Fred and Wilma’s 46th

Tuesday October 30, 2012

We woke up this morning in the Lincoln State Park CG in Lincoln, IN. It was kind of a late morning because the campground is right on the line between the Eastern and Central time zones. We wanted to get into the Lincoln Boyhood Home VC but if it didn’t open till nine we thought we should wait till 9 Central or 10 Eastern. At any rate we all slept in a little and made use of the showers. And at about 10 Eastern time we headed for the monument. 

They showed us a video that was really well done on Lincoln’s youth. His family moved to Indiana when he was 7 years old. He lived in Indiana until he was 22. The Lincoln farm was 160 acres. There is a working historical farm on the monument but it was closed for the season. His mother died of milk sickness when he was 9 years old and is buried in a pioneer cemetery on the monument grounds. It was cloudy and the wind was cold so we didn’t do too much looking at the grounds. We watched the video and then got down to the business of stamping. The ranger at the desk set out 2 stamps and said that was all they had so they went into the books. After we looked at the inside of the monument building, Fred asked another ranger if they had any other stamps and he pulled out 2 more from the same place the other 2 were stored. Even Park Service Rangers have bad hair days! There is a US Post Office inside the memorial building, which according to the postmistress is the smallest post office in Indiana. She said it is 32 square feet, the same as a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood….pretty small. There is also a very nice chapel in the building and a meeting room that is built in period wood and furnishings. There is a small exhibit hall with information and furnishings from the period.

We drove north on route 62 then west on I-64 and north on route 41 to Vincennes, IN. In Vincennes we stopped at the George Rogers Clark National Memorial. Now I bet many of you are asking; ”Who is George Rogers Clark?” and you are probably not alone. During the Revolutionary War the British had a garrison at Fort Detroit, in Quebec, near Lake Erie. The British had convinced the Indian tribes in the Great Lakes area that the US was their enemy and was arming and sending out war parties against the settlers moving into their areas. After an interesting campaign with a small number of well-trained frontiersmen Clark captured British Lt Governor Henry Hamilton. Hamilton’s capture weakened the control of the British west of the Appalachians and helped the efforts of the US to acquire all of the land east of the Mississippi. This was a very interesting and informative stop. Clark was one of 4 sons of a wealthy Virginia farmer. You are no-doubt more familiar with his youngest brother William, of Lewis and Clark fame.

Inside the monument we were each given headsets to wear so we could hear the story. It told us what all of the murals represented. There was a dramatic echo inside the monument, and even when the ranger was talking very softly it bounced around and around. With the headsets you could concentrate on the story.

From Vincennes, IN we drove west on route 50 across the Wabash River and into Illinois. We are currently in Stephen A. Forbes State Recreation Area CG a few miles southeast of Kinmundy, IL. We are all settled in for the night.

More on the old stone slab tomorrow.

Fleeing the East

Monday October 29, 2012

We awoke to falling snow in the Walmart parking lot In Fayetteville, WV. The more astute of us said it had been snowing since about 5:00 am after raining and blowing most of the night.  At least 1 of us only knew there was snow when we got up. Wilma looked at the weather on the net and after a quick huddle we decided that Detroit would be a good trip for another time since it was mixed rain and ice to the north in West Virginia and Ohio. With that in mind we took route 19 south then got on the West Virginia Parkway (read that toll road) to Charleston then on I-64 into Kentucky. There were stops for fuel and breakfast at a Waffle House that Fred’s friend Garmin located for us.

This might sound like today was a travel day. Well, in fact it was. It was a 0 stamp day.

We continued west on I-64 and ran into the sun in Kentucky. It felt pretty good since we had been driving in the rain through most of West Virginia. Once again, Fred’s friend Garmin located a place for us to eat lunch. It was a quaint little restaurant in Louisville, KY called Costco. They serve a great hot dog. It was a good place to give our sit ons a rest. They had been screaming “get off of me!”  Costco also provided a few snacks for the road trip ahead.

We continued west on I-64 into Indiana and turned south on route 231 near Dale. We drove down to the Lincoln State Park Campground, where we are parked in adjacent spots one more time. It is time for power and shower, and we have an intermittent wifi signal. We will spend the night here then tomorrow we’ll stop for a stamp at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial just down the road. There is supposed to be a stamp available at the VC.

It has clouded up and is quite windy, so we haven’t outrun the effects of Sandy yet. Glad we weren’t further east when she struck.

That’s it for today. Good night all.

Virginia and West Virginia, mostly away from the Big Storm

Sunday October 28, 2012

Last evening, before we went to bed in the Doughton Park Campground, it got cloudy and a stiff breeze came up. The breeze hung around all night, blowing in the trees. It sounded something like the roar of the roar of the surf when you are at the beach. We all had problems making believe it was the ocean especially when the rolling caves rocked occasionally. We were up, hit the dump station and were on the road by 9:00.

