Turkey & Worcestershire Sauce

We had a visitor! Other than squirrels and chipmunks, this is the first sign of wildlife I've seen up close. About 3 weeks ago we did see a turkey (maybe the same one) across the camping area from us but up-close is different!

He first caught my attention when he jumped onto the picnic table. The next thing I knew he was on top of our rig! (Did I mention in the Montana post that turkeys can fly?) Chickens can't and yet these big birds can. Amazing.



After a while he got off our roof but got onto the pickup. He spent considerable time pacing back and forth and looking into the cab, as if there were something in there he'd really like to check out. Eventually, he jumped onto the top of the cab, sat down and rested for quite some time.

How do you pronounce Worcestershire Sauce? I've always struggled with that. Well, no more; now that I know how to say Worcester. (I learn these things from listening to the radio.) Would you like to know how to pronounce city names like: Worcester, Gloucester, Leominster and Peabody?

Worcester is pronounced Woo-ster; which rhymes with booster. Now, doesn't that make the sauce easier to pronounce?
Gloucester is pronouned Glue-ster; which also rhymes with booster.
Leominster is Lemon-ster; yes, like the citrus fruit.
Peabody - now this is fun; to pronounce this one, say the three letters P B D with emphasis on the P.

There are a few other nuances in this area, spoken by long time residents but I'd have to say that, by and large, our country is losing a lot of it's regional uniqueness. One park ranger said we are becoming more and more homogenized. That's for sure!

I'm looking over a 4-leaf clover that I've overlooked before...

Well, not really 4 leaves; but it has a catchy tune, don't you think? I know - it's weird to write about clover. But, these are different... they're purple! Do you have purple clover where you live?

For our Las Vegas friends - clover is a common weed found in lawns in most parts of the country. Lawns are a living green carpet of grass, usually in place of gravel or sand, which needs regular watering and mowing. If you need a definition of mowing, let me know. ;-)

When I was growing up, we had clover in our lawn but it had white flowers and the flowers were much smaller these.

Navigator

See the little map on the dashboard? That's our newest toy. It's part GPS and part back seat driver. We named "her" Kit in honor of that 70's show about the talking car. This little gadget is so much fun. We enter an address or choose a point of interest in a particular town and it takes us there one turn (or bear right/left) at a time. The fun part is that she seems to have no interest in taking us via major roads. Instead, she seems to prefer the most direct route and therefore, leads us through the most interesting places. We've seen some beautiful sights we would have not seen otherwise.

One day it led us to a roadblock where a bridge was out. We took a right and Kit recalculated the route. Come to find out, we were only about a 1/2 mile from a main route, one that we had been on a few miles back. But we saw some of the most beautiful landscapes because of that little "short-cut".

It's hard to believe Kit knows what she's doing sometimes because we'll be traveling along in the general direction of our destination when she'll tell us to turn onto a tiny little obscure street. What! Can this be right? Sure enough, several twists and turns later we arrive at our destination. I have no idea if it's the faster way but it sure is more fun!

Sometimes we like to tease her. We'll tell her our destination and then we'll not follow directions. She stays quiet calm and recalculates our route. She'll say, "In 100 yards, turn right". When we don't, she'll recalculate again and give us new directions. She never gets frustrated or loses her cool. She must be related to Spock because she doesn't show any emotion!

In the photo above, I was on my way to Nashua (rhymes with Joshua). Within 5 miles of leaving the house I had no idea what road I was on. Nashua is only about 15 miles away but we never took a road I had seen before. I had no idea where I was. Sure enough. She took me right downtown. Actually, this time she did let me down. She took me to Main St when I wanted Daniel Webster Hwy. Come to find out (later), they are one and the same street but the address I wanted was about 4 miles away. It just goes to show we can't trust her 100%. We'd better carry some maps in our car just in case.

By the way - speaking of driving - what's happening with the price of gas in your area? I saw $2.21 for regular today. Up until that, we've been seeing $2.25 fairly often. Feel free to add your comment by clicking the comment button.

Vermont

There was a threat of rain on Friday when we headed for Vermont. It turned out to be a mostly dry but cloudy day. It's a good thing we went though because it rained in earnest on Saturday.

Some of the things we did were things we did 5 years ago. We went to Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. Five years ago we arrived in the afternoon and learned there was a wait of an hour or two to take a tour. We had to skip it then. This time we arrived early in the day and had no trouble getting in. As it turns out, the tour was just okay. Truthfully, the tour we took of Dreyer's in the Oakland, CA area was a much better tour.

