Shenandoah to Harpers Ferry

June 24. 08
Time marches on and so do we, we travelled 285 miles northward, our biggest one day hit yet and we are now in the Shenandoah Valley.
We have a site with half hearted TV and not very quick internet so this week we are not making internet phone calls and we are relying on the stuff we canned back in Spain (English TV) for late evening entertainment!
Our new TV has a built in digital decoder as does the DVD recorder which is also multi regional, it will play English recordings as well as USA. Cute innit?
Next year in the spring, the USA will give up analogue broadcasting the same day as we will in UK.
The campgound we are on now has four very poor analogue signals for the TV and no digital signal, so I think that next year this site may be short of customers.
We have, of course, been into the Shenandoah National Park for a trudge or two, some of it accompanied by the park ranger (free) and a free “lecture” about the black bear. Bears are resident in this part of the world and one needs to know what to do if you encounter one! No! Running like hell is not the way to deal with the situation.
Everyone else has seen black bears in the wild except us, well perhaps not everyone but quite a lot have. It’s the time of year when mother is out with very cuddly young so they are normally in groups of three.
Lots of deer to be seen, many chipmunks and squirrels and even a turtle crossing the road. I didn’t think that they had turtles here but the ranger assured us that they do. I have been known to stop and help them across the road but this one took me by surprise but I managed not to run him over.
Movin’ on tomorrow, another 100 miles further north towards Pennsylvania. We are going to Harpers Ferry which is a National Historical Park. We have almost overdosed on National Parks but they are always relaxing and stress free, and very picturesque and interesting.
This trip has mainly taken us through mountainous regions so we have made the most of it. We reckon that next time in the Autumn we will be travelling down the East coast and will have a sea-side sort of trip followed by a final rush back from Florida. It will be winter by then but not in Florida, Florida does not “do” winter.
Golf carts are what you use when playing golf, s’obvious innit?
Wrong, golf carts are what you rent when you go away for a relaxing and healthy camping weekend. It saves you having to walk around the campsite.
Camp ground owners often have them with a pickup truck type of flat bed behind and often they are also fitted with a “tipper” body
We are seeing Americans pulling their caravans (travel trailers) behind their trucks, and sitting in the truck bed is often a golf buggy!
Men being men, we have to start tarting these things up, its what men do! So now instead of the boring beige, you can have metallic blue, metal flake finishes, big alloy wheels and I see a couple with obviously larger engines and jacked up suspension with big knobbly tires! No! Honest, I kid you not.
Not long now before there is a V8 special dragster version. (I’ve just been told that they are already drag racing them!
Some idiots who do not own their own rent them from the camp site, at ridiculously high rates. Why don’t they get bicycles like we have?
Gonna be hot again tomorrow, 90f is the prediction but that’s O.K. We will be travelling with the windows shut tight and the air con running. Mr and Mrs America are now having serious discussions about whether it’s more economical to drive with the windows shut and the air con running or should they turn off the air and open a window. For those who have not thought about this very seriously, (and how many of us have?) the open window creates drag and makes the car (truck) less efficient. Nor can you condition all that air for no cost. Who was it who said “There is no such thing as a free lunch”? Yes, I did check the net but could not find the answer in three seconds flat, how unusual.
HARPERS FERRY
June 27th 08
Well, what a painless two hours that was, we were at our new site before noon without fuss.
It’s now Friday evening and we are reminded that Mr and Mrs America do like to get away for the weekend, the camp ground is filling very rapidly now and as normal those good folks have all brought fuel for the camp fire. It’s the way things are done out here and every pitch has a fire pit with logs readily available at the site shop.
The pool is a bit cool but it didn’t stop us on Wednesday evening but I will bet that it will be jammed solid with a million children this evening, perhaps not for me thanks!
Harpers Ferry is located where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet, on the border of West Virginia and Maryland. It is where the national armoury used to be until John Brown decided to make a final play for the freedom of all slaves here in 1859. It is his spirit that “goes marching on” and his body that “lies mouldering in the grave. ” His actions probably caused the civil war that ended slavery, in spite of him being executed.
Just for the record, John Brown’s last stand lasted a bare 36 hours and the only person killed by his small bunch of freedom fighters was a freed slave. Most ironic.
The town of Harpers Ferry is well preserved and all the National Park staff in the town are dressed in period costume, and along with the other Park Rangers, are as helpful as one could only dream about. All in all, a very nice experience. Today we had another of those guided hikes where there was just Freda and I and the Ranger, but man, it was hot! The young Ranger was impressed by our fitness and on returning at the end of the tour, said that it was the fastest time he has ever done for that hike.
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