, so I can say with utter conviction that I am so happy to be done with that.

   The other good friend caught me up on the happenings with my boating friends back in Colorado. Glad to say they all seem to be doing well and getting ready for summer. Plans for the trip down the Grand Canyon as well as possible canoe trips. Looks like the summer months are starting to book up already also.

   So that is about it for today. It's going to feel good to sleep in tomorrow. I think it will be a pretty easy day for me. Here are a few pictures from several days ago. Will post a few pictures of buildings in downtown Charleston in a day or two, once I have them all sorted out.

The original Charleston Custom House where taxes on goods coming into and out of the region were calculated and paid before being loaded and unloaded.

The Charleston Harbor Pilot Boat Station. Every large ship entering or leaving the Charleston Harbor is required to have a qualified harbor pilot on board who has control of the ships navigation and docking.

Ft Sumter. This is where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Union forces were in charge of the fort while southern forces, including one regiment made up of cadets from the 'Citadel Military College', were located on the lands around the area. The bombardment of the fort went on for so long and so hard that the 16' foot thick stone and masonry walls were reduced from their height of about 55' to what is now closer to 22'.

Some of the many shore line homes on the north shore of Charleston Bay. According to the boat guide many of these are 2nd and 3rd homes for people and retail for around 10-12 million dollars each on average.

The Hwy 17 suspension bridge crossing Charleston Harbor. I liked the symmetry of all the cables as well as the bridge joists.

A small sailboat that was out for the day. Beautiful warm, sunny day to be on the water. Sure looked like fun.

Saw this sign hanging over the door into one of the historic Inn's in downtown Charleston.

One of the many cemeteries within the city of Charleston. This one is across the street from one of the old churches in town. Two interesting tidbits of info concerning churches in the city. The 1st is that the nickname of Charleston is 'The Holy City', because of the number of churches as well as all the different denominations that have always been here. The 2nd interesting thing is that there are no tall buildings in Charleston. This is because of an old law that said no building could ever be built that was taller than the tallest church in the city. So no building is more than about 285' tall. (I don't remember the exact number).

A wonderful day over all and a great evening of dancing. It just gets better and better as time goes on. Sometimes life is wonderful, tonight is one of those times, the feet ache, I'm very dehydrated and happy as can be. Just need a few hours of sleep now so I can do it all over again tomorrow.

    The first night of dancing for the 'Palmetto Bug Stomp' weekend dance here in Charleston. Can't believe how fast the evening went but with two terrific bands and two wonderful callers how could it be anything but great. Besides, with a name like that.... you know it has to be a lot of fun.

   So the two bands are Ann's Banana's and Great Bear Trio and the callers are Seth Tepher and Beth Malaro. The only one new to me is Ann's Banana's and they sounded pretty darn good to me. But of course the big draw for me is the Great Bear Trio. They just seem to get better and better every time I dance to them. Let me give you a quick description of them first off. As one would suspect from the name there are three people in the band. You have Noah and Andrew Nordstrom (sp), brothers who are now likely in their late 20's maybe even early 30's for Andrew. They play any number of instruments but it is generally Andrew on electric guitar and Noah on fiddle, foot percussion and didgeridoo. On keyboards is Kim, their mother, a really amazing talent and one who fills in and fills out the bands sound. It is amazing to hear how much music these three people can put out there, and what variety they can perform. They are just a joy to dance to and they have become quite adept at playing the audience as well as they do their instruments.

   Lot's of nice dance partners this evening, some I am getting to know well enough that it is a lot easier to dance with them now. Everybody has a certain style that they dance to, how they swing, how they twirl, liking or disliking extra turns, it is much easier once you have an idea of what to expect. It is also nice to be dancing with a group of people who are, for the most part, very good dancers. There were still a couple dances that got all balled up because of people goofing up, but hey, it's folk dancing. To me one of the signs of a good dancer, isn't whether or not they make mistakes, cuz we all do that, it's more about how easy, or hard , it is to recover from a goof-up. Because the dance just keeps going on whether you want it to or not. The other thing that, for me, makes it rather enjoyable, is being able to dance no matter what style, or lack of it, a partner has. Of course, it is best when you have a dance partner who is good at it all, and lucky for me, everyone tonight was very good. Nearly 1:00 already so I must go get some sleep. Will need to be up a bit early tomorrow as I'm having lunch and going on a short trip to Folly Island with a friend of mine.

   For those of you, if any, who are new to me, this blog or contra dancing and are wondering what in the heck I'm going on and on about, let me suggest you go to 'Youtube' and look up this video: Type in,  Mr Plow - Great Bear Groove  and the 1st or 2nd one that pop's up should be the one you want. Watch it through and it should give you an idea of why I think this is so much fun. There are thousands and thousands of other video's to look at if you want, but most aren't all that great, unless you happen to be one of the people dancing in it.

   Also; found out today that I had the comments box blocked so that pretty much no one could make a comment if they wanted to. Not sure anyone out there has tried, but if you had and couldn't get through.... sorry. It "should" be fixed now, so let me know what you are thinking if you want.