It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas in the RV The Blue Goose on Parade

We've been in Eufaula at the wildlife refuge close to six weeks now and the time has flown. We are enjoying our volunteer work here - we've done everything from empty blue bird boxes to seal linoleum floors to sort through and organize supply cabinets. It's nice to have the variety of inside and outside work and to know that we are freeing up the regular staff for additional tasks.

We've been back to Anniston to work on Tom's mother's house frequently. No pictures yet - keep forgetting to take them....The house is looking much better now. Pam has done a lot of work on decorating and color schemes and it is coming together.

Dad, Stephen and Katie visited us in Eufaula for Thanksgiving and we got together with Anne's family for the annual Mexican night/children's christmas celebration once again. This time there was a "secret Santa" in attendance to give us some ornaments to help decorate - thanks, whoever you are...

We put up a little tree (hanging on the wall so that the cats don't get to the decorations) and hung various other items to make our little place look like Christmas. And then there was the Eufaula Christmas parade last week. The Wildlife Refuge "blue goose" also made a special appearance.

It's even been cold enough for Christmas - lows in the 20's this far south are very unusual this time of year. But it all helps to get us in the mood for Santa!

We've landed for the winter

Tom at Brushy Lake The goats near our site


Sally and Tom have landed (sort of). We are now at the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge. Eufaula Alabama is about 60 miles south of Columbus, GA and about 60 miles north of Dothan Alabama. It is a town of about 30,000 on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. The river is the southern section of the border of Georgia and Alabama.

We have only been here two days and have seen deer, a large assortment of birds and goats. The goats are a fixture in the machine shop/workamper area. There are 12 altogether – they are a little shy, but it’s fun having animal companionship. Right now we are the only workampers at the refuge.

The reserve is in place for seasonal waterfowl, a resting place for ducks, geese, etc. There are over 11,000 acres of mostly water and wetlands. Hunting is allowed, but very limited in scope. Farmers are allowed to grow grain corps on the land, but must leave about 25% in the fields for food for the animals. The refuge is right next door to Lakepoint State Park (Alabama). The park has camping, fishing, a lodge and other amenities.

The weather is beautiful today, about 80 degrees and partly cloudy. The average temps for December and January is 60 for highs and 35 for lows, so we are pushing the envelope on winter weather in the RV, but we think we’ll be able to take it.

In our travels down, we used Anniston for a resting place for the RV. We spent one weekend in northwest Alabama at the ATCA annual “Rest your weary bones” campout at Brushy Lake. We attended the University of Alabama homecoming game and events. All in all, we spent only 6 days in Anniston, but it is good to go “home” occasionally.

Selkirk Lighthouse Tom in Mammoth Cave

Many things have happened since we last reported to the blog. Tom lost his mother, so he and Sally flew to Alabama to be with family and attend the funeral. We returned to Bethel Outdoor Adventure to work the office for the owners while Jeff and Pattie went to England to attend a reunion of Jeff’s Marine division. It was an exciting two weeks but we didn’t get to do much besides work.

On our last weekend in Maine, Sally went to the Fryeburg Fair – the largest agricultural fair in Maine. It was a lot of fun – she got to watch part of the Fireman’s Muster. That’s a competition between fire departments with events like the Bucket Brigade. There were sheep dog trials and draft horse pulls. And there were sheep, alpacas, and a large fiber exhibition. One notable exhibit showed horse drawn wagons. They had one beautiful wagon that was especially interesting to a full-timer – a Romany wagon. (Romany is what most of us know as Gypsies prefer to be called). The wagon is gorgeous and very complete – stove, bed, flowers….Now I want to redecorate :-)

We are in Alabama after taking 10 days to go from Bethel to Anniston. We made stops in Syracuse NY for work on the RV. We then traveled to Pulaski NY to see a lighthouse where an ancestor of Sally’s lived in the 1800’s (G-G-Grandfather Hiram Page). We then traveled a two day period to Dayton OH where we visited friends for the weekend (and attended a chili cook-off.) We stopped at Mammoth Cave and visited Tom’s brother at Ft. Knox. A stop in Scottsboro AL for a visit to the Unclaimed Baggage store was our last station before reaching Anniston. We will spend some time here to visit. We will then move to our winter duty station at Lake Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge.

We’re looking forward to being so close to everyone this winter – only a short trip back to Anniston, to Florida and to New Orleans. We should be able to visit everyone several times before we take off next summer.

A lot has happened in this past month..

The Toast
Tying one on????
Riding the Ferry to NY
Whitewater Rafting
Sorry for the delay in posting. We really have had a BIG time in August. As we left the Halls, they were about to go whitewater rafting for the first time. We went up north to Twin Forks on the Kennebec River. We drove right past some familiar territory around Kowhegan and Carratunk - Tom and I hiked up there with Foster and the ATCA in 1996.

