possibility42

Ok, so it's officially been almost 2 years since I posted on LJ.  A lot has happened in those two years I realize, but anyone who might actually read this already knows that!!!  :)

But I was totally reading my last two entries, and came across one that totally sums up what I'm currently feeling:

"Dude, is she coming…is she not coming? Heather is supposed to come today, but has just called me with the call of dread, “I think I’m going to miss my plane.” What?!?!? Has God/Energy/Mother Nature/Powers-That-Be truly decided that I need 6 weeks fully by myself? That I don’t need anyone else? That I’m ok – just me and Herman??? Herman is a freakin piece of plastic people….plastic!!!!! Herman can’t read me Harry Potter 6 from the passenger seat, or his spot in my permanent garbage area. I’ve gotten this far by myself, but dude…I honestly would love some company. I mean, I’m not going to crack or anything if I don’t…but I haven’t had much playing and I FREAKIN’ WANT TO PLAY!!!!"

:)  So Scott, oh love of my life, has now been away from me for almost 3 weeks, which isn't even as long as the ride above, but what have I done while he was away??? Filled myself with 100 projects the "must be done before I leave to join him 8/24 or else..."  Or else what?  What's wrong with relaxing, watching some TV, finishing Book 7 (ironic...I know), enjoying my Netflix membership, or just hanging out with friends??  Well, I have too much to do!  (What, I am a glutton for punishment??)  I miss Scott a lot, but that doesn't mean I have to be superwoman while he's gone and not, you know, take a chill pill.

Anyway, so, I did just finish Book 7 (finally...but honestly almost 3 weeks is pretty pathetic, though admittedly I re-read Book 6 since obviously Heather reading it to me in the car 2 years ago didn't cement it enough for me to remember all the fine details, so is barely less than 3 weeks ok for two books???  I guess I'll let myself off the hook this time.)  :)

Life is good, work is great, I love my boyfriend, I love my cat, I'm more happy that Sunny is so happy living with Mom then I am sad that she doesn't live with me anymore, half my friends are pregnant and happy, one just popped out a baby girl and I'm so freaking excited for them, i love the location of our condo...life is just good.  It's actually gotten pretty boring visiting family and friends I haven't seen in a while and they ask how I am.  All I can say is great.  :)

So why haven't I kept up LJ?  This seems like a perfect place to journal and keep a written record of where I was and what I was doing on August 10, 2007 at 8:00pm exactly.  Hmmm.  (Now I just need to remember how to work all the bells and whistles.)

Hello all! For those of you who don't know...I am safely home! Heather and I arrived home Sat. night and I have been either unconscious or cleaning out the car and tents since. (The joys of long trips...this is truly the fun part!!!) I am missing now about 2 weeks worth of journal entries, which for my own benefit at least, I will still be posting. I will hide each of them within their own links, as to keep them short for those of you who also use LiveJournal and have Friends lists. This will also allow you to pick and choose which entries from the 2 missing weeks you would like to view. Most of the 2 weeks are currently partially done, so I did write parts of them live, I just didn't get time while on the road to complete them. (Formatting pictures, etc. takes a lot of time...trust me!!!) :)

Anyway, thank you all for following along with me and as soon as I have completed the trip, I will probably keep this as a LiveJournal and write about normal everyday stuff like most people.

- Megan

Dude, is she coming…is she not coming? Heather is supposed to come today, but has just called me with the call of dread, “I think I’m going to miss my plane.” What?!?!? Has God/Energy/Mother Nature/Powers-That-Be truly decided that I need 6 weeks fully by myself? That I don’t need anyone else? That I’m ok – just me and Herman??? Herman is a freakin piece of plastic people….plastic!!!!! Herman can’t read me Harry Potter 6 from the passenger seat, or his spot in my permanent garbage area. I’ve gotten this far by myself, but dude…I honestly would love some company. I mean, I’m not going to crack or anything if I don’t…but I haven’t had much playing and I FREAKIN’ WANT TO PLAY!!!!

Calm down Megan! Let me tell you about the rest of my day while I sit her and wait for The Word.

For a reference point, a countdown of my last week of the trip – today is Friday. I get home next Saturday. I have 9 days and counting, if you include today.

I left my hotel room in Holbrook, Arizona by checkout time of 9am – i.e. I slept in!!! It felt so good and I had a leisurely drive of only 4.5 hours today to get to Phoenix, (where I currently am writing from a Borders). Heather’s plane wasn’t due in until 7:30ish, so I had a lot of time.

I headed west for a small distance, into more flat, country of desertish area.

( Northern Arizona )

I did pass Meteor City and Geronimo though, so I don’t really have anything to complain about!

( Meteor City )

( Geronimo )

I soon hit the relevant highway and headed south for Phoenix. It soon became slightly more…bumpy.

( Arizona…Bumps )

And as I began to climb into higher elevation, trees all of a sudden took over the landscape:

( Arizona Trees )

But it didn’t last too long and they again started to become more spotty:

( Arizona Spots  )

And as I headed out of the last hills before Phoenix, it became much drier, and hotter. I stopped at a rest area and was confronted with the hard, hot truth of the area:

( Arizona Truth )

The view, however, was fantastic!!

( Arizona Truth )

But I took my pictures as hurriedly as possible and re-entered my safe, air-conditioned, safe car AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!

The rest of the drive down the hill was…hot…with me watching for any darting animals/reptiles across the road…and hot…and, well, down hill:

( Phoenix Hill )

And finally, I reached Phoenix. It was exactly as I had thought it would be, with palm trees everywhere, even as front yard trees, and dry mountains in the distance:

( Phoenix )

I had been given directions to both the house Heather and I would be staying in for the evening and to a nearby mall with a Borders Bookstore. Since it was only about 3pm when I arrived, I headed for the mall. The air was so thick with hot nastiness that I ended up parking on the opposite side of the mall from the Borders in order to park in an open air parking garage. This gave me as much cover as I was going to receive in order to clean the car and get it ready for a person to occupy the passenger seat and her stuff to occupy other areas. This turned into a huge project and 1.5 hours later I was almost finished when I got The Call. I immediately through everything I had stacked in piles outside the car hastily back into the car, grabbed my laptop and rushed to internet access. To get to Borders from this side, however, I had to go through a Sax 5th Avenue (I believe) and was shocked to find manikins more sunburned than the shoppers themselves:

( Sax Manikins )

Anyway, that is where you find me now, today, at this very moment, waiting for The Call…

…and The Call has been received and her plane is running late, which means she is on her way. WOO HOO!!!

…later…

Well, she made it. She boarded the plane and made it to Phoenix about 8:30pm. Pat and I picked her up from a very construction-laden airport and went back to their house, which is lovely. Pat, and her partner Jamie, live in a great one-story with some wonderful remodeling! Jamie’s son Eric was there as well, as well as their cute and fun dog, Janice Joplin. We had a lovely evening and a great breakfast the next morning:

( Pat, Jamie, Eric and Joplin )

Ok, so have I thanked Heather enough times for being my tourism director via the phone??? ‘Cause she like totally rocks!! The campground was great! Ok, so the train tooting right next to us several times an hour wasn’t that cool, but I eventually tuned it out and all was good and happy with Megan’s La-La Land!

