Sep 4, 2019 - St. Michaels, Maryland

If you have time to take an overnight trip from Washington D.C., one of the best places you could choose would be St. Michaels, Maryland. It is one of our very favorite places to go for the weekend. It is about an 80 mile trip west of DC, across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and south about 30 miles. Photo 1 A good itinerary would be to start early from DC, stop for the day in Annapolis and then go on to St. Michaels and stay overnight. St. Michaels is located on what is known as the Eastern Shore where several quaint towns are located, with...

Sep 3, 2019 - Annapolis, Maryland

Another day trip about 50 miles east of Washington D.C. is Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, and an historic jewel. It is located directly on the Chesapeake Bay. It is defined by both its history and its nautical character as exemplified by the presence of the Maryland State House and the United States Naval Academy. ACCOMODATIONS If you have time to stay overnight, there are numerous bed and breakfast accommodations that can be found on the internet. The main large and only hotel in the city center and right on the bay is the Annapolis...

Sep 2, 2019 - Baltimore, Maryland

There are several excellent day trips from Washington D.C. or, if you have the time, overnight trips. Baltimore, Maryland is one of them, only 50 miles northwest of D.C., about an hour by car. The primary reason for visiting Baltimore is the Inner Harbor. This was previously a shipping port and harbor, but has been renovated and filled with hotels, restaurants, shops, museums and a multitude of other activities. Fort McHenry, the place where the Star-Spangled Banner was written, is at the far end of the Inner Harbor, accessible by an...

Jul 23, 2019 - Day 68 - Solomons Navy Rec Center, Solomons, MD

It stops raining just long enough for LJ and I to get a good walk in this morning. At the dog run, the disabled vet whose dog pulls him in his wheelchair is there, sans wheelchair. LJ and his dog get a few good sprints in, which is great for LJ. He's going to be stuck in the RV for most of the day. We're back at the funeral home by 8:30 for our final goodbye to Charlie and the procession to the church. By this time, it's pouring rain, which fits the somber mood. About 9:15, everyone but the pall bearers head to our cars to get ready for...

Jul 22, 2019 - Day 67 - Solomons Navy Rec Center, Solomons, MD

It's still brutally hot and muggy this morning. The heat wave is supposed to break tonight, but it's dug in its heels so far. After the morning walk, my primary objective is to find a place to get the oil in the RV changed before we head west on Wednesday. I normally like to change the oil every 5K miles. Conventional wisdom says it's ok to go to 7.5K if you use full synthetic (which I do). Before the detour back to the east coast, we were going to hit that 7.5K limit about the time we returned to Tucson. Now we're going to be way over and...

Jul 21, 2019 - Day 66 - Solomons Navy Rec Center, Solomons, MD

The day starts off on a sour note. I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog that somewhere during the roller coaster ride through the mountains of western Maryland (and West Virginia and Pennsylvania), we hit a particularly sharp curve. Suddenly, there was a really loud crash from the back of the RV. My first thought was that maybe the refrigerator door lock had failed and the doors had swung open. Wendy heads back to investigate, and after several minutes returns and reports that the Keurig coffee maker had slid off the counter and crashed...

Jul 20, 2019 - Day 65 - Solomons Navy Rec Center, Solomons, MD

With the time change, LJ and I are both a little slow getting started, plus it's so dang hot and humid neither one of us want to move much. The park actually has a decent sized dog run, and LJ takes a couple of laps at high speed in there before deciding to revert to slow motion. We're ready to move out about 7:45 but first we have to hook up the truck. In a stroke of incredible fortune, I had somehow remembered yesterday morning that having the truck in tow continuously for days puts a real drain on the battery. So before we left Iowa...

Jul 14, 2019 - Day 2

This morning we made it down to our free breakfast by 9:00 AM. The breakfast here was pretty much in line with Hampton Inn. There were 2 waffle makers. the batter was whole wheat whole grain. Made good waffles. There were also a few types of cereal (all sweetened) bagels and bread for toast. There were a few types of packaged breakfast meals ready for the microwave. Nice dining area. By 10 AM we were on the road. We extended for a second night in Hagerstown because a few other sites we wanted to see were relatively near here. Our first...

Jul 13, 2019 - Day 1

The day for our trip across the country has finally arrived. After some last minute packing, cleaning up and a quick breakfast, we loaded the bags into the car. For the most part, we packed and planned with the flight home in mind. We each had one large checkable bag and a carryon. Packing the car I discovered that the Buick Encore (a small SUV) is the opposite of Dr. Who. The car is smaller on the inside. The cargo area in the back just managed to hold our large suitcases, and the carryons had to occupy the back seat. Regardless, by 9:30...

Jul 7, 2019 - Day 52 - Little Orleans Campground, Little Orleans, MD

Sorry for the late post of yesterday's events. We ended up in a really remote part of far western Maryland out of range of essentially anything electronic. Plus, our usually reliable canine alarm clock fails miserably in his duties. I'm the first to wake up, around 7:30. Normally no big deal, but we want to be on the road in time for lunch at my late sister's sister in law's place in western Virginia (this would be Ali and Jeff). We both need showers and need to dump our grey tank and fill our fresh water tank, so we're in a bit of scramble...

Jul 1, 2019 - Cunningham Falls sp

We got a later start this morning but Bill got his workout in and was able to drive through all the PA traffic down to Maryland. We passed by the Gettysburg battlefield but didn't stop as we saw it several years ago. We did stop and find Tom Sturgis pretzels which are made in PA. Drove on to the CFSP and got a great site in the Houck campground area. We're the only ones in this loop so it's nice and quiet. We're hoping a bear will walk through as the ranger said several had been spotted. This is part of the Catoctin state park- very...

Jun 29, 2019 - Day 44 - Retelle Campground, US Naval Academy Annex, Annapolis, MD

Once again my alarm dog fails in his duties. None of us are out of bed before 7am. Normally it's not a big deal (time has no meaning when you're retired) but we've got a few things we'd like to accomplish before meeting everyone for lunch on the eastern shore. But the timeline keeps sliding right all morning. After I walk LJ, we pack up the RV and head to the dump station at the Navy Exchange gas station. Of course, for the first time since we've been here, somebody is using the dump station ahead of us. It's an elderly guy in a van the...