May 16 - 31, 2001

Wednesday, May 16, 2001                                                             Rodanthe, NC

While Christine took care of some schoolwork, I unloaded the motorcycle and prepared to take Christine on her first ride since that fateful February day when her riding confidence was sinfully stolen by a drunk driver colliding with her.  The forecasted threat of rain appeared to be a weak one as we headed north.  The temperature stayed in the 60’s, permitting great comfort in our armored riding gear.  Christine was noticeably stiff and uneasy as the ride began, but committed to recovering the joy that she discovered while motorcycling on her own.

The Outer Banks were conducive to Christine’s motorcycling return.  Straight roads offered great visibility, and there was very little cross traffic with which to be concerned.  The wind proved a little menacing, especially over the high bridge crossing Oregon Inlet onto Bodie Island.  For the most part though, Christine forced herself into even breathing and gradually attained a level of comfort.  We slowly cruised along the beach road in Nags Head before turning in to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk. 

After a brief visit at Kitty Hawk we drove down to the giant sand dunes at Jockey Ridge State Park to watch the hang gliders.  We learned that this is the largest hang gliding training site in the country, so we picked up some info and made tentative plans to take a class tomorrow.

We made one more stop for lunch before crossing back over the Oregon Inlet and visiting the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.  They have a great habitat for turtles that Christine and I both enjoyed.  We stood watching the turtles swim and climb on top of each other for quite a while.  Back on the motorcycle we made one last stop to purchase some fresh seafood with which to christen our grill. 

Christine marinated a couple fresh wahoo steaks and a dozen jumbo shrimp before I threw them on the grill.  I had to play around with some jerry-rigged wind breaks to stave off the heat sapping sea breeze before the fish finally cooked, but they turned out great.  We feasted on the wahoo and shrimp with a fresh salad on the side.

Thursday, May 17, 2001                                                 Virginia Beach, VA

We got an early start this morning to reach the Hang Gliding school by 9:30.  We signed up for the beginner class along with three others and sat through about forty minutes of ground school.  We were then fitted with helmets and harnesses before climbing up the dune.  The five of us split our flight instruction between two trainers and two gliders.  Our school consisted of five flights from the top of the dune.  This provided a launch height over a hundred feet above the landing area.

The instructors asked for a volunteer to go first.  After an extended silence, I chimed in as the willing starter.  I snapped the carabiner from my harness through the glider’s suspended loops.  I was given some brief instructions at the launch point, being told to walk, jog, and run, and then something about stopping.  Apparently I should have reviewed these expectations.  I began my launch into the wind and was quickly airborne gliding about thirty above the sand when everything went terribly wrong.  Having not expected to truly fly on my first attempt, I was mentally unprepared to execute all the necessary flight controls.  A gust of wind from my right sent me careening leftward back into the steep side of the dune with considerable speed.  The crash didn’t have to be so damaging; I was just unlucky. 

The left side of my face collided with the right metal down-tube of the glider at impact.  The collision was severe enough to bend the down tube into a right angle.  My sunglasses broke leaving a cut on my nose.  The down tube bruised up my face nicely.  My left eyebrow, left check and mouth are all swollen.  My upper lip busted to the point of being purple.  Fortunately nothing broke, and my teeth were spared.  The bruises on my legs and feet from getting tangled in the glider’s guy-wires didn’t appear until later.

I climbed back up the dune to join the rest of my group as they now reassessed their interest in hang-gliding.  I was later told by the instructors that I made an ideal first flight for the group.  For the rest of the lesson no one repeated my little maneuver.  It was my gallant sacrifice that kept everyone properly focused.  Or you can come up with some other b--- s--- rationalization that works for you.

I proceeded cautiously with my remaining four flights avoiding further self abuse and gradually learning to control the glider, though I have a long way to go.  Christine, on the other hand, was a natural.  She consistently had the best landings, almost always managing to come down on her feet.  She showed great enthusiasm and finished her course unblemished.  I got more out of watching her success than I did in measuring my own progress.  By the end of our lesson, my body was pleading for relief so we hopped in the RV and managed a simple lunch on the road.

We drove further north into Virginia and stopped at a KOA in Virginia Beach for the night.  I mustered enough initiative to grill a pork tenderloin on our new grill.  It turned out fabulously as Christine prepared some couscous with fresh peas and asparagus that she had picked up at a roadside vegetable stand before leaving North Carolina.  The excellent meal did much to lift my spirits.