This morning, unlike most other camping experiences, everyone else got up around the same I did (7am) and so making noise wasn’t a big deal. When I’ve stayed in National parks, etc. I have almost always been the first to rise and it’s difficult packing up tents and tarps without making any noise, but KOA’s must be different. Anyway, so I got up and headed out, with 7.5 hours to my first and only study town for the day, I was anxious to get it over with. Well, ok, 7.5 hours according to Microsoft Trips and Streets which estimates speeds based on a set speed for all Interstate Hwy’s, State Hwys, etc. Well, it turns out that Texas is one of the most beautiful states in the entire world, for one reason…75 mph speed limits!!!! What a wonderful concept! It cut that 7.5 hours down by a lot! (By exactly how much, that is mine and my speedometer’s secret!) :)

Well I went through some kick-butt country throughout the day! I started out in flat, flat, flat country of dirt and a tree every 100 miles:

( Texas )

During this section, I randomly found these tall sunflowers, but smaller than what we can buy up north widely growing in the median:

( Sunflowers )

Ok – complaint time – both Texas and New Mexico have a horrible habit of having a hundred million “parking areas” but no freakin’ rest area’s – i.e. facilities, bathrooms, toilets, things that people who are driving long distances filling up on sun tea need!!!!!

( Parking Area )

Well, I then passed into New Mexico and realized that I had been driving on Route 66 this whole time, I just didn’t know it because it is no longer Route 66:

( New Mexico & Route 66 )

New Mexico as a whole turned out to be a whole different world! It was like entering a different country! The population as a whole seemed to be much higher in the Mexican and Native American population and everything was more colorful and signs everywhere for even the most rinky-dink stores. The colorfulness even expanded to the freeways. All bridges and underpasses and cement fences along the highway were pink and usually with multi-colored patterns:

( New Mexican Bridge )

Gallup, New Mexico turned out to be a study town completely different from others. Like the rest of New Mexico had turned out, it was a complete mixture of Mexican, US and Native American influence. The buildings of Main Street were mostly on one side of the street with mostly parking on the other, between the street and the train tracks.

Ok…complaint #2…dude, the freakin’ trains!!!! They came every 15-20 minutes and for some reason, I’m assuming because the train station was right downtown, had to honk their horns the entire way through the town…and it was loud…and it made me jump every time! It made the entire experience a little stressful.

Ok, so, similar to when I was in Mexico, I had 3 gentleman come out of their shops to beckon me into their stores and attempting persuasion after I said no. Overall, the architecture was fantastic!!! It was half the brick I’d become accustomed to and half adobe or other Spanish-style buildings. It was great! It was very colorful and also similar to the tourist towns I have been to in Mexico, was very vernacular in it’s over-signage and colors.

( Gallup, New Mexico )

I left Gallup and headed for the Petrified National Forest. I had found out at the Gallup information center that it would close by 5pm and as it was 3:30, I needed to hustle. As I continued to drive through New Mexico, I entered a small portion of green area before I hit Arizona:

( Green New Mexico )

The green ended up being short-lasting, however, and I entered a very dry and hot Arizona. The Welcome Center was very cool though:

( Arizona Welcome Center )

Well, unfortunately, I did not make it to the Petrified National Forest in time, but I did take a picture of the sign and of the beginning grounds:

( Petrified National Forest )

As I left and headed for Holbrook, where I was staying, I passed a Dinosaur Museum and these are the creatures that I met along the way:

( Arizona Wildlife )

Holbrook was only about 15 minutes away, so it also had it’s own wildlife:

( Arizona Welcome Center )

I went to the “best Mexican restaurant in town”, where the owner of my hotel took his family, and had some great fajitas…that later made me very glad I was in a hotel. :)

Hello all! Just wanted to let you all know that I am alive, safe...and not alone anymore!!! Woohoo! My journal's will probably start to lag as I now have someone to fill the empty hours with. I promise not to leave you hanging permanently, but full entries may wait until I return home.

Woohoo! Megan is not alone in the world!!! :)

I love you all right now! Thank you for all of your support!!

Hello and Salutations, all you wonderful people, you!!! Well, I left the KOA bright and early and headed out for a very busy day…4 study towns and 3 states! Phew! I’m tired just thinking about what I did today!

So, it took me a couple of hours to reach my first study town, so having not taken many pictures the past few days, my camera was poised and ready…in fact, it was so ready that the battery died at one point during the day and the disk got full at another part! :) But that also means that there were PLENTY of photos for me to choose from to document for you folks the countryside I visited:

( Day 32 – Part 1 )

Well, through all of that funness, I finally made it to Great Bend:

( Great Bend, Kansas )

Well, after Great Bend, I didn’t have far to travel to get to Garden City, Kansas. It was for farm country, very similar to what I had seen before, and I was in my second town for the day in no time flat:

( Day 32 – Part 2 )

( Garden City, Kansas )

Ok, so we left the land of cute little farms with cows grazing on hillsides, to heavy industrialized dairies, slaughterhouses and huge corn factories.

( Day 32 – Part 3 )

( Liberal, Kansas )

Well, I can at this point finally say, “HERMAN, WE AREN’T IN KANSAS ANYMORE!!! WOOHOOO!!”

I left Kansas and drove through a small part of, “Welcome to Oklahoma, Native America” and then into Texas – the northern hat section. I drove through several changes in topography during this jaunt:

( Day 32 – Part 4 )

Finally, we reached the final study town for the day:

( Pampa, Texas )

The rest of the drive was uneventful, same stuff as before:

( Day 32 – Part 5 )

Dude, Heather so needs to get a job as a travel agent as she has been so good as mine! She found me a fantabulous KOA…with wireless…and laundry!!! It was fantastico! (Ok, so I originally write this in Word and according to Microsoft, fantabulous is a word, but fantastico is not. WHAT?!?!!?!) Anyway, KOA = wonderful!

( The Amarillo KOA )

Well, I woke up bright and early this Tuesday morning, to the EH-EH-EH of the alarm that someone other than myself had set, but it was tie to get up, so… I hadn’t slept too well since the room I had shared a door with the room next to me and I could therefore hear much of what was going on in there, and he was very sick, all night. Hope he at least had fun first. But I had slept adequately enough to be determined that (please picture a puffed-up important-looking man with his thumbs in his suspenders), “Today Would Be A Good Day!” So, I went down to breakfast, still feeling it was appalling that it was only open from 6-9am, even though checkout was at 12noon. As soon as I was finished, determined to get the car repair moving along quickly, I called Firestone, only for them to tell me they weren’t recreating the problem again. So, I told them to give me pick me up in 10 minutes in the lobby and I would drive it around hard enough to heat it up to the point of breaking. 50 minutes later he showed up driving my car. I was taken back and asked, “And where exactly do you expect a 2nd person to fit???” Although there will be enough room for Heather on Friday, this was not Friday. He sheepishly apologized and said he hadn’t thought about it, but was a total sweetheart, so I did some minor rearranging and climbed in with books and my backpack in my lap and my feet on the gas stove. I then instructed him to drive the hell out of it and he did…and it worked, finally…well, it successfully didn’t work, I should say, and stuttered for him, several times by the time we returned to the shop. He told me he was pretty sure it was the fuel pump and that they had one more test to run. So, Harry and I went inside, assumed the now normal position and dove into mystery and mayhem! You know you have spent to much time in a waiting area when you stop a person from moving the table because the legs are broken and you made the same mistake the day before, make sure a lady knows that the cleaner bathroom is the farthest one, and can recite which sodas are in the machine to a Mom being interrogated for pop money, oh…and when all the guys know me by name…or nickname (“Oregon” or “Bacon & Eggs”…ask me some other time).