We went to an Apple Cider "factory". This is apple harvest season so they were actually making cider by cold pressing chopped up apples. Oh - fresh pressed ice cold apple cider is so very yummy. Have you ever wondered what the difference is between cider and juice? According to these people, cider is 100% apple, while juice has water, sugar, or something added.

Then we stopped at a glass blowing shop and watch the artisans at work.

Then, we found a 5.5 mile bike path (one way) and went for a ride. Much to our surprise, there was a covered bridge at the end of the path. It was a great ride.

As you can see from the photo, autumn continues to arrive. Each day it seems that more and more trees are turning colors. The ones that started turning first are already losing their leaves. Some areas are more advanced than others. I think the peak may be in a couple weeks, but we'll see.

From there, we headed for a Morgan Horse Farm (don't ask me why it's not called a ranch). Believe it or not, this too is a National Historic Site. We called ahead and were told the last tour was at 3:30. We arrived about 3:20 to find that the 3:00 tour was late so they combined the last two of the day and started 10 minutes before we got there. We joined it in progress but missed whatever they had to say about the grounds and basically got an introduction to Morgan Horse blood lines, which was not the most interesting thing to us. The barn itself is magnificent (built in the late 1800's). The horses are beautiful. We saw many in their stalls but the bars on the windows prevented any contact beyond stratching a soft nose here and there.

Saugus Iron Works (sub-title "Curl Up and Dye")

Saugus Iron Works is not really all that exciting. Interesting, yes; but not exciting. Let me give you a quick synopsis. It's the first industrial iron manufacturing plant in the new world. It dates back to the 1600's. It was very progressive but, even so, it wasn't profitable and only operated for two decades. It did pave the way for other iron works though, so it wasn't all a waste. The buildings that are on the site now are reproductions.



There are a couple interesting side topics I'd liked to include in this entry.

Occassionally, we'll see an old home that is painted black - or very dark brown. The photo at the left is a good example. These buildings were at Saugus Iron Works. Paul Revere's house was this color too. What is interesting it that one of the buildings at Saugus was not painted. It was singed and it turned out almost the identical color. I can't find any proof but maybe this is what was done to wood to preserve it before paint was practical. It's just a theory. Check out the photo to the right.




Another interesting thing in this part of the country is granite curbs. Concrete curbs are extremely rare, while granite curbs are everywhere. For some reason I thought it was a left over practice, that is, until we saw some brand new ones in a construction zone. Here's a photo of a middle aged curb.

Anyway... here's the interesting part. Oops... I should be including this in the next blog on Vermont; but, I'll cheat. In one small town
in Vermont, we saw white marble curbs!! That was amazing.

I'm sorry; I didn't get a picture of it. To make up for it, I took this photo of a sign that made me laugh. Maybe it'll make you laugh too.

Okay - Now Boston

Since we skipped Boston yesterday, we headed back there again today. It's only about 45 miles from here. We got there about 8:30am and we took our bikes with us. The first thing we did was bike (and walked where it was too congested) the Freedom Trail. Have you ever done the Freedom Trail? If so, then you know about the red bricks or red paint on the sideway to lead the way. It's starts at a visitor's center in Boston Commons, in front of the State House. It goes by several historic locations including the Old North Church where the signal ("One if by Land and Two if by Sea was given") . Here, you see Paul Revere's house with the brick trail in front.

I think this house was painted when it was restored but we learned something interesting later in the day. These dark houses (we have seen several like this) are dark because the wood has been burnt. It's intentional. I don't know why. I'll try to find out more and let you know.

At the end of the trail is the USS Constitution; or, Old Ironsides. This ship is one of the original 4 ships commissioned by President George Washington in 1797. Navy sailors are still stationed on her and they take her out several times each summer. (For lots more pictures, check out my online photo album.)

I love Boston - not so much to live in but to visit. After the Freedom Trail we rode our bikes around Boston in general. I love the city, especially the architecture. The Charleston district is very 1600's with gas lights, narrow brick streets, and boot scrapers built into the stoops. The brownstones are very pretty, on streets with park-like medians. People seem to know how to make great houses here!

In an earlier post (around New York I think) I mentioned the houses being cute. I've tried taking some photos but the they just don't do them justice so I haven't posted them. Well, in Marblehead, MA there are about 200 homes built prior to the revolutionary war and about 800 built in the 1800's. Amazingly, they don't look very much different from the typical houses we see here. I'll put a photo here, but again, check out our photo pages at http://travelingturtles.myphotoalbum.com/.