1 and 2)  These both show Christine preparing for her first flight.  3) Joe shows off the awesome power of his face.  4) Joe gets ready for his second flight with a few more questions asked this time.

Friday, May 18, 2001                                                          Virginia Beach, VA

We slept in this morning to the sound of intermittent rain showers.  Christine was suffering from a harsh sinus headache, and I was just plain suffering (see yesterday for cause of suffering).  After much procrastination Christine went off to get some on-line computer time as I readied the RV for travel.  With uncertain plans we checked out of our pricey campground and headed out to explore.  We parked near the beach and walked along the boardwalk at Virginia Beach.  We were both pleased with the layout of this beach.  It is much more organized and tidy than other developed beaches along the east coast.  The boardwalk is actually a wide concrete walkway built on a seawall that separates the beach from the hotels and motels that line the oceanfront. 

We hopped back in the RV and drove along Cape Henry through Fort Story before coming across First Landing State Park.  The campsites here sit right on the cape’s beach so we paid for one for tonight.  We then drove into Norfolk to visit the Battleship Wisconsin.  The waterfront area of Norfolk was a pleasant surprise.  It has been developed into a productive balance of parks, museums, hotels, shops and restaurants.  Finally finding a place to park our rig, we walked over to the Nauticus complex to tour the Wisconsin and visit the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.  The exhibits were very well organized and interesting, helping us to suppress our malaise … at least for a little while.

Walking back toward our RV, Christine suggested a happy hour cocktail.  We stopped at a waterfront bar and enjoyed some inexpensive margaritas and a free appetizer buffet.  This proved to be very helpful in further raising our spirits.  We finally headed back to our campground in the RV, making one stop at the grocery store to pick up food for dinner.  I set up the grill for a third straight night to cook up some steaks.  Christine had me smother them in butter and blue cheese before removing them from the grill.  The tasty steaks were accompanied by steamed fresh asparagus and peas, and some new potatoes.  Another truly scrumptious meal.  We ate dinner as we watched the commercial ship traffic passing through the busy channel leading in and out of Chesapeake Bay.

By Christine:  The USS Wisconsin is a battleship that was recently decommissioned.  It was interesting to see the battleship and to read its history.  It has been used as recently as Desert Storm in battle.  The Naval Museum was interesting.  It was set in chronological order starting with the American Revolution all the way up to current times.  It explained the great battles fought by ships throughout our history and how the ships designs have changed.

    The USS Wisconsin Battleship.

Saturday, May 19, 2001                                                 Rehoboth Beach, DE

In all my previous domestic travels I have missed traveling through three states: Hawaii, North Dakota, and Delaware.  Today I bagged one of those states.  For the most part, these states have to be destination states in order to see them.  There is very little reason to just happen upon them.

We got an early start this morning out of Virginia Beach as we awoke to a quiet foggy morning.  This limited the sightseeing across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel complex.  A seventeen-mile stretch of raised roadway, arch bridge and two underwater tunnels make up the crossing of this busy shipping channel.  It is quite an engineering accomplishment.  Once across the bay we reached the DELMARVA (DELaware, MARyland, VirginiA) peninsula, also known as the Eastern Shore (of Chesapeake Bay).

We drove through persistent drizzles of rain as we settled into a very gray day.  We returned to the Atlantic coast at Ocean City, Maryland and then drove up the coastline to Cape Henlopen, DE.  We were amazed at the logjam of traffic driving out to Ocean City.  The weather was so lousy for a weekend at the beach; we couldn’t make sense of it.  Then we began seeing the marquis announcements welcoming the cruiser rally this weekend.  Cruisers are older cars that have been turned into hot rods and such.  Most of them were trailered in leaving very little room for parking.  We finally found an out of the way spot to park for lunch.  The congestion of vehicles, people and buildings made it hard to fathom that anyone would consider this as ‘getting away.’ 

The beach development thinned out considerably as we continued north into Delaware.  The rain eventually ceased and we picked a spot for the night in Rehoboth Beach, a nice underdeveloped beach that was pleasing until we turned west into the miles of outlet malls.  Christine scored with a great internet hookup here that gave her a quiet private place to work on her studies.  She spent three hours there in the afternoon, came back for a dinner of grilled smoked sausage with peppers and onions, then went back for a couple more hours.  She is such an opportunist.

