Days 54, 55 & 56, Nov 23rd to 25th

We hope everyone had a most wonderful Thanksgiving.

We've covered ground in the last few days slowly heading west. We have had rain on and off through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. As we crossed the Mississippi River we saw wide spread flood damage along the freeway. This is from the flooding that occurred last May. It is amazing to still see stretches of land still covered with flood water. All the recent rain hasn't help much.

We will post more as we slowly make our way home.

This is a shot of the Mississippi River from Interstate 40 as we drove from Tennessee into Arkansas. The river looks like it's at it's highest point and ready to flood again.
This is a photo just off the freeway about 10 miles from the Mississippi River. There was wide spread flooding for about 25 miles along the interstate. At one point Interstate 40 was closed in both directions for several days. It still looked like a disaster area.

Day 53, Nov 22nd

One of our last stops before heading for home in earnest was at the Lost World Caverns in Lewisburg West Virginia.

This is a cave system that was discovered by a farmer who kept dumping trash down a hole in the ground he thought was a small sink hole. After several years, he wondered why the hole never filled up. He asked some spelunkers (a cave explorer) to check it out. They discovered a several caverns with beautiful calcite formations. They also discovered bones from a prehistoric cave bear. The formations are between 500,000 and 320 million years old!

We took a self guided tour of the cavern. This took us about an hour. It is amazing how water leaking through rocks over thousands of years create such awesome formations.

The photos have a greenish yellow hue which I believe is from the lights used to illuminate the cavern. I took a few photos with the flash to see the real color but without the flash you could see more detail.

We will be heading west over the next few days and if we come across anything exciting we will post more photos. Until then, Thanks for looking.

Driving from the caverns, we came across some cows. We just had to stop and let Dug check them out. Dug was happy as a clam (as you can see by the smile on his face).
There were names for each of these formations but in my infinite wisdom I forgot to take photos of the name tags for each. So I will not attempt to try and figure out each name. Sorry for no captions on the photos below.

Day 52, Nov 21st

Today we headed to Harper's Ferry Virginia for a visit to the Harper's Ferry National Park. From the park, we took a shuttle to the old town of Harper's Ferry. This is considered to be the origination of the fight for freedom of the slaves. John Brown (an abolitionist) and about 20 of his followers raided the armory at Harper's Ferry as a revolt to slavery. John Brown and his followers holed out in the Harper's Ferry Firehouse. The US Marines were able to defeat John Brown and his followers and take them into custody. John Brown and his followers we tried, convicted and hung for treason.

This town was a thriving community of 3,000 before the Civil War. After the Civil War, the town population dwindled down to about 100. This was due to fires, flooding and wages of war. I wish I had this much interest in History when I was a high school student.

After checking out the town, we drove down to Lewisburg Virginia. Tomorrow we will visit the Lost World Caverns and if we have time we will visit the Greenbriar Hotel (this is where a secret underground bunker was built to house the Congress and Senators in the event of a nuclear bomb attack). This top secret bunker was decommisioned after an investigative reporter wrote an article about it. Will be posting photos and our experience tomorrow.

This is the site of the armory that John Brown raided. It was destroyed in a fire. Just the foundation remains.

This one of the old buildings (a pub) remaining from the original town.

This is the firehouse where John Brown and his cohorts hid before being arrested by the US Marines.

Day 51, Nov 20th

We left the motorhome in Hagerstown and drove to Atlantic City New Jersey. We started off visiting the Ballys Wild West Casino. Lost $20 so we headed to Ceasars Casino. Lost $40 there so we decided to look for better luck at the Trump Casino :-{, no luck there either, after losing another $40 we figured that was enough for one day. We strolled the boardwalk and then headed back to the motorhome.

We finished the day by driving from Wilmington Delaware to Hagerstown PA.

A view of the Casino's from the boardwalk.

Day 50, Nov 19th

Today we drove from Gettysburg Pennsylvania to Hagerstown Maryland. We woke up this morning to a very cold 23 degrees.

As we were leaving town, we saw hundreds of people lining the streets downtown. They were waiting for a parade that honors the anniversary of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Many of the spectators were wearing period costumes, some as Union Soldiers, some as Confederate Soldiers.