Boston, but then; not Boston.

When we left the house this morning we had Boston in mind, but never got there. We first went to Lexington to buy a couple loaves of Great Harvest Bread. There in Lexington is a wonderful bike trail which, in total, is 11.2 miles (from Cambridge, through Lexington, to Bedford). We opted to ride as far as our parking meter would allow - about 1.5 hours round trip. I think we turned around in Arlington.

It was late enough in the day by then that we decided to skip Boston and headed for Salem instead, which is North of Boston. Rather than visit the witch related sites we choose instead to visit the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. We learned all about Salem's early history as it related to the bustling merchant trade ships.




After that we walked around the town and found the city's oldest cemetery. Inside we found gravestones dated 1750, then 1717, and then 1692! Capt. Richard More was a Mayflower passenger and died at the age of 84 years old in 1692.

Hints of Autumn

Tonight, we're supposed to have our first frost of the season. Even without a frost, the trees know it's Autumn. It's odd how even parts of leaves will turn red. Sometimes, we'll see a very green tree with a very red section. Does anyone know why some parts turn red before others? Tomorrow, it'll be interesting to see how much it changes.

This is off subject but I'm curious; what is the price of gasoline doing where you live? Maine has the lowest gas prices we've seen in a long time. Sam's Club in Bangor had regular gas for $2.48!

Mainely Maine

This last week-end we were Mainly in Maine - mostly visiting Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor (Ba Haba) although we stayed in Bangor. For the most part, weather was beautiful. There was a big thunderstorm on Saturday night but there was sunshine on both sides of it.

But, I get ahead of myself. On the way to Bangor, Maine we took a side trip to visit a "Pick Your Own Blueberries" farm. It was officially closed for the day - and nearly for the season, since only one variety is still bearing. Even so, we got to see blueberries on the bush, close up.

Then, we stopped to see the State Capital building in Augusta. The last time we visited it, apx 5 years ago, it was undergoing restoration and we couldn't see the interior. So as not to bore you with photos of state capitals (you see, we've also visited Concord, NH and Hartford, CT in the last couple weeks and have photos of those too), I'll only post Maine's interior dome. It's not much when compared with other domes but is still interesting.

Acadia National Park is nice but I have to say that there are many places along the CA coast just as pretty. Take Pt. Reyes, for example. It's a beautiful place. One unique thing about Acadia is the Carriage Roads, built just for non-motorized modes of transportation (i.e. horse & carriage, horses, bicyclers, and hikers). Finally, we were going to use our bicycles, purchased while still in Las Vegas from a retired bicycle enthusiast in our RV park. I hadn't gone very far (up hill I might add) when my rear axle pulled out of the frame. A helpful couple stopped and loaned Larry a pair pliers. Larry reinserted the axle and tightened the bolts. A few feet further up the hill the same thing happened. At the same time, Larry's bike was having severe brake challenges. We knew that this same hill we had just come up we'd have to go back down and it was going to be dangerous without proper brakes. So, Larry hauled my ailing bike back to the car - physically, while I meandered my way down the hill taking photos as I went of mushrooms and leaves and other things that caught my eye. I'll load a bunch of Maine photos to my online photo album. Check it out: http://travelingturtles.myphotoalbum.com/

Then, we proceeded to the nearest Wal-mart, purchased two new bikes (gave away the old ones to a teen-age boy and his Mom), went back to the park and had a very successful and enjoyable ride around a lake. It was a good size lake and quite a work-out for someone who isn't used to riding.

House Hunting over Labor Day Week-end

What?!! You might say. Why? Where?

The answer to "why" is because the price was so low that we just had to see it in person. The answer to "where" is Nashville. Well actually, about half-way between Nashville and Bowling Green, KY.

A real estate agent has us on her radar as prospective buyers if she can find something cheap enough. She emailed us last week with a listing for a very small, bank-owned home on sale for $34k. Since Larry had a free plane ticket and a free hotel room to use, we decided to use it for that.

Now, you're asking... Did we buy? No. Not yet. We're still talking. Maybe we'll make an offer and maybe we won't. The house isn't livable so it would be a project to work on over time. Fortunately, we have a place to live so that's not a big deal. What we have to decide is if we want to take on the challenge and if we want to be attached to a specific place.

I'd love to share some photos with you but I left my camera in the rental car when we climbed into the agents car. He (the agent's husband) took photos and gave me a floppy disk but neither of our computers take a floppy. Wal-mart probably has a way of transferring them to a CD but right now it's not worth the effort.

