Chapter 5, Ohio to North Carolina

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Photo link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Ches.Alli/Chapter5AugSept2007

It seems like ages and of course many miles since we completed Chapter 4. Cleveland was a turning point in our travels - not only were we getting further East, as evidenced by the increasing heat, humidity, and rain, but also because we now found ourselves visiting more family and friends instead of camping. That worked to our advantage as good camping spots are further from each other between the increasingly urban landscape and they become more expensive as the abundance of our national forests decreases. And then there is the attitude. Obviously the west is much more open about camping with a more laisezfaire attitude while the east is a lot more uptight with how their open spaces are used (especially since there is so much less open space).

We did not see the completion of Margaret's patio which we worked on while in Cleveland although it was almost finished, and are relying on Margaret to provide photos. There was a bit more work to do on the patio border putting in Baja Mexico (black, flat) stone and David, her fiance, was sanding the two 6 ft. lattice sections to give her a bit of privacy from her neighbors. Margaret spent three days of vacation and her weekend working on her house and we spent 5 days of our year long 'vacation' getting a workout and doing something satisfying. We're not sure who got the most out of the project. Of course, we had quality visiting time, squeezed in a visit to the Botanical Garden in Cleveland which was marred only by the roar of jets passing over for the annual air show, and went with Margaret and David to a party at their friend's house on Lake Erie where the sun set on the water with a splash of color and the stars smiled upon us. And of course we searched out the local brew pub and food co-op. Cleveland is a surprisingly nice city trying to remake itself after politicians sold the American manufacturing base down the drain only to be hammered by the current mortgage crisis. There are lots of big empty buildings and foreclosed homes waiting for buyers who love cold, cold winters.

From Cleveland we traveled east on US 6 across northern Pennsylvania continuing our tour of areas brought down by the demise of manufacturing - this time in small mill towns along the rivers that used to provide power and transportation. This was not a particularly great route to take as the towns were poor, the roads were bad and there were way more stoplights than necessary. Anybody with any gumption had left a long time ago. And then there were the confederate flags. Figure that out.

We headed east to our Santa Fe friends' new home in Beacon NY. Beacon is a lovely township on the Hudson river. Our friends, James and Naomi are respectively a talented artist and a gifted landscape designer. You can check out their work at http://www.jameswestwater.com/ and http://www.healinglandscapes.org

While visiting, we helped pick squash at their CSA, toured Dia Beacon, http://www.diabeacon.org/ , an amazing contemporary art museum housed in a huge, old, box printing factory, the water front, and ate a delicious lunch at a small cafe. James and Naomi did a very modern remodel of a brick school gym built in the early1900's and you may see photos of it in 'Dwell' magazine in the next few months. You can see the exterior at our photo show http://picasaweb.google.com/Ches.Alli/Chapter5AugSept2007?authkey=_Mw1JFUQhL8

After a few days, we moved on towards Portland ME. And as usual we took the back roads through the eastern side of New York, western Massachusetts (more dying mill towns trying to revitalize) and up to southern Vermont and New Hampshire. We passed through Mill Brook, N.Y., Canaan, Conn., Stockbridge, Pittsfield, North Adams, Mass. and into Vermont. Our goal was to avoid the major urban areas of the east coast and where it was nice, to stay off the interstates. Molly Stark State Park in Vermont has a well-kept campground where we spent the night sheltered from the rain under a canopy of trees. It was one of the nicest state parks we have stayed in and made us think that Vermont has an excellent state park system. We made the best of the weather and were still able to hike to the fire tower and climb up for a spectacular view over the tree tops. See the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/Ches.Alli/Chapter5AugSept2007
It got a bit steamy from the heat and rain in our van and it made us think of ways we could make an awning for the sliding door so that we could keep it open for ventilation yet keep the rain out. Allison managed to leave her shoes behind when we drove off because she had pushed them too far under the van to keep them from getting wet, but that worked to her advantage in Portland where she purchased new ones at a great savings.

Coffee in Brattleboro, Vermont shadowed by a nuclear power plant was a stimulating experience. Brattleboro is a hippy dippy town at the base of a mountain with a exciting downtown of old buildings filled with tourist shops, camping gear stores, bike stores, yoga studios, a co-op and anything else your new-age self could want. Progressive politics make this desirable in our minds, but the winter and the nuclear power plant knock it off the list. Still, it was a great place to get coffee at a local shop on a Sunday morning and then go do laundry and grocery shopping - all downtown.