Dug found out the hard way that a cold surface and a warm butt get stuck together. We pulled him off, he only left a few hairs behind.

Dowtown Gettysburg streets lined up waiting for a parade. We felt like we were in the parade!

Day 49, Nov 18th

Above photo is the Gettysburg Cyclorama

Today we took an audio tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield. We pretty much spent the entire day driving to the site of every battle at Gettysburg. We didn't take too many photos as there were hundreds of monuments depicting everything from Confederate Brigade Markers, Union Brigade Markers, Flank Markers, Battle Tablets (explaining the actions taken in this particular area), Corps & division Markers and Headquarter Markers.

What was amazing is the fact that these soldiers were lined up in a straight and orderly line and commanded to charge the lines. Many were mowed down by relentless musket and cannon fire. I guess at that time this was the gentleman's way to fight a war. Most of the dead were from the July 3rd battle called Pickett's Charge. Major General Pickett under instructions from Robert E. Lee charged the middle of the Union line in an attempt to break the Union line in two. To no avail, only a few Confederates made it to the Union line. The rest were mowed down from the volleys of fire by the Union Army.

That battle to this day is the largest loss US military personnel on American Soil.

This is a cannon on Little Round Top with two period soldiers (one Confederate & one Union)

Here is one of the cannons used during the battle.

This is a panorama view of the battlefield from Little Round Top.

Click on picture to make larger.

Days 48, Nov 17th

Today we drove to York Pennsylvania to take a tour of the Harley Davidson Factory...yeeeeehaaaaw. Ok, this is one stop I insisted we make. I'm pretty sure Sue liked it as well.

Once inside and while waiting for the tour to start, we meandered around the showroom and tried on a few bikes. I liked the big ones with the heated seats & handlebars. I think Sue liked the small and fast models. I think if they had a Harley powered Vespa there would be no question about it (for Sue).....sold.

On the tour (we couldn't take pictures) it was amazing to see that they start with rolls of steel and press them into just about every part you could think of that goes on the bikes. Where all the parts come together on the assembly line was an awesome sight. The parts are delivered by robotic carts that follow a magnetic line on the floor. Everything is timed perfect to match up just as it's needed.

We walked the assembly line to the very end where the bikes are run and tested then crated for shipment to all parts of the world.

After leaving York, we drove to Gettysburg where we ran into the Gettysburg Museum. We stopped and explored about. Inside the museum there were thousands of artifacts from the civil war along with descriptions of all the engagements that occurred in and around Gettysburg. There were over 48,000 casualties in the battle with over 8,000 killed.

While in the museum, we paid to see the Cyclorama painting of the war at Gettysburg. The Cyclorama is a 360 degree theater. You stand in the middle of the room and you get a 360 degree view of the battle. The scene is an oil painting that was completed in 1883 by a french artist depicting Pickett's Charge on July 3rd 1863. This painting is massive. It is 359' wide by 42' high. This really has to be seen if you ever get to Gettysburg. The battle scenes look very real and at times seem 3d.

We finally ended up at the Gettysburg Campground for a two nights stay.

Sue waving as she rides out of the showroom with her new HarleyVespa.

This is as close to the bike I will get (if I were rich...it's list price was 30K)

Sue & I having a chat with President Lincoln (a warm 40 degrees).

This is a bigger view of the title photo above. Just click on it for a bigger view.

A small section of the Cyclorama depicting the Gettysburg Battle

A small section of the Cyclorama showing Pickett's charge against the Unions forces.

This is a shot of the Cyclorama showing the rear of the battle with reinforcements showing up and a makeshift hospital.

Day 47, Nov 16th

This morning we drove from Pittston Pennsylvania to Hershey Pennsylvania (Chocolate Capital of the World).

We drove to the Hersey Chocolate Factory for a tour. Before we even made it into the parking lot you could smell the chocolate in the air.

Once inside we went on a small amusement park ride that basically showed you how the chocolate is made. We then took the tour of the manufacturing process. During this tour, we got to make our own chocolate bars. We each went to a computer screen and selected what kinda of chocolate bar we wanted, along with 3 different add ins (I selected almond bits, butterscotch chips and Heath Bar bits). Then if we wanted sprinkles on top. After we finished, we got to watch the automated machine assemble our chocolate bars. While waiting for the chocolate bar to cool down, we went to another computer and each of us designed our own wrapper. See photo below of our masterpieces.