As a result of looking at that house I have about two dozen flea bites. If you're one of the few I've already told about this then the total number of bites has increased since then. I discover more every hour. Hopefully, I didn't bring them home with me! When I discover a new one I cover it with a little round band-aid so I won't scratch them. I'm beginning to look polka-dotted!

You wouldn't have believed the fleas. The agent is the one who discovered them because he was wearing light colored pants. They didn't show up so much on our blue jeans; but, they were there - in hordes! I mean, thousands!! We ran outside and jumped and slapped and brushed, over and over again. We'd knock them off and they'd jump on again so we'd slap, brush and move to a new spot and repeat. I'm sure we were quite the spectacle if anyone was watching!

New Hampshire State Fair

The State Fair happened over Labor Day week-end not far from Manchester. It was small but, at least to me, it was quite interesting. Larry might tell you otherwise if you ask him. ;-) There was a sheep dog demo which I found far more interesting than a competition because the handler explained the commands and showed what the dogs could do, using mulitple dogs at once. Here, two dogs move two goats (who have never been worked before) through a chute. Here, the Billy is defending the Nanny.


Then, there was a competition that I did enjoy - this one of draft horses pulling increasingly heavier loads. The 11 teams started out pulling 1300 pounds and the winning team pulled something like 3500 pounds. The photo didn't turn out well but maybe it'll give you an idea of the effort and strength the two horses put into their task. They would pull with such enthusiasm that their front feet would come completely off the ground as they threw themselves into their harnesses. You can kind see it in the light colored horse if you use your imagination.

New Camp Site

Just today, we moved to our new digs- for the next several weeks. From my kitchen window, I see a golf course, with a small pond between us and whatever "hole" that is. You can't see the flag in this photo because it's behind the tree.

We're away from most of the other people because they're tucked into the forest on the other side of the golf course. We specifically looked for a place with open sky so we can have TV and internet.

We're told that over the holiday week-end we'll have company. They'll be parked all along the tree line where you can barely see picnic tables right now. Otherwise we've got the whole section to ourselves. If it snows on us before we go, it'll look really pretty in here.

New England

New England is so pretty. The place we're parked is surrounded by woods. Here are some views. The upper right photo is taken from our rear window. The lower right is from our side window. That's hard to beat, isn't it? So far there haven't been any critters that I'm aware of but I keep expecting to see something walk out of the woods.

VW RV

There were so many requests to see the RV Bug! Sorry it took so long to get it posted. Here it is. Cute, eh? To refresh your memory, this was in Arizona, in a little town off I-40, half way between Flagstaff and the New Mexico border.

Low Bridge, Everybody Down

Low bridge, everybody down!
Low bridge, for we're comin' through a town!
And you'll always know your neighbor,
You'll always know your pal,
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.

Larry and I were trying to remember the Erie Canal song while we watched a tour boat go through two Erie Canal locks. This is just the chorus. I found the whole song on the internet but I don't remember the verses. Truthfully, I only remember the first two lines of the chorus. How about you?

The last time we came through these parts, we saw some locks in Canada but I wanted to see the Erie Canal. Not surprisingly, the modern Erie Canal is not the same as the historic one. It's been rebuilt twice, making fewer but larger and deeper locks along it's length.

It would take too much to post the series of photos so I put them on "My Photo Album" on line. Go to http://travelingturtles.myphotoalbum.com to see them.

While in the area we decided to revisit Niagara Falls. Here's a couple photos from there. The Canadian side is a lot more commercialized. The tall buildings you see in the background are in Canada. They have built a beautiful park with formal gardens along the falls which are very pretty. Perhaps I should add those to "myphotoalbum"as well.

Last, but not least, we visited QRS Music in Buffalo. This is where player piano rolls are made. What a fascinating tour! The majority of the process is old fashioned and dare I say, out of date. But then, piano rolls are not exactly a modern commodity. There are two methods of creating the punches in the rolls - both slow and very manual. When I say manual, I mean a person sitting there with an exacto knife cutting the little holes in the master copy (for one method). Back in the 80's they began to use computers for some parts of the process. Get this, they're still using 1980's Apple II computers! The machines they do incorporate are about 200 years old. We got to get right up close and personal to each step along the way.

Factory Tours

Now that we're half way across the US we're starting to slow down our pace - just a little. We spent two nights in Ohio which gave us a day to tour.