Anyway, after they ran the test Mike came back out and told me that it was the fuel pump and that if I want a warranty that is good outside of Kansas, he would have to get the part from the dealer and it wouldn’t be able to get there until 1-1:30. He then told me about the best Chinese place in Kansas, which was in walking distance, and was a buffet and cheap, when I got to lunch time. 12:30 came around and as I was about to head to the buffet, he came back in and told me she was ready to go and was out for a test-run. They had been able to get a part from a NAPA, who they don’t normally use, but are everywhere. He told me he had told the test-driver to drive it like he had stolen it, just to make sure everything was good. :) I concurred. So, $400 later and about 1:30pm, I left and headed for a USBank. I won’t go into the most depressing part of the day, but I ended up with another cold McDonald’s burger for lunch and didn’t get out of Kansas City until almost 5pm, but everything is good and I shouldn’t have anything to worry about…until I get home. :) (Thank you God, Angels, Mother Nature, Energy, and family and friends!!! I am truly blessed!)

So, with Heather acting as my campground-searcher via the phone, I left Kansas City, Kansas and headed west!

The trip was great:

( Leaving KC )

Ok, so it was rainy and therefore slow with people forgetting what to do in the rain. It cleared up about an hour later, leaving some pretty sky:

( Out West )

I passed through Topeka, Kansas:

( Examples of Pores )

And the all important town of Manhattan, Kansas, which had been dubbed the Little Apple:

( Manhattan )

I drove to my first study town in what seems like way too long…Junction City, Kansas.

( Junction City, Kansas )

They have obviously been working recently on restoring some of their older architecture, because they had some beauties! Many had been made with this porous stone that I am unfamiliar with, but looks great from afar:

( Examples of Pores )

It had been raining cats and dogs when I had left Kansas City and the air was cool and exactly how I wish all the study towns had been. I was completely comfortable for once and enjoyed actually working (not that Harry isn’t enjoyable company!)

The trip for the rest of the evening was gorgeous! And I passed the Russel Stovers Candy Factory!

( Candy Factory )

The sun setting and the puffy clouds were great!

( Evening Trip )

Using the Hutchison guide, we found a KOA about 40 miles further down the line. It is the most ideal campground, with happy families and the smell of BBQ. Makes me wish I hadn’t already stopped for dinner. :)

So, here is the official end of the blues and the official beginning of rock & roll!!

ROCK ON BABY!!!

This will be the shortest journal entry thus far – because I don’t have any pictures! Can you believe it? I spent the day…well…waiting. I waiting in my hotel room until checkout. Then I waited in the hotel lobby until about 4 pm. By then Firestone had been working on my car all day…and were still unable to reproduce the stuttering. They had even taken out the fuel filter just to check since I didn’t remember the last time I had it changed…no go, it was brand new. So, they came by and picked me up around 4pm and took me to my car. They were about to give me the keys when the nice man helping me (and not charging me anything thus far) let me know that all 4 tires were horrible. In fact, he wouldn’t have even used the back 2 to drive home that evening and the front two had each had a bald spot as well…so, we discussed buying 4 new tires, and he must have felt really bad for me, because he gave me the daughter-in-law discount and I got 4 new, better than what I had, tires for $299. So, I did some more waiting in their lobby and finally left around 5pm.

I got maybe 25 minutes away and…duh-duh-duh-duuuuuuhhhhhh…I got it to happen again. I actually was only 10 minutes away as I had been looking for a US Bank, so I drove it back, barely making it…just to find everyone who was capable of looking at it had gone home for the day. The guy working the front desk came out and got in and gunned it and found that it did stutter “when you got it over 3 G’s”, and he even called the guy who would be working on it at home to give him the report. Anyway, he then seemed to forget about me and getting me a ride to the hotel, but around 8pm another one of his customers finally was nice enough to give me a ride.

So, I was dropped back off at the same Microtel…just for me to be told they were full…I said, “What?” “We’re full. I am so sorry.” “I’m sorry…what?” My ride was long gone and there wasn’t anything in walking distance, much less another hotel. There was one in a short rides distance though, so she called them for me to be told that they were also full. Attempting not to break down right there and cry, I gave her a look and she said I could wait for her manager to get back from dinner (he had just left) and see if he can help in any way. Why not, I’d been waiting all day. So, an hour passed and he came back. He was very sympathetic and eventually, when he realized all avenues had been discussed, looked to see which rooms they had that were out of commission and why. He found me one, across the hall from my previous room, but with two beds and the only thing wrong with it was a 6” rip in the carpet. He then gave it to me for $25 since he wouldn’t normally sell it and he felt me on the cusp of tears. I thanked him profusely and am now in the hotel room getting ready for bed.

Well, what did I do with my day? I read over 600 pages of Harry Potter, Book 5, getting ready for Book 6.

So, that was my Day #30.

Well, it started out as a good day. I slept in until 10am…Woohoo! It was faaaaantastic!!! I got up, took a leisurely shower and got ready in time to check out by 11am. I decided that sometimes you have to go through bad days so that you will get these opportunities to follow them up with good days. (Wow, aren’t I sweet and naively innocent?)

I then attempted to take a better picture of my tan line, still very sorry that I wasn’t able to keep my bridesmaid shoulders line free. It’s not too bad though, and will hopefully fade by September:

( My Tan Line )

So, I left the hotel that hadn’t given me any internet connection, and was located immediately across from the Municipal Power Plant:

( PowerPlant )

and headed for Sedalia, Missouri, which was only about an hour away.

By the way, as of yesterday, I am now on TripTik #5:

( TripTik #5 )

The trip to Sedalia began to get a bit more arid:

( Trip to Sedalia )

Well, Sedalia was wonderful and is definitely in my top 10 – not Helena or Cumberland worthy – but still very awesome. It is a Main Street that begins at the railroad tracks and leads away in the shape of a crooked finger. Two major roads lead as offshoots perpendicular to the Main St., and are each one-way going in opposite directions, but only go about 2 blocks maximum. The Main Street itself is a 2-way with several stoplights. Because it was Sunday, there wasn’t anyone around, except little old ladies going in to the Bingo Parlor. There was usually at least one if not two cars on Main Street at any given time, just passing through, which meant that to get many places, you needed to drive through the downtown – this implies convenience.

