Emotions are part of the journey.

And a range of emotions found us in our brief visit to Washington D.C.!

First it was love as we met up with friends.

Having watched these two young ladies grow up and leave our small hometown, of course we loved seeing them thrive in the big city. (We think Dean will fit in nicely.)

It was great fun to have Tipsy Tuesday with Sandy and George, who also moved from our little town, not by choice but due to necessity. (Sandy says she left her heart in Paducah.)

Captain felt appreciation for the friendship of former co-workers as he had lunch with a few of them. (He also felt relief that his working days are in the past.)

Yep, friendship is one of God’s greatest gifts

There was the excitement of discovery as we rode the Mt. Vernon Bike Trail to Alexandria.

Riding the Mt. Vernon bike trail

along the Potomac River.

Actually it wasn’t as much an emotion as it was feeling; although it was a nicely paved surface it was very bumpy which gave our seats a bit of discomfort. But it was a visually lovely ride with a delicious reward in Alexandria.

We had a moment of panic when an 8-inch limb fell about 20 feet and struck the back of The Wanderer. It sounded and felt like a vehicle hit us. The sound of the crash brought the folks from the neighboring site rushing over to see if we were okay.

We were. Other than a dent in a step of the rear ladder, there was not a scratch to be found. Have we told you how well the Lazy Daze are made? Since buying our now 14-year old Wanderer, we have never considered upgrading. After this experience, that thought is cemented.

There was a little disappointment for ABN. High on her list this time out was to revisit the Butterfly Exhibit at the National Museum for Natural History; unfortunately it closes the month of September for cleaning and renovation.

A bit of sorrow was felt as we paid a visit to Arlington.

We give thanks that, in spite of our grief, we can find joy. Without grief, there would not have been love.

Leaving the hustle and bustle of the city, we headed north, stopping to embrace the tranquility of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Amish Country.

Yes, that is the name of the town where we stayed.

A typical home place; note the clothesline, they were seen in nearly all the yards.

A common sight.

Captain did very well avoiding the horse droppings.

Back to the campground.

Since we were not clear as to what was acceptable with photographs, we resisted snapping a great photo. On Friday we happened to arrive at a schoolhouse as students were being dismissed and we found ourselves in a pace line with children in Amish dress on kick bikes. Later we learned photos are okay as long as they are not of the face. We respectfully tried to photograph the lifestyle and not the people.

Bicycling is a great way to observe the Amish way of life. And it helps offset the can’t resist baked goods that appeared along the bike route, in the town and even found their way into the campground via horse and buggy.

The chicken pot pie was outstanding! 

The folks in Lancaster County, whether Amish, Mennonites, or neither to be gracious and friendly. Only the tourists had phones in hand, no traffic back-up and the ice cream was around $2.25 for a generous dip; quite the contrast from Washington D.C. with crowded metro trains, folks immersed in their phones, rush hour traffic moving about 10 miles in one hour and ice cream costing $4-$5 a dip.

ABN thinks she could be happy living the simple, farm life; Captain says no way is he going to farm and don’t even think about taking away his TV sports! (That could change if the Aggies don’t improve their game.)

One more state added to the journey as we continue eastward.

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Stepping Back

When in Virginia how can one not step back in history?

First we visited the 19^th century with a stop at Appomattox Court House.

This is where it happened.

General Lee surrendered the Virginia Army to General Grant not in the courthouse but in the living room of the McLean House

in the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. And thus, the beginning of the end of the Civil War.

Stepping into the 18th century, we toured Colonial Williamsburg; a very well maintained colonial town that is probably more pristine than it was in the late 1770s. While we both are interested in the history of our country,

as artisans, the trades are what we found most interesting.

Shoemakers (not cobblers), blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers and many other craftsman use techniques pretty much as they were used in the late 1770s. 

The Wanderer was conveniently parked at Chickahominy Riverside Park on the Virginia Capitol Bike Trail. One afternoon we rode east and found ourselves in the 17th century at the historical Jamestown Settlement.

On Saturday we rode 14.5 miles to Charles City (29 miles round trip.)  