Sunday, May 20, 2001                                                                      Denton, MD

With an occasional drizzle welcoming us up this morning, Christine grabbed one more hour of on-line study time while I watched CBS Sunday Morning on TV.  On the way out of town, Christine asked to stop at the Eddie Bauer outlet store.  With the drizzle continuing, we slowly made our way up to Dover.  As the capital of Delaware, it is a quaint little town with well-preserved colonial buildings.  We ate lunch there and turned west into a continuing drizzle.  With the rain turning steady, we picked up a couple video rentals before checking into a campsite at Martinak State Park.

By Christine:  I would like to say that many of my friends would have been sadly disappointed in me if I hadn’t done some shopping in a state with no sales tax.  After a couple pairs of shorts, we continued on to Dover as Joe stated.  I was amazed at how quickly we got from place to place in Delaware. 

We enjoyed two movies today and one of our favorite ways to waste a Sunday.  We watched Almost Famous, and Bagger Vance.   Great movies for a lazy, rainy day.

Monday, May 21, 2001                                                                      Waynesboro, VA

We got an early start this morning to look at a motorcycle in Luray, VA.  We stopped briefly in the DC area to arrange for a withdrawal of cash necessary for any possible purchase.  It rained on us all day today as we continued west across Virginia.  In Luray, we looked at the very same year and color motorcycle that Christine lost in her February collision with a drunk driver in Albuquerque, NM.  Guess what?  We bought it.  We are now once again a complete traveling adventure.  If this rain would just break, Christine could get back on a bike.

We’ve been in communication with the support team of a guy I know from Charlotte that is currently thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.  He is just south of where we are camped tonight, so we are going to check into the feasibility of providing him some trail magic over the next day or two.

The new bike! 

Tuesday, May 22, 2001                                                   Big Island, VA

Today has been a very big day.  After exchanging several e-mails with Rabbit’s (aka Jeff) wife last night and today, we figured that today was a good day to perform some trail magic.  Let me take a moment to define ‘trail magic’ for those unfamiliar with the practice.  When I was doing my ‘thru-hike’ of the Appalachian Trail in 1997 I was rewarded with many random acts of kindness along the way.  These acts of kindness were known as ‘trail magic.’  The people performing the trail magic were known as ‘trail angels.’  The trail magic took many forms such as ride into or out of a re-supply town; a cooler packed with cold sodas along the trail at a road crossing; a day hiker with a pack full of fresh fruit.  These acts of trail magic were so unexpected and so uplifting that they took on a holy regard.

The morning brought sunshine, which elicited a sense of urgency from wife to get her new motorcycle off of the RV for a ride.  It was my pleasure to set Christine up for her first solo ride since losing her previous bike.  The forecast called for more rain today, but it was clear at the present.  Christine tentatively guided the bike ahead of me with me providing her directions through our two-way radio system from inside the RV.

We stopped briefly in Waynesboro at an outfitter to look into getting a cargo box for the top of the RV.  The garage of our RV had gotten very crowded with miscellaneous items since we were only transporting one motorcycle for the past three months.  I purchased the smallest Yakima box with plans to install it later.  We met three thru-hikers at the outfitter and I gave them a lift back up to the trail.  From here we headed south at mile one of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I had tentative plans for the best places to perform trail magic based on Rabbit’s (Jeff’s trail name) most recently reported location.

Christine and I stopped at a pullout on the parkway that is less than a quarter mile from the Thunder Hill Trail Shelter.  We walked up to the shelter and left specific instructions in the shelter log regarding our intentions to perform trail magic this evening.  We then drove down to a pullout near the next trail shelter south.  I walked in a quarter-mile to that shelter to find three thru-hikers stopping for lunch.  I asked about Rabbit, and found out that he had passed through there just twenty minutes before.  This was perfect.  I let these hikers know of our plans to perform trail magic at the next shelter, and they let us know that we could have as many as a dozen hikers present.  This was valuable to know so that Christine and I could shop for the right amount of hikers.

With the weather turning sour, I loaded the motorcycle back into the RV.  Christine had a triumphant return to riding, having covered a hundred miles on this first day back.  Other than some annoying patches of fog along the parkway, the ride was perfect.

We proceeded to the nearest supermarket to stock up for the meal we were planning to bestow upon the hikers.  The rain arrived while we were inside shopping.  At first just a light shower, then later a nasty thunderstorm.  By the time we were headed back up the parkway we were wondering how we were going to feed these people in the pouring rain.