The architecture was fantastic. They had several older pieces that were just magnificent and the rest were obviously well cared for. They still had a few project-type buildings, including several that still had horrible siding that needed to be removed, but that just meant more work to be done. Because it wasn’t an obviously solely a tourist destination, it will be very exciting to perform the interviews when I return and find out what it is like during the week, what type of activities they have there, etc.

Anyway, you probably want to see what I am referring to:

( Sedalia, Missouri )

The heat is still a major downfall for the area, and it is located in a very flat and arid part of the state. But the crook in the street gives lots of fun ways to experiment with shade and overhangs, etc.

As a parting shot of the land I saw the rest of the day:

( Trip – Part 2 )

This ends the good part of the day. If you don’t want more bad stuff, please don’t read on. I am fairly depressed at this point, and I wouldn’t want it to rub off on anyone. So, I say goodnight to those in a good mood.

( The Rest of the Day )

So, I am sitting, writing to you from the smoking session of the local Cracker Barrel in who-knows-where Missouri nowhere near a plug-in on a computer whose battery is a little over half-way empty. But compared to the rest of the day, what do I have to complain about???

( The Day of Ranting )

Let me start by letting you know that although I’m a week behind, I keep being behind, so you aren’t getting these live, so I will fill in what I’m going to dub “the missing week” as I go along, but since I won’t have time to sit down and do them all at once, I will try to stay live from here on out and do those 7 days as I can. I haven't been receiving the same sort of comments as I used to and I miss y'all and it's much more interesting live, so...

But honestly, how am I supposed to work in this gosh-forsaken heat??? It's humid, hot, and...I have time tomorrow to get caught up. I will be in St. Louis, Missouri (7 days after the Swamp) and should have some down time. :)

I miss y'all's comments, so I need to post more to get them. :)

So, I'm alive and well, and just running a bit behind. I've had 2-3 towns a day for a while though, so I have an excuse! :)

Well, I can now say:

( I Have Survived )

And trust me…surviving took necessary energy!!!

But we will get to that in a little bit…

First:

( Waycross, Georgia )
But do you really want to hear about Waycross? You probably would like to hear more about the swamp, the scary, icky, dangerous swamp, the place that no matter where you went you’d find signs repeating the same warning:

( No Pets Allowed )

( The Okefenokee Swamp )

***IF YOU WANTED TO SKIP THE SWAMP, EVEN THOUGH YOU MISSED A LOT OF FUN – START READING HERE***

Ok, so I left Georgia and the highway dipped into the Florida side of life. Within a couple of hours, I made the decision the Pensacola was the best stopping area since it had a campground and I would hit it about the right time. The trip was pretty uneventful, with a Nora Roberts Murder Mystery/Romance to pass the time.

( The Trip )

As we got closer to sunset, the sky became gorgeous! It was a hot day and the sky that heat and humidity can cause can be breathtaking!

( The Sky )

( Pensacola, Florida )

Well, I made it to Big Lagoon State Park, only to find out they were full. I gave the ranger a completely desperate, homeless look, and he said that since it was late and several of the tenters who had reserved for the evening hadn’t showed yet, he’d give me one of their spots. He then gave me the combination to the lock for the gate that closed 15 minutes after I arrived, locking out all non-registered guests. So, I set up my tent in the sand, completely dripping with sweat by the time I finished and drove out in search of a restaurant…more, in search of a couple hours of air conditioning and work. I found a place that was cheapish and specialized in local seafood. The food was great and even gave me left-overs, which promptly went bad when not used within a day. (Not being able to refrigerate over night, just during the day will do that in 100-degree weather with humidity.) I also got to try a new beer - St. Pauli Girl, Brewed and Bottled in Germany – they have both light and dark and the light was pretty tasty.

So, after waking up, getting dressed, barely making the continental breakfast and checking out, I checked my bags and booked a tour. The tour guide was great! He was a southern gentleman that gave me the impression that he did bad stand-up comedy on open-mic night. :) He showed us all around town. The first sight we saw, was that magical bridge again:

( My Bridge )

He drove around telling us stories about everywhere we went, such as how many of the homes in Savannah have a certain color of blue paint that I can’t remember the name of painted on their shudders, but was the French word for a demon that wouldn’t enter a home with that color paint.

( Blue Shudders )

Or the story about a Baron who had two sisters who fought over everything, so when building his house here, he built two wings of the house that were identical, but as soon as it was built, the sisters still fought over who would get which one.

( Twin Wings )

He pointed out the wonderful ironwork that was everywhere in town, including pointing out The Marshall House, where I had stayed the night before:

( Iron Work )

He told us about a house made by one of the metal workers who claimed that absolutely anything made out of wood or cement could be made out of metal, so he made his house completely out of metal:

( Metal House )

He showed us the tiniest house in Savannah that was famous and occupied and only had one room:

( Tiny House )

And took us past the old Pirate’s House which had tunnels that lead straight to the river, so if you backstabbed them, they would drug you and push you down the tunnel and the next thing you knew you’d be swimmin’ with the fishes!

( Pirate House )

He even drove us past his house which he had just put a new paint job on and wanted our opinions:

( Driver’s House )

I guess Savannah is the origination point for the Girl Scouts, where it all began and thousands of girl scouts make trips to their mecca every year. Here is the house of the original girl scout leader:

( Twin Wings )

He told us about how the local Art School, which started out with 50 students, had grown to over 2000 because they began taking old homes and fixing them up. (Karl…you may want to look into this!!!) He pointed out how most buildings, including most homes, you would find a year plaque on them designating when they were built and sometimes other various information:

( Year Built )

He also told us how the city had implemented strict zoning guidelines for development and that you had to keep with the traditions of the old. Usually it worked, and sometimes, like the picture below, it only half worked:

( New Homes )

Cool car pic of the day (an old police car outside the police station):

( Police Car )

Finally, he drove us down to the river-front, which is a block below the rest of the city, and pointed out the beams that workers had to use to walk across to get to the factories every day:

( Twin Wings )

I then got off the boat to wonder through the riverwalk street below, where they have converted the old warehouses into retail and restaurants. It was beautiful down there! They had a fantastic open-aired marketplace similar to Saturday Market in Portland and an entire 10ish blocks of cobblestoned street with cute shops and great restaurants! I ate at one-eyed Lizzy’s and it was complete fun!

( Riverwalk )

It was down here near the water where you can find the two most famous statues in Savannah – the Waving Girl – a girl and her dog who wave to the ships as they pass, and the famous Savannah Torch:

( Statues )

Other random pictures of Savannah:

( It’s all Random )

My last stop before I headed out of town was to the cemetery. There was no way I was going to leave the most haunted city in the US without visiting their cemetery. It was very different from the cemeteries back home. It was very old and most of the gravestones were no longer legible:

( Savannah Cemetary )

One of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence was buried there:
( Famous Dude )

Many of the walkways in Savannah, including many of the walls, were made up of a shell material. The walls were then plastered over so that you couldn’t tell, but the walkways still remain:

( Shell Walkways )

With a sad lilt to my heart and a promise to come back…with people and with the intent to have more fun, I left Savannah, waving to the magnificent bridge and all it gave me.