We could have ridden to Richmond, about 45 miles away, but we had a game to watch but that was beyond our current fitness level. We did watch the gameL 

 Meet George and Lucy

We met George and Lucy at Big Bend National Park in Texas the winter of 2018. They are both retired educators from Upstate New York. Like us, they were beginning their retirement travel adventures. You may have heard us share the story of how they acquired their RV; if not ask us as it is a great story. That’s the thing about George and Lucy, they are adventurers and whenever we meet up with them we can expect to hear another good story. We met up with them last week in Lynchburg, Virginia. Finding inexpensive or free places to camp is their forte which often leads them off “the beaten path.’ This particular story took place at a county park in Podunk, Oklahoma . As George tells it, they parked their rig next to a lake, set up their chairs and commenced to do a little reading when a park employee came by. Their first thought was “have we done something wrong?” No worries, he just wanted to chat a bit and then moved on. A bit later the sheriff shows up, parked his vehicle precariously in front of the rig so it could not leave. The look on his face did not come across as friendly. As he approached the RV, George heard him say “Geeze, I hate tomatoes!” You see, this was in the spring; Lucy had started tomato plants for her garden; they were sitting on the dash board getting some sun. Not the “weed” he was expecting.

Enjoying the beautiful state of Virginia; we add another state to our retirement adventure.

We will stay in Virginia a few more days as we visit our nation’s capitol.

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So Many Choices!

Asheville, North Carolina is known as “Beer City” for a reason. Apparently there are more craft beer breweries per capita than any other city in the country. That’s a lot of beer! Where does one start?

We started with a recommendation from a millennial age friend and made Wicked Weed Funkatorium our first stop.

Wicked Weed specializes in barrel aged sours; not being too familiar with sours, we started with a sampler. That’s a lot of pucker power!

What we learned; we do not especially like sour beer.  We settled for a nice Dark Aged Imperial Stout; smooth with a hint of anise.

Day 2 we took the recommendation of our East Tennessee beer guru and checked out Burial.

More favorable to our palates, the Hymn of the Serpent was smooth and very good as was Coco Bolo Coconut Brown Ale. However, Fabrication of the Non-believer knocked our socks off! Nice, full bodied stout made with macadamia nuts, macaroon coconut and vanilla beans.

Day 3 found us at Wedge in the River Arts District

where we enjoyed a Bourbon Barrel Aged Cream Ale and a Derailed Hemp Brown Ale (and awesome double cream brie, honey, walnut and sliced apple grilled cheese sandwich.) What made this brewery special is the location right smack in the middle of an art venue.

We were told the brewery is “next to an art gallery.” That was an understatement; there were hundreds of working art studios housed in reclaimed warehouses and mills. The exterior of the buildings looks a bit funky but they enclosed some very fine art.

Day 4 we stopped in The Green Man Brewery. It was nice with a roof top patio that overlooked the city, but really didn’t offer much in the way of character.

Captain enjoyed a smooth, full bodied porter, rich in flavor and ABN gave a thumbs-up to Dweller, a coffee infused imperial stout with a taste of bourbon.

It was our last day in Asheville so we debated, do we try one more brewery? Nah, we decided to have one more glass of Fabrication at Burial. To our disappointment they were out! It had been replaced by another stout, None of This Matters.  Flavored with cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate, it was not as good as Fabrication but close. Without a doubt of the four breweries we tried, Burial is our favorite.

While we were out exploring  sampling beer, The Wanderer was parked at Lake Powhatan Corps of Engineers campground.

The very well maintained recreational area is popular among mountain bikers and trail runners. We did a couple of 4-5 mile hikes (which our Colorado friends would call “a walk in the park.”)

Bent Creek Service Road

Carolina Mountain Trail

Fortuitously, each trail we chose led us to the North Carolina Arboretum. One to the pollinator garden and greenhouse;

Originally a pollinator garden,

turned garden for children (of all ages.)

and the other to the information center and gardens. 

As ABN's idea list grows, so does Captain's "to do'" list.

We love it when we stumble across unplanned places of interest! 

Once again we were four days off the grid but we were able to use the generator which we needed only one evening for the air conditioner. The weather was great with only a few rain showers. Like last weekend in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, children could be heard throughout the campground; a sound from which we never tire.

Breweries, art, horticulture, hiking, discovery, mountains; what’s not to like about Asheville? Looking forward to returning to see what other jewels this area holds. 

Tonight we are doing a Harvest Host stay at Grove Winery near Burlington, N.C. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of red wines; for our palates, probably the best we have found east of the Mississippi. After 6:00 p.m. we had the entire place to ourselves. We are self-contained (that means we are depending on solar for electricity and our “holding tanks” for water, etc.) but we do have internet and cell service!

Tomorrow we will cross over the state line into Virginia; uncharted territory for The Wanderer.   

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Where is "God's Country?"

Arriving at our campsite on Fort Loudoun Lake in Louisville, Tennessee on Wednesday,

we were not surprised that no campsites with electricity were available as we were advised this might be the case, but we were surprised that there are no generator hours. What that meant is we would not have electricity to run the air conditioner (about the only thing for which we need shore power.) That would not have been a big deal if the temperature had not been in the 90’s with very high humidity.