With God’s cooperation, the rain and winded abated by 6:00 as we parked in the parkway pullout.  As Christine began preparing dinner, I walked back in to the shelter to assure everyone that we were going through with trail magic plans.  I arrived at the shelter to find eleven thru-hikers and two section-hikers salivating with thoughts of a hot meal.  I begged them off for fifteen minutes while we got set up.  I went back to the RV and rolled out our awning, and then fired up the grill.  We had five pounds of hamburgers and two pounds of bacon to feed everyone bacon-cheeseburgers.  Christine was busy inside frying up the bacon and warming some baked beans.  She also sautéed some mushrooms and onions.  She sliced some swiss and cheddar cheeses, tomatoes, onions and lettuce to complete the burger condiments.  There were tubs of cole slaw and potato salad for the sides.  We also had a case and a half of beer in a cooler along with potato chips to get everyone started.

The hikers all arrived in amazement as we began our serving operations.  Christine set up our inside table for everyone to serve themselves and then eat outside.  By the end of the main course the temperature had dropped considerably.  A cold front had pushed the rain through and now many of the hikers were getting chilled.  This didn’t reduce their enthusiasm for our dessert offering of ice cream sundaes.  We had a big tub of Neapolitan ice cream; chocolate, butterscotch and strawberry toppings; walnuts, maraschino cherries, fresh strawberries and bananas; and a couple dozen chocolate chip cookies.  I fired up the furnace in the RV, and a half-dozen chilled hikers enjoyed their ice cream in warm comfort.

By 8:00 things were beginning to wind down.  The hikers had consumed almost everything.  We were left a little cole slaw and a few beers, and maybe a pint of ice cream.  It was a raging success as everyone ranked this as their best trail magic yet.  We finished off the evening sharing some quiet time with Rabbit.  He seems to be having a great hike, and we are very glad for him.  We finished cleaning up and left no trace as we headed back up the parkway to a campsite we had arranged earlier by phone.  It was 9:30 when we finally came to a stop.  We still had a mess inside the RV, but we were elated with the success of our efforts.  Well-deserved showers were the final cap on our day.  Thank you, God.

By Christine: As Joe said this evening, what a splendid day.   I am exhausted and it was an absolutely perfect day.  I opened my eyes this morning to sun and didn't waste any time showering.  I was prepared to get on my bike and ride.  It has been raining for days and everyone was glad to see sun, although it wasn't predicted to last long.  We got onto the Blue Ridge Parkway at Mile Marker One.  The only thing I could think as I drove onto the Parkway and saw the view was Thank You God.  Thanks for these views and for giving me the strength to ride again.  

I felt like a new rider.  I went pretty slow trying to gain trust in the bike and myself.  But it was funny because I was a new rider with all this knowledge from a previous lifetime.  Be careful, the paint is the slippery part... look all the way through the curve... pick the entry point to the curve... push and roll... all this stuff kept popping in my head.  Anyway, I got about 90 miles in before the rain threatened.  

Thanks to Pat for taking such good care of his motorcycles and for selling me this one.  Life is good.  

The trail magic tonight was wonderful.  It was especially neat, that we had a few hikers who had not encountered much trail magic to this point.  They really enjoyed experiencing it for once instead of reading about it afterward in the trail directories.  It was fun sharing adventures with these people.  It was also nice to put a smile on their face after they had spend the past few days walking through the rain.

1) Everyone is gathered under the awning because of the rain.  From left, Deuce and 1/2, Rabbit, Joe (Bigfoot), Deadwood, Diablo, Freebird, and Tara the dog.

2) From left, Diablo, ?, Freebird, Bambam, ?, Boot Stew, and DayDreamer.

3) The group picture.  Two section hikers took the picture but didn't stick around long.   There were 3 guys whose names were Tony, KB, and Manchie.  We don't know which is which, hence the question marks above.

Wednesday, May 23, 2001                                                             Big Island, VA

Having worn ourselves out yesterday, we got a pretty slow start this morning.  We drove on into Beuna Vista to get some laundry done.  While Christine worked on the laundry I was busy installing the Yakima cargo box to the top of the RV.  Getting onto the roof of our RV is not the easiest thing to do while there are motorcycles in the back.  With this in mind I did as much planning as I could so that I could get the installation done with only one trip onto the roof.  In the end I did get the box firmly installed, but I think I was up and down from that roof at least eight times … so much for my good planning.

We drove into Lexington for some grocery shopping and decided to return to the same campground to take advantage of the good weather to organize the back of the RV and load less used items into the top box.  This worked out very well, and we ended up enjoying a quiet evening.  Christine sent an e-mail out to our motorcycling friends in Charlotte and Atlanta to see if anyone would be able to join us in the North Carolina mountains for some riding this weekend. We’ll have to see what comes out of that.