I headed for Waycross, Georgia, my next study town. The trip was uneventful:

( Trip )

I finally reached my destination as the sun began to set:

( Waycross, Georgia )

I had arrived a day early because I had the time and wanted more of it in New Orleans in a couple of days. I was given directions to a campground nearby from some boys working the local Chevron, but they turned out faulty directions, so I stopped at a Motel 8 and asked them. The owner pointed to one closer, as in 2 blocks away and in the end, since he owned both, gave me a $16 discount on a room instead since he didn’t feel right with me camping in this heat and by myself. (Or he wanted a little more money…) :)

So, I dropped my bags off, worked a little and then…duh, duh, duh, duh, duuuuuuhhhh…went to a movie. Yes, that is right folks, Megan went to the movies! Yeeeaaaaahhhhh!! The only thing playing at the exact moment I showed up was Fantastic Four and since I hadn’t seen anything but Star Wars in the past couple of months, it was fantastic!

It was a dark and stormy night…ok, so the sun hadn’t gone down yet and other than what was dripping off of me, no rain was in sight. I found The Marshall House right downtown, on their main downtown strip.

( The Marshall House )

It had a bell-hop’s platform outside, yet nobody was manning it, at least no one I could see…

When I walked into the lobby to check in, I entered a very pleasant room with ferns dotted hear and there and everything shiny and looking new, and yet, it also looked old, as if it was exactly the way it was 50 years ago…

( Lobby )

I walked up to the beautiful wooden desk and spoke with a nice lady who checked me in. She seemed real and very corporeal, but I kept waiting for a sign that she wasn’t.

( Reception Desk )

Once I finished checking in, they informed me that I should allow the valet to park my car for an obscene amount of money. Otherwise, I would have to park it in a city parking garage several blocks away for only a couple dollars cheaper. I turned and handed my keys to a nice elderly black gentleman and wondered how old he really was and if he would know how to drive an automatic. He gave me a “trust-me” smile and walked out to my car.

After obtaining the room key, which was a very modern plastic card, I headed up the stairs to the second floor, not knowing whether I should trust the elevator or not.

( The Staircase )

I carefully walked down the hallway to my room - #216 and came upon a deceivingly pretty normal white door with an old-fashioned gold handle.

( Room #216 )

When I unlocked the door and opened it, it made a loud creaking noise, even though the hinges looked brand new and in no need of oiling. I then groped for a light switch and finding none stepped gingerly into the dark room. The door suddenly slammed behind me and I was left alone in a pitch black room, save for a odd red glow coming from what I assumed to be the cracked bathroom door. Knowing that the bathroom would be my best bet for finding a light switch, I laid my bags on the ground and wiped my now sweaty palms on my pants. I reached for the handle of the partially open door and slowly opened it, wondering if I should have had my camera at the ready as proof of what I was about to see. In the dark I couldn’t decipher what the red glow was coming from, other than from something on the wall. I reached for the light switch and finding one, flicked it up. A terrifyingly loud thundering noise came from the ceiling…and I realized I had switched the bathroom fan on. I then flicked the switch back off and after getting a hold of racing heart, flipped the switch next to it, which successfully flooded the bathroom with a blinding white light…a little more blinding than normal, but who was I to guess what wattage a bathroom light should be at? I looked again at the glowing red light, ready for whatever the white light had brought out…and it was the light on the hair dryer mounted to the wall. Standing there, somewhat relieved, somewhat disappointed, I felt a breeze come in from the dark room behind me and a shiver went down my spine. I turned then and picking up my bags, made it to what looked like the bed. I placed the bags tentatively on I, waiting for the bed to fight back at the intrudence, but nothing happened. I saw what seemed to be a lamp next to the bed and slowly made my way over to it. I reached for the turny-thingy and after sucking in one long breath, turned it. Nothing happened. So, I turned it again, thinking it was a faulty three-way. Nothing. I then realized that I would probably have to find the light switch for the room and reluctantly began groping the walls. Finally, I found it and flipped it on. Two lamps on either side of the bed turned on, but they must have only had 40-watt bulbs in them, because the light was still really dim. I looked around for any shadows that didn’t belong, and finding none, decided to take a shower to wash off the now clammy sweat that had intruded on my comfort zone. I looked through the bureau where a TV must be hiding and found (2) hanging robes. Not having stayed in a hotel with robes by myself before, I took one down and brought it with me into the bathroom. The shower felt soooooo good and I tried not to think about any possible ghosts watching me. I then got out, combed my hair, but on my robe and decided to explore the place, with my camera, of course. I found Herman already sprawled across the bed, happy as a clam:

( The Room )

Once I opened the blinds, I realized that I had a view of an interior courtyard, which was already partially set up for the next mornings breakfast. I wondered why it could only be used once a day, but let the thought just hang in the air…

( The View )

After getting dressed, I decided to go downstairs and explore the rest of the hotel before going to dinner. When I went back down the stairs and turned to my right, I found an elegant parlor. It had expensive artwork, that I didn’t really care for, on the red walls, and several different arrangements of areas for people to sit and visit. It made me wonder what the currently empty room was like once the inhabitants, well the live ones anyway, went to bed at night.

( The Parlor )

From the parlor was a bar area and beyond that what seemed to be a smoking room:

( The Bar )

( The Smoking Room )

After exploring the main floor of the hotel, I headed out to find dinner and to see some of this miraculous city. I had been relatively unimpressed with the variety of retail along the main strip, not being interested in stores such as The Banana Republic, etc. The variety of restaurants was good, but nothing of local cuisine that I couldn’t find in OR. So, I walked towards the water, hoping to find something. I passed many buildings and several of the parks Savannah is famous for placing in the middle of busy thoroughfares. I couldn’t help but feeling I was being followed and several times, despite the heat and humidity, I felt a shiver run up my spine.

( The Hunt for Food )

Finally, down near the water, I found an English/Irish joint called Churchill’s. I had seen several retail stores boasting the heavy Irish/English history here and decided to venture in.

( Churchill’s )

The place was a bar and restaurant with pictures of Churchill and quotes dotting the walls. Talk about a place a guy could haunt!

Dinner was fabulous and then I tried a desert I had never had before and am now madly in love with Mr. Churchill – in fact, if he had appeared suddenly at my table at that moment I would have kissed him! It was bread pudding. I had always pictured something, you know, puddingish, except with bread, so something like grits, except probably sweeter. It wasn’t. It was similar to a giant cinnamon roll with raisons and instead of icing, this hot rum sauce poured over the top. It was heavenly!! Afterwards, I all but floated back to the hotel on pure bliss alone. I worked a little and then went to sleep, with my camera at my side, in case Mr. Churchill had heard my wish to kiss him.