The rafting was terrific - I'm ready to go again next time I have a chance. It was the hottest day in the summer down here in Bethel, but being on the river and being a bit farther north was a blessing. The water is cold and refreshing, which is a good thing since you get thoroughly wet even if you manage to stay in the raft. At the end they serve you a steak, chicken or salmon lunch and show you the video of the trip - a real highlight. It's a shame we can't post the video.

The next adventure Sally had on her own - Tom is just not interested in knitting and sheep farms. The Maine Fiber Arts group (http://www.mainefiberarts.org/) had an open house the first weekend on August and Sally made a quick visit to A Wrinkle in Thyme, a sheep farm about 30 minutes from Bethel in Sumner Maine. Iwas the first visitor and got to see the sheep, use a drum carder and see the carded wool spun into about 1 ounce of worsted yarn. And buy 3 ounces of heavy worsted that was home dyed and spun on the farm. I plan to make some slippers for the upcoming winter.

Speaking of winter, it's still summer up here but the temperatures are wonderful. It went down into the mid-40's overnight and the highs are in the sixties and seventies. It helps confirm our inclination to turn into that dreaded creature - object of scorn by permanent residents of communities north and south - the fabulous "snowbird". I am looking for a good representation of the creature to use as our logo.

Our other big adventure of the month was our trip to Peoria for Bethany's wedding. We stayed in some real nice campgrounds along the way. The first day we drove up to Burlington, VT and rode a ferry over to NY. A side trip led us to Lake Placid - Tom said it looked like Gatlinburg with Olympic rings. Too crowded for us since we have become small town people this summer! But we had a great German meal at a motel on the outskirts of town.
The next night we stayed up near Sandusky OH - East Harbor State Park. The park was lovely, very clean and room for a lot of people. It is right on Lake Erie and looks like it is real popular. We'll come back some day when we go to Cedar Point and ride the roller coasters.
The wedding was very eclectic and a great time. We got to help decorate for the reception - Sally tied THOUSANDS of bows for the chairs ( well, not really) and Tom helped (don't tell anyone or they might take away his man card....).

We promise we'll catch up with the rest of our event filled summer soon - hope you all are enjoying yours. We'll see you all before long - summer is winding down and we'll be back down south before it freezes up here.

Canoeing, Peak-bagging and Gunkholing

Peakbagging - Bethel from Mt Will
Lobster Shack on the Coast
The Gunk Hole
The past couple of weeks have been pretty exciting.
First - the canoeing. We have finally gotten to take a canoe down a short stretch of the Androscoggin - no pictures. It was raining so hard when we got off that we looked like a couple of drowned rats. Fortunately we did not take our camera with us or we'd be buying a new one. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and plan to take the longer trip later this week. Then we might move up to some basic river kayaking. The river is really friendly - "quick" water so we don't have to paddle too much, no rapids, lots of islands to stop and picnic on. We saw some wildlife - an otter (or maybe it was a mink), a duck and and an eagle or falcon.

Unfortunately, Tom is still not up to hiking much, but Sally has hit several local peaks. First was Mt Will which is about 8 miles from here. When I can get blogspot to upload a picture you will be able to see Bethel from the ledges about halfway down from the peak. Next was Mt Crag over in NH - a small peak but worth the practice. Then the Roost in White Mtn Natl Forest. Then Table Rock up near Grafton Notch. It is a blue blazed side trail off the AT just north of the notch. Finally I climbed Albany Mtn (1000 foot climb, the most so far). I brought back just two servings of the tiny blueberries for dessert that night.

In between, we went down to Portland and had a great seafood feast on the coast near Two Lights State Park. It's been up in the eighties up here in the Mountains but much cooler with the ocean breezes!

To cool off we go "gunkholing" which is an unattractive term for finding the best swimming hole with the coolest water and just hanging out till you either turn blue or have to go home. There are several close by and it really helps to get away for a couple of hours.

Stay tuned for more details ... we have been to the short track races and to hear a real small town Brass Band. And tomorrow we're going white water rafting - wish you were here!

Anniversary

Sally and Tom celebrated their 10th anniversary on July 20. There was some confusion on where in the "world" to celebrate.

The weekend before, Bethel had its annual parade celebrating "Mollyockett" day. Molly Ockett was a Native American medicine woman who served the western Maine community, including the first vice-president for Lincoln.

We chose to go toYarmouth on the coast of Maine for a day trip for our anniversary. We had a lobster dinner and toured some of the area. We were a day short of the "Clam Day" parade in Yarmouth. Some of the other work campers went to the festival over the weekend.

We had another meal out of the solar cooker. We also "sponsered" a covered dish supper for the workcampers with a favorite teams and sports theme. Football, baseball, hockey and soccer were represented. We made hot dogs (cooked in a beer broth in the solar cooker). Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Until next time, best wishes from the small crew in Bethel Maine.