Thursday, May 24, 2001                                                 Glendale Springs, NC

We got going pretty early this morning.  Christine cleaned up her new motorcycle so we could take pictures of it for our website.  She’s been eager to replace the image of her totaled motorcycle that’s been on our site for the past three months.  We then continued further south on the Blue Ridge Parkway into a beautiful day.  Christine rode her bike ahead of me as I followed in the RV.  We got near the North Carolina state line before Christine called it quits for today.

I loaded her bike into the RV and we drove on down the parkway to Raccoon Holler Campground for a very wet evening.  The weather had moved in bringing heavy winds and rain.  We had made several phone calls today and learned that we had two firm ‘yeses’ from friends joining us this weekend.  Jackie would drive up from Atlanta with his brand new fifth wheel trailer (complete with garage), and Dave would come up from South Carolina.

Friday, May 25, 2001                                                                      Balsam, NC

We left Raccoon Holler in complete fog this morning as we drove down to Boone for some library time.  Appalachian State University is located in Boone.  We took advantage of school being out of session.  There were very few students in the library.  We drove south of Asheville to Moonshine Creek Campground located right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

With Dave and Jackie on their way to meet us, we stopped at a supermarket to stock up on critical provisions: beer, meat, etc.  Dave met up with us at 7:30, and Jackie finally appeared at 9:30.  We enjoyed a late evening of telling stories around the campfire.

Saturday, May 26, 2001                                                             Balsam, NC

Christine rustled up a great breakfast of banana pancakes and sausage before we got the motorcycles out for a day of riding.  Dave rode on the back of my bike, as he has many times before.  We were treated to excellent riding weather, and we only had to put up with a little more traffic than usual, being a holiday weekend.

This being Christine’s third day of riding, we mapped out some routes that would permit her to travel at her own pace and yet not force us to be waiting for her throughout the day.  After some smooth cruising on the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to its southern terminus in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, we stopped in Maggie Valley for a lunch.  More riding after lunch included one of my favorite routes, highway 215, and then some more parkway riding.

We spent the late afternoon back in the campground taking turns swinging in Dave’s super-sized hammock.  A couple pitchers of margaritas contributed to the mellow mood.  We played around with Jackie’s new trailer before grilling out a couple peppercorn pork tenderloins.  We finished off the evening with ice cream over Christine’s homemade special brownies.

Sunday, May 27, 2001                                                          Waynesboro, VA

We did the Sunday thing this morning, and just lazed around.  Dave departed us pretty early.  The rest of us left after 11:00 and went our separate ways.  Christine and I turned back north which should remain the prevailing direction for the next several weeks.  We got as far as Waynesboro again to spend another night in the same campground we used nearly a week ago.

Monday, May 28, 2001                                                          Clarksburg, MD

This morning we went into Charlottesville for a thorough visit of Monticello, the Thomas Jefferson estate.  Monticello sits atop one of the area’s larger hills.  Jefferson designed the house and grounds from his own interests in architecture and design.  The estate is very well run as a memorial to the author of the Declaration of Independence.  Christine and I got a lot out of the tour.

It was late afternoon as we headed back toward Washington, DC.  We had plans to meet up with a friend tomorrow who had just moved there from Toledo, OH.  Efforts to reach her today came up empty.  We found a campground near her apartment in Maryland, but we arrived too late to get in.  The park office was closed and no one was answering the ‘after-hours’ telephone number.  The entrance gate required a pass code, and the exit had one-way tire spikes.  So we parked in the entry area for the campground with the idea that somebody working park security would discover us and check us in.  Well, that never happened.  We ended up just spending the night parked there … free, and pulled out in the morning.

1) Monticello

Tuesday, May 29, 2001                                                             Rockville, MD

Still unable to reach our friend, Heather, we drove on into DC to spend the day as tourists.  We were able to find two adjoining spots along Constitution Avenue where we could park the RV.  This put us on the Mall right in front of the Washington Monument.  The weather was comfortable with a moderate amount of humidity, so we put on our walking shoes and ventured out.

The Washington Monument was closed for inside renovation, preventing us from ascending it.  We walked from there over to the Jefferson and FDR Memorials.  The FDR Memorial is very new and unlike other Memorials honoring deceased presidents, it sprawls and meanders around walls, water falls/fountains/pools, and statues representing the challenges and accomplishments of his unprecedented four terms in office.