Halfway through the night I awoke to a flickering of light to the right of my bed. As I looked closer, I realized it was the shades flickering, but I couldn’t hear the AC blowing, so I reached for my camera and took a picture:

( Flickering Light )

I then felt something looking at me and looked to the left of the bed and saw something on the bedside table and it looked as though it was moving towards me:

( Movement to the Left )

So, using the flash on my camera, I took a picture…

( Flash )

And it was only Herman!

Finally, I then looked up at the ceiling and saw a faint red glow, and it wasn’t coming from the bathroom. Feeling frustrated with whatever had woken me up, I turned on the light…and it was the smoke alarm…next to a ceiling fan I hadn’t noticed was there before. They are awfully high ceilings you know. That made me understand why the drapes were moving and why I had felt a breeze earlier in the bathroom when I had first arrived. It all now made since.

So, I hunkered back down and slept like a baby. There is no such as ghosts…or are there???

Well, the day couldn’t have started more pleasantly with me not waking to my phone as anticipating and instead to my beautiful aunt coming downstairs and offering to cook breakfast. So, we feasted on the best darn eggs I’ve ever had and then each got ready to go. Her, Buddy and I then piled into her car and she took me on a tour of Asheville. It was fantastic. We started by driving through neighborhoods of gorgeous homes:

( Ashville Homes )

We then made up to The Biltmore Estate, which is a world famous estate. It had been on all the Ashville brochures and at least the exterior met my expectations. It was magnificent craftsmanship! I can’t imagine how long it took them to put those stones together so that they matched up. The new sections weren’t nearly as craft-worthy, but they looked good at a quick glance.

( Ashville Resort )

We then drove downtown and proceeded to administer “gorilla tourism”! She would get to a decent spot to slow down and I would jump out of the car and run to where I could get a good shot of whatever and then run back to where she was. It was like doing relays in gym, except much funner! :)

( Downtown Ashville )

We performed gorilla exercises on (2) gorgeous churches:

( Church #1 )

( Church #2 )

And Aunt Bobbie’s favorite statue (and now mine):

( Little Girl )

Asheville is an artisan’s town. Aunt Bobbie told me the history of the town and how basically, it was created from a farming town by artisans into what it is today. It was dripping Bohemian wonderfulness everywhere. Art filled ever lamp-post and blank wall.

( Mural )

There was sculpture and iron work everywhere:

( Sculpture and Iron Work )

Even some ugly:

( Ugly Sculpture )

We finally went to The Grove Arcade. It was fantastic! It was the pre-curser to our present day malls – open so that you could see the shops on the second floor as well as the bottom floor and could see the people as well. They currently have retail and restaurants on the bottom floor, services on the second, and condo’s on the third! Fantastic! Bobbie stated that they are highly priced and so they aren’t doing as well as they’d like, but all great ideas have kinks!

( The Grove Arcade )

By this time we both needed to return to the house – I needed to get on the road and Bobbie needed to get to work. I said my final goodbye’s to Bobbie and Buddy and the lovely house in the woods that had provided me with rest:

( Bobbie and Buddy and House )

I then headed out, headed south, headed for Savannah, Georgia and the haunted hotel room I had been given as a birthday gift by some fantastically wonderful people!

The trip was pretty uneventful. It was more gorgeous trees on the side of the road:

( Trip ‘n Trees )

It began raining about halfway there for about an hour and when it finished I passed through an area that was obviously not made for such rain as everything was flooded. Ponds had been created around houses and people probably couldn’t get to their cars. I couldn’t get the camera out in time for one of those shots, but imagine this lake going all the way to your house:

( Bobbie and Buddy and House )

I knew I had entered Georgia when I saw:

( First Thing )

The approach into Savannah was absolutely beautiful, the sun was beginning it’s decent and the clouds were reacting just right and then I saw the most beautiful bridge I will ever see for the rest of my life. I know it’s weird to fall in love with a bridge, but this one is elegent and graceful and so much prettier than the similar one in the tri-cities. I don’t know, it just seems very female and very beautiful!

( The Approach )

As I drove through town, I began to get a weird feeling…a feeling of an eventful night to come…a drip of fear slowly made its way down my forehead and I pushed it away, stubbornly telling myself that all was well and all would be well…in the most haunted city in America…in the most haunted hotel, in the most haunted city in America……..

The next morning I woke up, reluctantly not wanting to leave my wonderful hotel room. But, groaning, I got up and got ready and went down to my continental breakfast. It was ok, more than I’d gotten so far, but nothing hot, just cereal and some toast. After breakfast I drove back downtown to take my pictures. Roanoke Rapids is in the interesting position of having two downtown’s – Uptown and Downtown. Uptown is where City Hall was currently, in an old department store, and where some shops were. Unfortunately, after the City Manager’s glowing report, I was a little disappointed with what I found in either spot. Most of the buildings needed renovation bad. Many had been painted hideous 80s colors. There were a good number of vacancies. Both parts of town had some good retail and restaurants, but they were fewer than the not so good.

( Roanoke Rapids )

They had successfully taken an old bank and turned it into an Italian restaurant, which I thought was pretty cool, but it still needed some work:

( Italian Restaurant )

They also had this fantastic 40s and 50s theatre that was completely run-down, that they were trying to save. I completely want them to. It was gross, for sure, but peeking in the windows, everything was still there.

( The Theatre )

They did have one mural:

( The Mural )

And a plant I wasn’t familiar with:

( Roanoke Rapids )

Uptown and downtown were located on the same street, but were separated with about 10 blocks of residential (including this weird wood-sided home):

( Roanoke Rapids )

And a new Centennial Park they are very proud of:

( Centennial Park )

And a church:

( Church )

After finishing taking pictures of downtown and uptown, I headed out – for my Step-Aunt’s house in Asheville, North Carolina.

To be honest, the trip was boring as heck. I was driving from the eastern side of North Carolina to the western side. It was beautiful trees on either side of the road, but for 5 straight hours it was the same darn trees!!!

( North Carolina )

Every now and then, especially as we grew closer to the mountains, I saw patches of cool ivy:

( Ivy )

And then just as I was reaching my limit of boredom, something that hadn’t happened yet on the trip, thankfully, it started raining. Woohoo! Hadn’t seen rain yet! Not!!! Well, it rained hard, as it seems to do in the east and then cleared up as I reached the mountains and gave way to gorgeous mist rising from the tops of mountain trees:

( Mist )

By around 4pm I finally reached Asheville, and the beautiful mountains had rejuvenated me from my boredom, though I was awful tired (boredom will do that to a person).

( Asheville – Day 1 )

I knew my aunt would be working until 5:30, so I went to the Visitor’s center to pick up a map, etc. and then went through my entire car and packed stuff into boxes that I could mail home. One box contained library items that were due back and the other was filled with all of the maps and pamphlets and information I had been collecting on each of the study towns, and some clothes. I then went to the post office, getting there just in time, just to find out it was $30 to send the one with tapes for the library and $80 for the other. I had to send the library one, but decided I would just have to find room for the other.