We made it to Ches' childhood friend, Ann and her husband Andy and their three kids' home in Falmouth, just outside Portland, before day's end after a beautiful drive through New Hampshire and began our evening in true New England style meeting Andy's sister and her husband who brought mussels for dinner. We enjoyed being in the midst of a busy family juggling busy schedules of work, schools, art class, surfing, homework, tennis and all the things that make a family tick like a well-wound clock. We were able to toodle around Portland, eat at another great restaurant, hypnotize and boil lobsters, and ride a boat over choppy ocean water from Smallpoint to Falmouth (a ride that convinced Ches to never break his pledge to not get on boats again). Portland is a wonderful old seaport well worth a visit. It has an historic district that is an exciting blend of beautiful old buildings with, heaven forbid, modern architecture. Santa Fe, please take note. You don't have to make a mockery of old buildings by making everything look like an adobe 'Disney' land. Andy is both a residential and commercial architect http://www.portcityarch.com/ and had lots of good information to share with us about buildings and building. Our trip up to Maine was well worth it as we were able to see an area neither of us knew much about and to spend time with fine folks. Check out pics at: http://picasaweb.google.com/Ches.Alli/Chapter5AugSept2007

From there we turned back south to pick up Allison's shoes at Molly Stark State Park and had another nice drive through southern New Hampshire and Vermont. We spent a couple of hours in Bennington,VT. which was another of those little towns that turned out to be a gem of a spot. In this case it was noted for a Revolutionary War battle and was full of many beautiful old buildings from that era. After Bennington, we booked it on interstates through New York and Pennsylvania to Virginia. These two states are our least favorite to travel through; the roads are terrible and New York doesn't even have a state road map available at tourist centers.

We never thought we could make it to Winchester, VA. Ches' hometown and the place we met, in 2 days, but suddenly we were within 80 miles and it seemed silly to camp so we called our friends, Sam and Gail to tell them we were coming a day early. Here's where planning does pay off - they were out having a good time and we ended up in the George Washington National Forest at Hawk Campground off SR 55 near Wardensville, W.VA. because we had not let them know exactly when we would show up. Hawk turned out to be one of the nicest campgrounds we had been to. There was one other camper there and we recognized them in Strasburg the next morning where we had a cup of java.

We made a quick stop in Winchester before driving over to Warrenton, VA. on Saturday, September 15 to spend the weekend with Ches's sister Elise and her husband, Fred, who planned a very relaxed weekend catching up with family. Elise had invited her two kids, Richie and Elizabeth, Elizabeth's two kids, and Ches and Elise's nephew, Corey, and his family for Sunday lunch. It was a good time with a wonderful, fresh garden lunch prepared by Elise. It was nice to see family in a relaxed setting with perfect weather. Elise and Fred have an old stone home a few miles outside of Warrenton, in horse country.

Driving around this part of Virginia is like stepping back in time to the 18th &19th centurys. Reminders of the Civil War are everywhere and this is the area where a great, great, great uncle of Ches's, Frank Stringfellow, spied for Mosby's Rangers and J.E.B. Stuart. In todays' terminology he would be called a terrorist. Stringent local planning and zoning laws have kept much of the area relatively pristine. On Monday, we drove back to Winchester to stay with our friends Sam and Gail, who live in the historic district only blocks from the downtown, not too far from where Ches lived back in the 80's. It was a blast from the past visiting and sharing meals with old friends and seeing what was new in their busy lives. Gene & Sarah (the arts), http://www.eugenebsmith.com/ , Steve and Lynnette (silversmiths), Bob, Donna, Jay, Gail, Nancy (friends from high school), Beverly and Keith (old family friends, http://www.kbexoticvillas.com/), Patty, from Allison's days at Leggett, John and Marjorie (friends and patrons of the building arts who graciously provided us their home for our wedding and reception 16 years ago), and Vikki ( http://www.celebrateFun.com/ ) - it was exciting to see them all. Sam and Gail were great hosts, understanding our crazy in and out schedule connecting with old friends. Gail, who is a docent at Glen Burnie, gave us her 'perk' passes to the museum (a great and informative resource on the history of the Shenandoah Valley, and a must-see for anyone who is visiting the area, http://www.shenandoahmuseum.org/), and Sam, who was busy with meetings and improvement projects in the apartments they own found time to creatively repair Allison's favorite reading glasses.

Everyone was so kind to make time to see us on short notice that we fell into the comfort zone of being in a familiar place with friends that are like family. We were able to walk or bike just about everywhere in our little cocoon of historic downtown Winchester, but eventually the urge to press on to find our next home overcame us and we left for Roanoke to see more of Allison's family - but first we felt it was important to pay respects to Allison's father's grave in Woodstock and stop for a short visit in Edinburg with Letty, 92 years old and still keeping a large garden, “putting up” green beans and quilting an average of one blanket every two weeks. Remarkable!