Upon finishing up at Hersey's, we drove to the Gettysburg Campground in Gettysburg, PA

Here we are dressed in garb to keep us from leaving any stray unwanted particles in our chocolate bars.

Here is a house made entirely of chocolate products (well except for the 4x4 wood beams holding it up).

These are our finished masterpiece chocolate bars. Sue's looks nice, but I'm sure mine will taste better :-}

Days 44,45,46 Nov 13th, 14th & 15th

Today we drove from Florida New York to Pittston Pennsylvania. Upon arriving in Pittston to gas up the motorhome, we found that the backing plate on the CRV was sagging down when it should be securely tight. The backing plate is the part of the tow bar system that allows us to hook the car up to the motorhome. Upon closer inspection, the backing plate was hanging on by one bolt on the passenger side. There should be 4 bolts on each side.

We (very nice of Vern to say "We" as all I did was watch and bring Diet Coke and Oreo's) decided to try and fix it before moving on. This entails removing everything on the front of the car down to the frame. Once there, I found that the backing plate was twisted and bent in the middle (not good).

Luckily we were able to locate an RV parts store that could get us a new backing plate by tomorrow (at a princely sum of $460).

Once I got the part, I had the car back together in about a day (not fun). Sue here...unfortunately Vern had to work on the car while it was 40 degrees and raining off and on all day :( We spent the night in the Walmart parking (along with about 10 big rigs (where there were at least 50 signs saying "No Semi Truck Parking") and a few other motorhomes.

Day 43, Nov 12th

Above photo is the Gettysburg Cyclorama

Today we pressed our luck and decided to visit New York City via the bus, train and subway. This time we had all of the maps for each leg of the trip. This helped but still wasn't perfect.

Once downtown we decided to visit the Empire State Building and see the city from the 89th floor. The view from there was awesome. The observation deck was a little crowded be we managed to take some photos and see the sights.

After the Empire State Building we decided to go to the Radio City Music Hall and see the Rockettes Christmas Show. This was awesome. I was expecting a musical with dancing girls but to my surprise it was one of the best shows I've seen. Santa Claus was there along with his sleigh and reindeer. They combined an awesome 3D movie that was integrated into the show along with very bright and colorful back drops. Wow!, it truly was great.

Our trip back home was slightly easier this time but we still didn't get back to the motorhome until about 9pm.

This is the main entrance to the Radio City Music Hall. As you can see by the crowds, it's very popular.

The backgrounds on the show were awesome. They used some kind of projector to make the background move. The gears in the background were turning and other items were animated as well. Very unique.

I'm not sure how they did it but all of the different colors were so bright they were almost fluorescent. Very cool.

I know they practice a lot and probably get paid a lot as well, but I was very impressed on how well the kept in sync with each other and when they kick their legs up they matched exactly and all the kicks were exactly the same, very impressive.

This is a view to the West of the Empire State Building.

Here we are looking to the north east.

We had to pull Dug from the edge as it looked like he was trying to get a closer look. We saved him from certain doom.

This is a view of Central Park.
Don't look down. I can't imagine the men that erected this building. Looking down can be a bit dizzying.

Day 42, Nov 11th

Today was our first trip in downtown New York City. The drive by car would have taken us about 1 hour but then we would have to fight the traffic and pay upwards of $50 to park. With this we decided to take the train. This was an experience in itself.

We drove the car to a train station about 20 minutes away. Upon arrival, we learned the the train track had been washed out and that we would have to take a shuttle bus to the next station. Once there, we took a New Jersey Transit Amtrak Train to the Hoboken Station. There we took a New York Path Train to Penn Station in downtown Manhattan. This way was the easy part. More on this later.

After walking around downtown, we decided to take the subway to Battery Park and catch a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It sounded soooo easy. Well let me tell you, trying to find our way to Battery Park was a nightmare. There is at least 8 tracks at Penn Station that has trains, light rail & subway cars going every which direction. Looking at the subway map was like trying to decipher Egypt Hieroglyphs. After about 45 minutes of racking our brains and asking everyone for an answer, we found our way to Battery Park.