Yesterday we visited Louisville Slugger in... you guess it - Louisville, Kentucky. They have a great visitor center and the tour takes you right out into the midst of bat making. You might be amazed to know how many of our products are made with a good deal of good ol' manual labor. While Louisville Slugger has computerized lathes to turn the bats, everything else, from sanding, staining, etc. is all manual.

Today we visited a carousel production and restoration company in Ohio. Photos of the actual critters were not allowed so we only have photos of the finished carousel in the town center. It was fascinating to see how these animals are created from blocks of wood - entirely by hand. Well, they do use power tools but they are hand-held tools, like mini chain saws, other types of saws and grinders are used. Initially, they take of larger pieces of wood while gradually being more and more selective, until they're finally down to sharp, knife-like hand tools. Then comes the piecing, more carving, sanding, painting and painting some more. It's a process that takes weeks from start to finish. A complete critter sells for thousands of dollars.

Evansville

We were privileged to spend the week-end with good friends. Over the years, they have come to visit us nearly every other year wherever we were living at the time (CA, NV) and we've managed to visit them only once before this week-end.

Seth and his new wife Stacey joined us for a very yummy BBQ dinner on Saturday night. They make a great couple.

Sunday morning we went to church and found that it was very similar to our church in Las Vegas. We felt quite at home. But, of course, every time we get together we feel quite at home with Carl and Karen.

We drove around a little looking at property values. We were surprised to find that housing was very affordable (especially compared to CA or NV). It is actually possible to buy a solid older home in a fine neighborhood for under $100K. Now we can add Evansville to our list of affordable places to live.

Carl gave us a tour of the old jail - part of his jurisdiction on the job. We saw cells, visiting areas, the kitchen, guard observation rooms, restraint devices, and jail keys (I wish I had taken a picture of those - they are pretty much like what you see in the movies or cartoons, big keys on a brass ring). I will be on my best behavior from now one because I never want to be behind bars! I'm with Karen thinking this would be a great field trip for kids. They would be on their best behavior too after that!

Singing Trees

Somewhere around Kansas City, KS it began to rain. I noticed all the birds had taken to the trees because as I passed the trees they were singing. Later, I realized it wasn't birds I was hearing but rather Cicadas.


Here's what I found on the intenet, "Cicadas are notorious singers. The song is a mating call produced by the males only. Each species has its own distinctive call and only attracts females of its own kind even though rather similar species may co-exist. Cicadas are the only insects to have developed such an effective and specialised means of producing sound. Some large species such as the Greengrocer/Yellow Monday and the Double Drummer produce a noise intensity in excess of 120 dB at close range (this is approaching the pain threshold of the human ear)."

Sure enough, from Kansas City and East from there we have heard many trees that sing... and many that don't. Apparently, Cicada's like certain trees better than others.

Sioux Falls

Here I am at a computer that I can't load photos s0 check this particular entry a week or more from now and see if photos have been added.

We're in Sioux Falls where I'm becoming a resident. For those of you from smaller cities you'll not find this unusual but for the rest of us; get this. In a matter of 3 hours we picked up mail, I got my drivers license, we registered to vote (not at DPS - Department of Public Safety - where my license was issued), paid vehicle registration (at the courthouse - not at DPS), I got added to the bank account that Larry opened a long time ago, and we applied for new passports. In Las Vegas - or CA for that matter - it could easily have taken 3 hours just to get a license and pay registration!

Sioux Falls is a very nice city. If it weren't for the harsh winters I think I would like to trade the RV for a house here. It's big enough to have all the perks like the big chain stores, a small airport and a big hospital, but small enough to be friendly. It's clean and pretty too. The houses are well-maintained and cute.

Home, Home on the Range

Where the deer and the antelope play...

Here I am in Montana and there really is deer and antelope - not necessarily playing, unless a fawn bounding after it's Mom is called playing.

Here's a photo of an antelope. Can you see him? One of these days I'll have photo editing software and will be able to crop photos like this. Right now, I'm just glad to get the photo added to this entry.

I flew here on Sunday and am staying with my life long friend, Cindi, and her family. We all went to a bull-riding event on Sunday night. Sorry - those photos just didn't turn out well enough to share.


Yesterday morning, Cindi, Jessi and I went horseback riding. Then we went for a drive to visit the National Historic Monument of Little Bighorn (formerly known as Custer's Last Stand). After that we went to Sheridan, WY and visited a rope factory and western museum with awesome leather workmanship.

Here's Jessi with the horses. I didn't think fast enough to take the camera when we went riding so I took these photos the next day.