I then went to my Aunt’s house, getting there at 5:30pm on the dot. She lives in this gorgeous house in the woods with her dog Buddy.

( Buddy )

Her husband lives in Charleston for now, so he wasn’t home. We ate a lovely dinner and got to know one another. We had never met and I was so happy to meet her. She then sang me happy birthday with a large to-die-for chocolate cupcake and gave me the boxes a few people had sent there. We had fun!

( Mist )

She then had some evening appointments, so I went downstairs where she had set up a bed and took out the computer to work. It was only 7pm after all. I ended up falling asleep and taking an hour nap, which is unheard of. But I was so comfortable there and obviously needed the rest. I then woke up long enough to work a little more and when Bobbie finished around 10pm went back upstairs to visit until a little after 11pm and then went to sleep.

I shockingly turned off the 7am alarm and turned over and went back to sleep until she came downstairs at 8:30am. I must have really needed the rest and was in just the right place to get it.

Well, as usual, I was out of the house and on the road by 8am. I had slept well and will truly miss the conversation. I headed for Fredericksburg, Virginia, the birthplace of President George Washington. The trip took about 2+ hours, in which I was completely engrossed in the Celestine Prophecy and it passed quickly.

( Herman Slips One In )

Fredericksburg turned out to be way more than George Washington’s birthplace. I admittedly was never interested in history about wars, other than the why and the who won. The details in between always were a bit hazy…and they still are today as I didn’t focus my time there on them. :)

The tour took me past the Apothecary:

( Old Apothecary )

The Old Stone Warehouse:

( Old Stone Warehouse )

And other wonderful treasures:

( Fredericksburg Finest )

Cool Tree Shot:

( Fredericksburg Tree )

Cool Car Shot:

( Fredericksburg GottaGo )

Their current library:

( Fredericksburg Finest )

They also had these ceramic dogs and cats in most historical places. I didn’t know what they were for, but here is the cat wench:

( Fredericksburg Finest )

Finally, I decided to take a tour, and took a tour of their old Inn. They wouldn’t allow pictures in, so all I have to show you:

( Fredericksburg Finest )

I learned a lot from the current wenches about how to be a proper wench, how to be a proper lady, how to be a proper gentleman, and what it takes for all three to fall from being proper and to be forced to enter from the back door instead of the front.

From Fredericksburg I headed for my next study town – Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. I was passed through Richmond, VA along the way:

( Richmond, VA )

And then was lucky enough to pass the Marlboro plant:

( Fredericksburg Finest )

The rest of the trip was pretty, but somewhat of a blur (books on tape make the time fly):

( Afternoon Trip )

But I did get to see a North Carolina rest stop:

( North Carolina Rest Area )

I didn’t have a chance to photograph it until the following day, but I did get to meet with and interview their City Manager. He was extremely nice and knowledgeable and had been there for over 10 years, so was able to answer most of my questions. As I was leaving, we heard thunder outside and he said it would be pouring. I hadn’t seen any clouds on my way in and was a bit skeptical, but went with it since he had just picked up the phone and contacted the tourism director of the town, who in turn was able to find me a comp. hotel room. I was ecstatic. When I went outside, it turned out he was right and it was raining so hard that a second in it you were soaked to the bone.

The hotel turned out to be fantastic, much higher quality than I had been staying in so far. It even had a remote control for the TV!!!! :)

( Roanoke Rapids Hotel Room )

As you can see, they even had folded the towels in a pretty pattern and….the best part….it had wireless internet access!!! Woohoo!!

Well, before I dug in for the night, I walked over to my first Cracker Barrell. What an experience! They had a long front porch with locally crafted rocking chairs all along it along with side tables with checker/chess boards on them. Inside had a huge gift shop and then a restaurant with a few other areas of checkers and I was able to get one of the largest meals (southern persuasion) I have every had for only $7.99. It was fantastic!

( Cracker Barrell )

After dinner, I locked myself in my wonderful hotel room and worked a little and became hooked on a show Heather had lent me called Veronica Mars. Suddenly it was 12:30am and all I wanted was to continue and watch the next episode. It was addictive.

Well, I left Winchester, Virginia early the next morning, and after filling up the tank, I headed for Washington, D.C. The drive was more highwayish than the drive to Winchester the previous day, but I was surprised on how close we got to DC before civilization occurred:

( Winchester, Virginia to DC )

Ok, side note, check this view of the inside of a stall door in a Virginia Rest Stop (and the Rest Stop view, just for FYI purposes):

( Virginia Rest Area )

If not the hook, than where? Mid-air? Are you seeing where? I stopped in 2 rest-stops that had this exact thing. Any guesses?

Second side note: I had noticed the day before and today that the dotted lines in the middle of road were wider and shorter here than the rest of the states I had seen so far…weird, huh?

( Virginia Lines )

Well, I knew I was getting close to DC, when I saw a hummer with a GW sticker on it:

( Hummer and Ascent into DC )

I arrived about 9:30am and headed straight for the AAA office, which happened to be in walking distance of The Mall. I found them to be very rude when I asked for information about what I should do while I was in DC. I already had a map that stated where everything was. The boy seemed very put out to explain anything. Whatever! Don’t I pay them for this exact service???

Anyway, so having parked in a parking garage and having the limit of 2 hours or I’d have to pay over the $14 I was already going to have to pay, I headed straight for the mall. The first building I saw was grand and beautiful and so I took a picture. Of course, it was just the Bank of America Building:

( Lincoln Memorial )

On the way, I passed the Federal Treasury Building:

( Treasury )

I also walked passed this massive building that took up an entire block, that ended up having no name and wasn’t marked on my map. Here is a picture of it from the mall, the only one I could get with it being so large:

( Winchester, Virginia to DC )

Any guesses? I’m assuming it’s just more offices, but it’s larger than most of the other important buildings, so….

Anyway, the first thing I saw was the Federal Monument:

( Monument 1 )
( Monument 2 )

( Monument from Lincoln Memorial )

( Monument and Capitol Building )

From the memorial, I could see everything, including The Capitol Building:

( Capitol )

And the Smithsonian Buildings:

( Smithsonian )

After walking up to the base and walking around, I headed towards the Lincoln Memorial. Along the way I passed the WWII Memorial. I found it extremely beautiful and my heart felt very heavy there.

( WWII Memorial )

After sitting a spell next to the pool and just absorbing the ambiance, I walked along a path of trees, next to a still pond towards the Lincoln Memorial:

( WWII to Lincoln )

And then I got to Lincoln and those were the tallest damn stairs I’ve ever taken!!!

( Lincoln Memorial )

I don’t know if you can see it in this next picture, but I had been walking in the highest humidity known to man and woman-kind for over an hour by now and was already sweating up a storm. By the time I reached the top of the stairs, my face, I’m sure, was BEAT red and while I wasn’t breathing too terribly hard, I was sweating from every single pore on my body!!!