Our first stop today was at the Blue Ridge Music Center VC, they were offering a free stamp for the passport books so we availed ourselves of the stamp. There was a room with displays of musical instruments from a gourd banjo to an exquisite Henderson Guitar with the fret board inlayed with mother-of-pearl. One of the rangers had made a couple of dulcimers that were very nice looking and he played them for us. One was made of cherry wood and the other had a walnut back and the top was of a different wood. He demonstrated the sound difference between the two instruments that was caused by the different hardness of the wood. He also played a canjo which was made of a Mountain Dew can and a fret board with 1 string.

We left the Blue Ridge Parkway heading north on I-77, where we made a stop for fuel and a tank of propane for the Rubble-mobile, then south on I-81 to Wytheville, VA, north again on I-77 to Bluefield, VA, then west on route 52 to Bramwell, WV where we made a stop at the towns visitor’s center. Bramwell is a small town where a number of coal barons lived just after the turn of the 20^th Century. It was considered the wealthiest town in America, for its size with up to 14 millionaires living there at one time. The visitor’s center had a bonus stamp for the books. There was also a small museum of coal mining history. There are several historic buildings there, in addition to the mansions. Tours can be arranged through the houses and other historic structures. We had lunch at the Bramwell Café. It was a delicious buffet of roast beef, potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, green beans, a salad bar and dessert. The town is near the 1000 miles of the Hatfield/McCoy ATV trails, so caters to riders. The cafe had a sign up that said they were dirt friendly. There were two groups of riders also having lunch there, and really muddy ATVs parked in the visitor parking lot.

We headed out of Bramwell on route 52 to I-77 north, then on route 19 through Fayetteville, WV to the Canyon Rim VC at the New River Gorge National River. The VC is located near the New River Gorge Bridge, which is the longest, single span arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere, and after our stop at the VC and talking to the rangers on duty about camping, we forgot to go out there and take a picture. There were 6 stamps at the visitor’s center. Unfortunately their 25^th anniversary stamp was missing and presumed lost.

Today all but 1 or 2 of the campgrounds on the Blue Ridge Parkway closed for the season as well as a number of the VCs. Apparently a number of the other national park CGs closed because the ranger at the Canyon Rim VC called a couple of campgrounds to see if they were open and got no answer. As a result we are in the Fayetteville Walmart parking lot to spend the night.  It is raining and blustery so we are glad to be tucked in. It’s free overnighting, but not when you consider what we spend in the store!

More hammering tomorrow. Y’all take care.

Almost to the end of the Blue Ridge – for us

Saturday October 27, 2012

We had breakfast of biscuits, gravy, sauerkraut, and eggs this morning before we got on the road at about 10:00. We stayed in the Linville Falls CG last night and our first stop this morning is the Linville Falls VC, which is about ½ mile from the CG. It was a tough drive. At the VC we got the passport books properly stamped and looked at the river for a little while before we headed out.

The next stop on the BRP was the Linn Cove Viaduct VC. Passport book stamps were obtained and we watched part of a video on the construction of the Viaduct. The Viaduct is an elevated roadway that was constructed to skirt the face of Grandfather Mountain. It is 1243 feet long and curves around the face of the hill. It is supported by 7 columns and is made of prefabricated, pre-stressed, reinforced concrete sections that weigh about 100,000 pounds each and are held together by epoxy and steel cables. It was quite interesting to see how the sections were placed during construction. There wasn’t a good place to get a picture of it.

A few miles up the BRP we stopped at the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park VC. That is to say Fred and Barney orbited the parking lot while Wilma and Betty dashed into the Craft Center to retrieve the appropriate stamps. Evidently there are several trails that use the same parking lot as the VC and the lot gets plugged up by people hiking the trails. Nevertheless we were victorious and got the stamps we came for. Wilma and Betty did good and Fred and Barney only had to orbit 3 or 4 times.

We went on up the road about 20 miles and stopped at the Northwest Trading Post near Glendale Springs, NC. There is no stamp there but lots of crafts made by area artists are displayed for sale. Some of items are really nice. We didn’t stay long, but it was a good leg stretcher.

We then continued up the BRP to the Doughton Park CG where we made an early stop at about 2:30.

We had baked potatoes cooked on charcoal in the fire pit, salad and bread. We are now kicked back in the campers, reading and just being lazy in general. The weather has turned cloudy and the wind is cool. Tonight is the last night the campground we are in will be open. It, as well as a number of others close for the season tomorrow at noon. Our current plan is to drop off of the Blue Ridge Parkway tomorrow and start heading in a westerly direction.

  We are getting an absolutely stunning sunset tonight. It is so red. Fred was sent out to get some pictures, but is standing in the road talking to a fellow camper. We are being warned about the storm coming in, but red sky at night…!  The camera does not see as well as the eye, so doesn’t capture the deep red.

The hammer and chisel are being put up early today… more tomorrow.

Y’all have a wonderful day!