We jumped on the ferry and took it to Liberty Island. Once off the ferry, we walked around the island and up to the statue. This is my first trip here and I was in awe at the size of the statue. It is massive and beautiful. If you ever get a chance to visit this area you have to see the statue.

We then took the ferry to Ellis Island. 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island on their way to a new life in the US. We were able to walk the path that the new immigrants took through the building and the process of immigration. There were a large amount of artifacts we were able to see on our tour of the island.

Once we took the ferry back to Manhattan, we just needed to catch the subway and the train back to Florida, NY and our Kevin (motorhome). It sounds a lot easier than it was. I think it took us an hour or so just to find the correct subway car to the train station. When it was all said and done, it took us about 3 hours to get back. Next time we will study all the transportation in NY and have our route figured out before we leave.

This is a photo from the base of the statue. This is as close as I could get as the tickets were sold out to go into the statue. They are sold out about 6 months out. The top of the statue is over 300' high. Standing at the base you get a feel for just how big it is.

Here is a zoom in of the top of the statue. It is amazing that the body of the statue is made out of copper that is about as thick as two Penny's. How they made all of those wrinkles in the rob is amazing.

This was the art work that sat between the two World Trade Center Towers before they fell. This is just how it looked after they salvaged it from the wreckage.
This is the Chopper that OCC Choppers built from scraps of copper left from the restoration of the statue. This bike is amazing, every part has been plated with copper (well except the tires).

Day 41, Nov 10th

We traveled from New Haven, Connecticut to Florida, New York. Fairly uneventful and no photos.

Day 40, Nov 9th

We went into downtown New Haven today and visited Yale University. While there we took a 90 minute guided tour of the campus.

This university is truly amazing, it reminded me of the Harry Potter School Hogwarts. This school was founded in the 1640's. Many of the buildings and dorms are like castles. The grounds of the school have to be seen to be believed. Makes me wish I had done better in school and was rich. Tuition and housing cost about $55,000 per year and only 17% of the students who apply get accepted. 90% of the students live on campus full time, with a school like that who wouldn't.

After the tour, we walked to a very small hamburger restaurant just off campus. This is supposed to be where the hamburger was invented. Lious Lunch has been open since 1895. When you order, your only options are a hamburger with onions or a hamburger with cheese, that's it. Sue took a photo of the sign inside that tells you "You Can't Have it Your Way". No toppings no choice on how its cooked. We received our hamburgers, they were a medium to well done patties on two pieces of white toast with cheese or onions, very basic. How it has remained in business for 116 years is any ones guess.

After Yale, we drove to Lighthouse Point Park to check out the old lighthouse there. The lighthouse is no longer in use but is maintained through donations.

This is the very rare book section at Yale. The room is sealed and the air is constantly monitored. This room contains books that are first prints and many that are found no where else. It is also guarded 24/7.

This is one of the more ornate school buildings.

This is just one hall of the main library. The Yale library contains over 12 million books. That is a lot of reading.

This is one of the beautiful windows that are throughout the library. The carved stonework and archways are something you would find in an English castle or a billionaires estate.

This is the lobby of the library. You can't see it in this photo but just behind me out of the photo are two security guards on either side of the lobby at doors leading into other rooms of the library.

The man facing us is our tour guide. He is a junior at Yale. I'm not sure how he finds time to be a tour guide and be a Law Student with a side degree in Psychology. He also performs with the drama club and school video productions.
This is another courtyard where students can relax and study. This courtyard is surrounded by student dorms.
This is a student dorm building, unbelievable, this is my kind of school.
Another student courtyard. wow!
I'm not sure what this tower houses but I'm sure it looks just as ornate on the inside.
More student housing. Where do I sign up?
Dug, behind our back, was able to get enrolled as a Freshman. He's standing at the entrance to the Freshman's courtyard gate. This is where all the new students enter to start their education at Yale. Dug pouted all the way home.
This is a look at the Freshman gate and their courtyard.
Another gate entrance to the Freshman's courtyard.
If your child gets accepted to Yale, trust me, it will be worth every penny.