( Lincoln and Me )

After resting from the heat in the little gift shop’s A/C and taking my time picking out postcards, I left Lincoln to his thinking and looked around. From here I could see the new part of DC, a part I never did get to while I was there:

( Modern DC )

From Lincoln, I walked in the direction of my car, feeling the hour drawing near. Having one last place I had to see before leaving the mall (and knowing I didn’t have enough time to see the Capitol Building), I headed for the Vietnam Memorial. It was very moving. Everyone seemed to feel the respect needed there. Kids would talk in whispers, if they talked at all and I saw a woman stenciling a name on a piece of paper for remembrance. Rings of black beads could be found in various places, including the statue of the Vietnam soldiers:

( Vietnam Memorial )

As I headed out of the mall area and crossed the street, I walked passed the Department of the Interior:

( Dept. of Interior )

And several lovely statues:

( Important Statues )

Oh yeah, and this big house behind a lot of bars. It was this whitish color and had columns in front. It had a really cool garden and very large lawn that looked seriously underused:

( Important Statues )

After I picked up my car and cried at the bill, I headed towards the portion of town I had been told was old town. Along the way, I passed the World Building, which looked impressive and extremely horrible to work in. Check out how few windows there are:

( World Building )

I then passed through part of Chinatown. It was weird. I thought I had reached a mall of some sort, and I had, though the sign wasn’t in English:

( Chinatown Mall )

As soon as I left downtown, I began to head into residential. I found a lot of row-houses, a phenomenon we don’t have much of in the Pacific NW, but I have seen plenty of since getting to this part of the world:

( Rowhouses )

Then I began to leave that district and entered one of single family homes on single family lots:

( Important Statues )

I ended up near where I was supposed to go, but found a Borders, where I sat a worked for a couple of hours, waiting for Peter, a friend of a friend, and whose house I would be staying in, to get home from work.

Peter and his partner were extra super wonderful! We had a wonderful dinner, followed by wonderful conversation. I then attempted to work in front of their TV, since one of their wonderful neighbors was broadcasting wireless internet loud and clear. It didn’t work very well and Peter and I ended up watching a couple of reality TV shows.

Well, here is where I have to admit failure. I failed to get a picture of either of them and I failed to get a picture of their lovely home, which was only a few blocks outside of the D.C. border.

I stayed up late working and then slept like a rock!

When new lovers kiss – why do so many peck about 50 times, before ever attempting a long romantic kiss? Is that a sign of nerves? A sign that this won’t necessarily be one of the most romantic kisses of their lives, because they’re full of nerves? That they aren’t in love yet? Perhaps they already know they never will be? What about the quick, immediate look at something other than each other? Same possible answers?

I am currently sitting in the sidewalk café for a restaurant called ‘The Manhattan’ on the 2nd pedestrian mall I’ve encountered:

( The Manhattan )

( The Mall )

Though unlike Helena, Montana, Cumberland, Maryland seems to have a healthy, vibrant pedestrian mall that takes up the majority of their downtown.

( Cumberland, Maryland )

From what I can determine, their downtown economy is driven mostly by tourism. There are many retail stores and friendly signs pointing to which shops are where. They have a “Friday After Five” where they have 3 bands set up along the pedestrian mall and a party in the street ensues. It’s very similar to Helena’s “Alive at Five”, though their’s takes place on Wed. nights. It makes me wonder if one got the idea from the other. From my plastic seat next to a rocking table on a brick pedestrian mall, I have a view of one of the fountain seating areas that are scattered throughout town and two people in their 40’s in what seem to be their first embrace.

( Another Fountain )

When I first walked past they had been sitting a couple feet away from each other. By the time I sat down, they were facing each oter playing knee tag. And then, as I pulled my writing tablet out of my purse, I saw what looked like their first kiss.

( More Cumberland )

The drive to Cumberland had been gorgeous! It was filled with green hills, rocky cliffs, and dizzying views of a green valleys.

( The Valley )

It was exactly what I needed – a refreshment after what seemed like an unrestful last couple of days. I had lived through the dangerous hotel last night, not having slept very well, waking every time voices were outside my door, which seemed to be frequently. The best part – I was now on TripTik #3:

( TripTik #3 )

The drive was magnificent and with how wonderful I found Cumberland to be, it reminded me of why I was on the trip. It renewed a wonder that I had though had begun to get tired. I was afraid that after two weeks, I had started to go on overload…but no. I had been flipped off on the New Jersey Turnpike yesterday, seen refreshingly gorgeous American today and witnessed a lover’s first kiss not 20 minutes ago…all is exactly perfect!!!

( The Drive to Cumberland, Maryland )

I even saw my first ghost:

( Ghost )

And got to go to the Flinstones:

( Flinstone )

3 hours later…Winchester, Virginia

The drive to Winchester was just as beautiful, but in a different way. Most of it was back roads, windy ones going through little adorable towns. And…get this…I saw gas for $1.93. Only once, and I didn’t need gas at the time, but I saw it and it was open. Can you believe it????

( Cumberland to Winchester )

And I saw several people mowing their lawns, including this poor burnt sole:

( Burned Man )

It’s Sunday, which equals a dead town in Winchester, Virginia. Almost everything in town seems to be closed.

Ok – pedestrian mall #3. Not as much seating as in Cumberland, which will probably prove to be an issue once I interview the planner/manager upon my return to OR. It is 5pm and the sun is beginning its decent. The buildings are closer together, so shadow encloses the mall. There are benches and trees. I would have though that since Winchester – home of the rifle and a huge Civil War battle – was one of the few study towns I’d heard of, I assumed it would be the most tourist – it’s cute and much more successful looking than that majority of those that I’ve seen, but it probably shouldn’t have followed Cumberland. It is very quaint – reminding me of a larger version of Jamestown’s Louis Llamore town near the White Buffalo. The buildings are all great and in good repair. Most are 2 stories and almost all have the proper storefronts. It will be interesting to speak with the planner/manager and find out what it’s like when any of the shops are actually open and people actually on the street.

( Winchester, West Virginia )

They did have a beautiful house on the pedestrian mall called the ‘Wysteria House’:

( Wysteria House )

And, weird vernacular moment for the day…a lighthouse used as a car dealership???

( The Lighthouse )

I ended up staying in a motel 5 miles outside of town for $24. It was run by these two older ladies who obviously spend a lot of time in the chairs I first found them in, talking the day away. Come to think of it, it was also called the Budget Inn, but had the second name of Eco Lodge, so different from the night before. I got settled in and then went out to find a laundry mat. The only one open on a Sunday evening was a 24 joint. The kind that no one works at, so the doors are open at all times. Only half the machines worked and the cement floor was nothing you ever wanted to walk barefoot on or drop clean clothes on. I then tried using the bathroom and discovered no toilet paper. So, I got the paper towels out of my car and sat down in the 4’ by 4’ little room, just to have 2 gigantic spiders quickly crawl down the wall opposite me (i.e. only about 6” from my legs). I didn’t look up. I didn’t look anywhere but my pants as I pulled them back up and got the heck out. I could hold it. At least I had clean clothes afterwards, which after the rainstorm had trashed my tennis shoes, jeans, etc. a couple nights before, I was very happy to have everything clean.