We didn't explore Roanoke, VA but headed straight to Allison's sister, Bobbi and her husband Lyn's house for an evening visit over a delectable meal that Bobbi was able to whip up after working all afternoon. The next morning Bobbi and Lyn had to head off to work but we were able to catch up with Allison's brother James and his wife Lisa and their 2 kids over lunch in the school's cafeteria. Now that was a lesson in controlled chaos! Imagine a room filled with kinder and first graders sitting at long tables, all taking tiny bites of their sandwiches between loud, excited conversations that involve stutters of “and, and, and”, add sweeping hand movements as they bob up and down knowing they are suppose to stay seated and the tiny twerps when the teacher rang a bell to announced one minute of silence where they could only eat. It was too much for Ches who had only had a strong cup of Hawiian Kona coffee before heading out that morning to get the required 10,000 mile oil change in our Sprinter van and he had to step outside. All that in just over an hour. Whew!

Parting was sad for Allison because she knows that it will be a long time before she sees these family members again, but it was time to head to Floyd, VA to visit another of Ches' high school buddies, Ed, and his wife Kate. They were extremely busy with work and school, but Ed took time to show us all the building projects he is involved with in Floyd and tell us about the music happenings in the area. http://www.thecrookedroad.org/ We had no idea that Floyd had so much going on. It is a charming town that offers not only headliner bluegrass music, but local crafts, cute cafes, a fabric store in an old 3-story farm house, and what else, a co-op. The amount of money that is being poured into that one small town for building projects is amazing. Successful business people who love that area are building it up. Not surprisingly there are those who oppose the growth. Does this sound familiar? We have seen places where people can only dream of such improvement and the resulting jobs it brings and other spots where enough is enough. It was a hot, very humid afternoon and Ches ordered a herbal ice tea at one of the local cafes and received caffeinated tea instead. All the caffeine and excitement, or whatever, took it's toll later that evening when he passed out, hitting the gravel so hard he broke his glasses and sports a magenta, green and purple eye three days later. That gave us all a scare, but Ed and Kate took it all in stride and after about 5 hours of couch nursing, we all felt we could go to sleep with peace of mind.

Just to be on the safe side, Allison drove the van the next day as we headed towards Abington, VA.to visit one more relative of Ches' relatives. Once there, we were able to hook up with Mary Hortenstine, Ches' dad's cousin for an afternoon pit stop and then on to Damascus, where we entered the Jefferson National Forest and camped in a trail head parking lot next to Beartree Lake, a small mountain lake with a trail around it. Ches was able to get wet in the lake that evening and the trail made for a nice morning hike.

We then headed down the road back to Damascus and had time to walk a ways along the Virginia Creeper trail. http://www.vacreepertrail.com/ Bikers take note, this looks like a pleasant ride over 35 miles from Abington to Whitetop Mountain near the NC border. We thought about riding the trail, but decided it was too late in the day to leave Rain in the van in the continuing heat and while our bikes are in good enough shape to ride around town where we know we can access a shop if we have another incident like the blowout Ches had in Seattle, we aren't sure they can survive in the “boondocks”. After a quick dip in a beautiful mountain stream that ran along the trail we opted to head towards Mooresville, NC near Charlotte where Allison's mom and brother live and where we could connect with Libby, the last sister to see on this tour.

We stopped again in Boone, NC, home of Appalachian State where we ate lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, walked around the block and shopped a bit at the Natural Foods grocery store. Lots of young adults were on the streets heading to class with backpacks or in hippy clothes and dreadlocks. Boone was a really nice small town nestled in the Smokey Mountains where even the oppressive heat and humidity of the last week couldn't penetrate. In Virginia and North Carolina we have seen the results of a terrible drought and excessive heat that has lasted through the summer. Reservoirs are down and the grass is brown.

From Boone we made it to Mooresville late that afternoon to the comforts of Allison's mom's house, where brother Alvin, his wife Sally, and kids Nora and Courtney live right next door. It is a great family compound. One special note. As we have been working online here planning the next phase of the trip we found a great resource for finding National Forest campgrounds all over the country. It is: http://www.forestcamping.com/index.htm/ For all you campers out there check it out.

After a visit here we head towards Florida to see Ches's mom. Before closing we want to thank all of our friends and family who have been so nice to us as we travel. It has been wonderful to spend time with all. We have had a great time and carry such rewarding memories with us. We hope you enjoy the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/Ches.Alli/Chapter5AugSept2007?authkey=_Mw1JFUQhL8/
and regret that we kept forgetting to take more pictures of our friends.
Best,
Allison & Ches

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Photos

Vermont
Molly Stark State Park path to the fire tower