Not to worry, it wasn’t in our plan to sit around the campground. As is often the case when arriving in East Tennessee, our first order of business was to drop off the tandem at Cycology in Maryville for routine maintenance (and to check the sale rack ;) and of course to visit with our friend and beer guru, Tim.

 Isn’t it cool to have a tap in a bike shop?

He enlightened us to some of his favorite craft breweries and tap rooms on the path of our current journey, one which happened to be in Maryville

Not inclined to cook in the heat, we made our way to Barley's for pizza and a beer (of course.) Over glasses of Tailgate Peanut Butter Stout (an excellent, smooth stout with just a hint of peanut butter,) is where the idea started brewing (pun intended.) You may hear more about this in future posts.

Thursday we checked out Tim’s recommendation, Blackberry Farm Brewery.

Located in downtown Maryville, it is a product of Blackberry Farm. They feature old world style beers, like the Belgium inspired saison and German style ales. After sampling a few, we chose a Boundary Tree Ale, a Leatherbritches Porter and split a Dunkelweisen Lager. We found the beers light and refreshing for summer with interesting flavor combination; the porter lacked the full body, bold taste that we enjoy in dark beers.

After two days at Fort Loudoun Lake, we continue east to Cades Cove Campground in Smoky Mountain National Park. Again, we were off the grid, powered by solar energy and propane. We had no cell service or internet for four days. However the temperatures were much more agreeable; we didn’t need the air conditioner. But we did need to have the windows open which was great except for the one night a couple of women in the next site sat around chatting (loudly) until midnight. (The next morning, Sunday, “The Evil One” suggested to ABN that she could turn on the Bluegrass Gospel Train station (loudly) for revenge, but “The Good One" interceded.)

Over the weekend the campground was alive with children of all sizes having a grand time without the aid of technology. While it was quite noisy, the sounds were of excitement and laughter, not parents yelling.  Ahhh... yes, there is hope! By Sunday afternoon, the noise was replaced with quiet as the families disappeared.

Saturday mornings the Cades Cove Loop is closed to motor vehicles making it a perfect time for a bike ride.

We have shared videos of cycling in Cades Cove in the past so we will spare you the hour long Go Pro video (of which about 20 minutes is Captain changing a flat tire.)

Sunday morning we hiked to Abrams Falls

in under 3 hours (Yeah, we were pretty pleased with ourselves.)

Before turning north, we dropped down to Greenville, SC to have Tipsy Tuesday with our good friends, Carol and Lee.

A tour of the BMW assembly plant was an interesting add-on.

Since we were in Greenville, we couldn’t pass on the opportunity to check out another recommendation from our friend Tim.

The Trappe Door

 Captain had a very good Allagash Black stout while ABN enjoyed a most delicious Kasteel Barista Chocolate Quad. We learned “Quadrupels are dark, strong and richly spiced beers with notes of chocolate, raisin and burnt sugar;” a spot-on description. Thanks, Tim, for an excellent recommendation!

Following our last post, we were asked “Where is God’s Country?” Being the amateur philosophers we are, our answer is “wherever your soul feels at home.” In our travels we have seen some of our country's most beautiful places, however the mountains in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina continue to call us back; that is where our souls feel at home.

Soaking in the beauty of the mountains, breathing mountain air, listening to the rushing water and visiting our East Tennessee friends, our souls (and tummies) have been well fed.

The Wanderer has turned north as our journey to the Northeast continues.

Meet Dolphin

As we have said many times, it’s the people we meet that make our travels the most rewarding. Meeting Dolphin Riggs at Cycology Bike Shop/Little River Trading Company was no exception. Dolphin is a cancer survivor who used her experience to give hope to other survivors by starting Hiking for Healing women's cancer support group. At 72 years of age, she is an avid hiker and hike leader, plays on a National Champion softball team, works as hike leader for LittleRiverTrading Company, an outdoor outfitter store and is an advocate for dolphins. She chose the name Dolphin for herself as she can identify with their spirit. We caught up with her again in the Cades Cove Campground as she was preparing to lead 15 from her hiking group on an 11-mile hike. Like the dolphin, she approaches life with balance, humor and joy which is evidenced by the beautiful sparkle in her eyes as she talked about Hiking for Healing and her beloved dolphins. There is much more to Dolphin than this brief note as a visit to the Hikingfor Healing - Bridging the Gap Facebook page will reveal.

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