We continued our walk taking in the Korean and Vietnam War Memorials along with the Lincoln Memorial.  After a lunch break of polish sausage from a street vendor we went into the Department of Interior to view their museum.  This museum is visited much less than others, but was especially applicable to us.  With all the ground that we have covered so far in our travels that are managed by the Department of the Interior, it was interesting to learn of how the management of these lands evolved within the national agenda of our country.

We had just enough energy left to walk around the White House before returning to the RV to try to reach Heather again.  This time we were successful.  We made plans to meet her at 7:00 giving us a few more hours to kill.  We had plans to drive over to the Arlington Cemetery, but the confusing traffic patterns already being altered for rush hour had us going anywhere but there.  We have learned not to force the RV around in traffic, so we just went with the flow and headed out of town.  We decided to head up to Rockville where Heather lives, and use up our spare time at the local library.

We eventually hooked up with Heather and learned that she had just returned to the area after departing Toledo this morning.  She had been back there closing on the sale of her house and tying up loose ends.  She returned to her new apartment here to continue the unpacking that had barely been started.  Christine and I were impressed with her laid back manner amidst the chaos of change.  We went out for a fun Mexican dinner to finish off our evening.

1) The Washington Memorial. 2) The Jefferson Memorial.  3) FDR Memorial.  4) FDR Memorial showing the fireside chats he made famous.

1) The Korean War Memorial. 2) The White House.

Wednesday, May 30, 2001                                                             Rockville, MD

We left our RV in Heather’s parking lot and let her drop us off at the Metro station.  We relaxed on the half-hour train ride into the city and set out on foot to find a lot more crowds than the previous day.  Long lines at the Ford Theatre (where Lincoln was shot), J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI HQ), and Hall of Archives encouraged us to continue walking.  After a pleasing walk through the National Sculpture Garden we accepted the fact that we were going to have to wait in at least one long line today.  We chose the US Capitol as the one line worth waiting in.

We spent an hour and forty minutes in line at the US Capitol before receiving our tour.  Since Congress was not in session we were able to see both the house and senate chambers.  Heather made plans to drive down and meet us after that tour, and our rendezvous worked out perfectly.  We squeezed in a quick late lunch before taking in the tour of the Library of Congress.  This was a fantastic tour and exceeded all of our expectations.  I was so surprised by the opulence and grandeur of the Library’s interior.  Heather has already gotten her Library of Congress Researcher’s Card, and that elevated her excitement of using the Library after the tour.

We walked back to where Heather had parked at Union Station and paused there for a beer in the grand foyer.  We reflected on what had really been a great day so far.  We then hopped in Heather’s car and the DC traffic for a brief auto tour.  We drove up Massachusetts Avenue along Embassy Row to look at all the consulates.  We then stopped to take a walk through the Washington National Cathedral.  The west-facing Cathedral is massive, and looked spectacular in the late afternoon light.  We were free to walk around the interior and were fortunate to be there during a time of organ demonstration.  This Cathedral belongs to the Episcopalian religion.

We capped off the great day with dinner at Pizzeria Uno in Georgetown and then a quick drive around the Mall at night.  We even stopped briefly at the Lincoln Memorial to experience it under illumination at night.  We finally returned to Rockville, exhausted.

By Christine:  What a treat it was to see Washington on a lovely clear night.  It was so nice of Heather to drive us around this afternoon before and after dinner.  I must say, I really enjoyed Washington D.C.  Having never been here, I was impressed feeling that it was greener and cleaner than I expected it to be.  I look forward to returning on other visits to see the many buildings and memorials we were not able to make it to.

1) The dome of the US Capital.  2) The US Capital.  3) Part of the Library of Congress.  The library of congress has one of the largest collection of books, but they are not displayed.  They will get any book that is requested for the researcher.  All the desks you see in this picture are wired for laptops.  4) Heather and Christine at the Supreme Court building.

1) The Washington National Cathedral.  2) Abraham Lincoln and 3) The Lincoln Memorial at night.

Thursday, May 31, 2001                                                             Freehold, NJ

We said our goodbyes to Heather and continued driving North into New Jersey.  We carried out plans to stop at a Camping World just across the river from Wilmington, DE.  We gradually began to adapt to the increase in population density, obvious by the increase in traffic.

We had made plans to visit a friend of Christine’s now living in Ryebrook, NY.  Josh works security on the set of the TV program “ED” filmed in North Vale, NJ.  He would not have time off until Friday, so we stopped for the night at Turkey Swamp County Park.  This put us in a good position to drive through the dense northeastern corner of New Jersey tomorrow.

Continue into June....