June 13 - Hagerstown MD to Danbury CT

 

Today we had less miles to go so we stopped in Harpers Ferry at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters where Deb looked up her picture taken there in 2013. Then we walked down into Harpers Ferry and took in the sites. Smaller town than I was expecting having heard of it many times before. Lots of history here. Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame stopped here to have made all the metal stuff he needed for their expedition. John Brown, the abolitionist,  was shot and hanged here in 1859 after attempting to raid the armory, which became a boiling point for the civil war. 

We then drove to George Washington's first monument (not the one in DC) which was built in his honor in 1827. It sits on a hilltop and was used during the civil war as a lookout. This area is saturated with history.

Then back on the road, ending the day in Danbury CT. Tomorrow we go to Orange CT to visit friends and then the ferry to Greenport NY (Long Island) to see our daughter Hannah and her partner Eric. 

June 12 - Winchester KY to Hagerstown MD

 All work today, no rain but mostly cloudy. Mostly interstate but beautiful green everything everywhere after living in the desert the last year. Forgot all the bugs on the windshield thing. Coffee (McD's) and tea (Starbucks) then hit the road. Snacks for lunch. Dinner tonight in Hagerstown MD at Colonial, local place, then found "The Meadows" icecream place which was packed. I swear I'm gonna buy a soft ice cream machine. Goldmine!!

Jun 11 - Cave City KY to Winchester KY

Mammoth Cave today. Could not get a spot on the guided tour (reserved weeks ahead) but we showed up a little after 8am when they open and got a spot on the self-guided tour at 10:15.  Had coffe and tea and a short hike around the park grounds before the tour started. I love out National Park Service. Simple, well done, good use of taxpayer money.

The caves were used by ancients way back when. They brought minerals out but not sure what they used them for. Then slaves pulled salt peter (salt petre?) out during the war of 1812 to make gunpowder for that war. Jefferson was smart enough to know we needed our own supply.

Then on toward the next, and hopefully final town of Paris with an Eiffel tower, Paris KY. But the bonus was stopping at the Kentucky Castle in Versailles (oh boy..) KY. The poor woman manning the guard shack must have had an endless number of people pull in, ask to take a picture and then leave. You can stay there the night apparently.

Then it poured buckets of rain, which was a new experience after living in Arizona the last year. Very humid and hot so we had to remember fogged up windows and glasses, sweat, etc.

 Got a motel in Winchester, little nap and then into town to Abettor Brewing for a cold beer and cider and then to another bar, Engine House for a small pizza and soda. Another day on the road.

Jun 10 - West Memphis AR to Cave City KY

 

The bridge across the Mississippi was still broken so we headed north to the next bridge up and crossed into Missouri briefly, then Tennessee, then Kentucky. There is a place called "Land between Lakes, which used to be Land between Rivers before the TVA dam projects. It's a National Recreation area so nicely preserved. We paid $5 to see buffalo and elk, but only saw the buffalo (I want a refund National Recreation Area..)

Our big surprise was finding another Eiffel Tower in another Paris in Tennessee and it is much nicer. Some students made the first one out of wood which rotted so a metal shop in town made a real lice replica out of steel. It's 60' high compared to Paris TX being 75' high, but this is much more a replica, but TX does have the red cowboy hat on top so..

Nice two lane road most all day so nice way to see the little towns, which are for the most part hurting with empty store fronts and long gone businesses.

Ended the day in Cave City Ky, walked to Bucky Bees BBQ for dinner.

June 9 - Wichita Falls TX to West Memphis AR

Another long day across Texas on the wonderful RT 82. This road is a great, fast way to cross Texas. Speed limit is 75 (even when it shouldn't be) and unlike the interstate, you get to see interesting stuff. Small towns, like Muenster TX (think Bavarian influence, until WW1 anyway, also, good donut shop) and Paris TX (think 75 ft tall Eiffel Tower, with, wait for it, a giant red cowboy hat on top ??) As we go east everything gets greener and greener, and more and more humid. It topped out about 92 today, but the minute you open a car door, you get blasted with wet humid air, yuck.

Lot's of run down towns past their peak, but obviously were still pretty home town proud. A good trick is to look each town up as you drive through and look at the history. Davy Crockett discovered Honey Grove TX for example.

At the end of the day Google sent us off on what we thought was a wild goose chase, but it actually saved our bacon. The bridge across the Mississippi River was closed and traffic was backed way up. We whistled by on a side road and stayed in West Memphis (before the bridge).  Have to figure it out in the morning. Found a great Mexican restaurant, cold beer, margarita, taco salad and burrito. 

Rain ahead the next couple days so kinda stuck on where to go tomorrow.

Jun 8 - Cloudcroft NM to Wichita Falls TX

Small breakfast and long conversation with the owners of the B&B this morning. They moved to CloudCroft 11 years ago from Lubbock TX, which we will drive through today. We stopped in town for coffee and tea and then headed east off the mountain on RT 82, and stayed on RT 82 all day. The temperature was 56 degrees when we left and a couple hours later it was in the 90's. We are not in the desert anymore and enjoyed seeing green trees, green grass, and real live actual water after living in Bisbee the last year. The speed limit hit 75 as soon as we crossed into Texas and we spent a few hours surrounded by oil rigs and all the trucks and oilfield supply businesses along RT 82. This road is mostly 2 lanes but there were a few sections that were 4 lane. Passed through a lot of small towns that had seen their prime many decade ago. The podcasts burned up a lot of the day and we stuck to business and ended the day in Wichita Falls. Texas is a big state! Dinner at a brew-pub (with broken taps, canned bear only, but pretty good anyway). More RT 82 tomorrow!!

Jun 7 - Bisbee AZ to CloudCroft NM

First day of our trip back to VT. We waited for the air conditioning guy to show up (8-10am) but no show. Deb called and he was running late so we set up a time in July when we get back. I did my morning walk up the Divide and dropped off the Firewise paperwork at Al and Anne's. We dropped our extra veggies at Lindsey & Dan's, then PO then to Douglas for McD's coffee (the official road trip coffee), then east on 80 to Rodeo NM, Interstate 10 east to Lordsburg for gas and a sandwich to split. I10 to Las Cruces and then 70 east over the mountain, past White Sands Park, then Alamogordo and up the mountain to Cloudcroft. Classic mountain Ski/Tourist town, lots of 4WD trucks and cars, steep dirt roads, and Lincoln National Forest Park with lots of hiking trails and the old train trestle. In the late 1800's they needed lumber to build the railroad down below so they did a survey and determined they could build a railroad up into the mountains to harvest the Douglas Pines. And the added bonus of hauling tourists up the mountain for R&R. The railroad ended in the 1940's, but they had a good road up to town so the tourism continued.

We checked into the Crofting Inn B&B and then walked into town to Dave's Cafe for a burger and beer. After dinner we walked some trails to the outlooks and watched the sunset.

It's awesome to see green trees and grass and hear peepers in the woods.