The Week of July 10th

Friday, July 14th, Tom and I drove down to Loudon, NH, to watch the NASCAR practice and qualifying for the Leno Tools 300. The picture above shows some of the cars lining up to qualify at about 3 pm. We arrived at 8 - early enough to get a seat in the shade of the overhang and right on the start-finish line. Good thing, too. It was about 90! There was a nice breeze though and the humidity wasn't too bad. Don't think we could have handled a whole day in the sun.
Practice lasted all morning, qualifying for the NASCAR event was at 3 and then there was a Busch East race at 5.
It was my first time at a track since I went to the Daytona 500 in high school. The track really looks different on TV - Victory Lane is relatively small. The "pit" is just a road with the crews standing behind a curb! And it's loud - you do need ear plugs.

Saturday was Molly Ockett Day in Bethel. The day started with a 5 mile race, followed by a parade (see picture below of the Bethel Outdoor Adventure float), a festival on the town common (complete with frog jumping contest, fiddle contest, and fireworks). Molly Ockett was an Indian medicine woman in the late 18th and early 19th century. There is a lot of folklore about her in the Western Maine area. She was born nearby in Fryeburg and is "claimed" by many towns in the area. The story we have heard most often: One time Molly needed a place to stay. She went to one community who would not let her in. The story is that she "cursed" them with bad luck and moved on to the Hamlins from up near South Paris. The Hamelins let her stay with them and while there she cured their son of a fever. The son grew up to be Abraham Lincoln's first vice president (Hannibal Hamlin). More information available here: http://www.avcnet.org/ne-do-ba/bio_moly.html

The Solar Cooker

We are taking advantage of the sunny weather (finally!) and have started doing some solar cooking. I made a solar oven out of a shiny car sunscreen (about $5). The directions are on this web-site. http://solarcooking.org/plans.htm (Scroll down to panel cookers).

It works pretty well so far, though the wind does occasionally blow the pot over. All we have done to this point are fully cooked foods, like canned beans and cooked sausages or hot dogs. Pretty good - and as we get more confident, we'll graduate to more sophisticated cooking and maybe even some baking. See our first meal below.

Travelling the "World"

Sally and Tom have been planning to travel the world for many years. Now, it appears, you can travel the most of the civilized world and never leave the state of Maine. This sign is about 15 miles from the campground where we are working. There is another sign with more "exotic" places that we will post in the near future.

We are having a great time. Sally is doing quite a bit of hiking. Tom has a slight injury keeping him from walking as much as Sally, but he is quickly recovering.

There is a preservation society that sponsers an event each Monday night. We have seen a local humorist and an "Old Time Radio Hour" show. The events are held in a chapel on the property of Poland Springs, the bottled water people. We have to drive about 35 miles to this place. To put it in prospective, we used to drive 30 miles one way to play trivia in Atlanta. But he scenery is much better up here.

The work is fun. We get to meet a lot of interesting people from all over the northeast, even some from around the world. Two guys from Denmark came in the week before the 4th. Canadians show pretty regular. But most of the adventurers are from ME, MA and NH.

We miss family and friends, but we are trying to involve ourselves in activities to mask our homesickness. Good health to all. We'll be posting more soon.

Taking a break in .... Montreal

Hi everyone,

Sally and Tom are adapting to their new envronment. In the first picture, we help racers sign up for a river race involving canoes and kayaks. One of the interesting duos in the race are an Olympic caliber athelete (winter, biathlon) and his 8 year old son. They finished second to a pair of guys who race every weekend. The second picture is Tom looking over the city of Montreal. We discovered on Monday that we would not work again until Friday, so we drove the 200 miles to Montreal. 200 miles may not seem far, but most if it is on two lane backroads, but what a beautiful drive. We took a Greyline tour of the city and a walking tour. It is a very picturesque city, too bad we are limited on the number of pictures we can post.

Thanks for checking out our blog.

The AT Hikers

Tuesday we met Kenny, Foster and Teresa of the Appalachian Trail Club of Alabama in Lebanon, NH, as they prepared to hike Vermont over the next three weeks.

We had dinner at a really great little Irish pub in Lebanon (complete with a live group doing Celtic music at 7 pm on a Tuesday night.) It was a lot of fun catching up with Foster - it's been a long time since we had been able to visit. We spent the night at the Sunset Inn between Hanover and Lebanon. It's a very nice Mom & Pop establishment right on the Connecticut River. It's evidently a hiker stop. There was an AT log in a plastic box in the lobby. The lobby was full of all sorts of interesting books. It looked like a great place to spend a 0-mile day - in fact we met another section hiker who had exactly that idea. The host gave the "girls" the room on the river side. Tom and Foster had to settle for the room without a view but there was no noise from the guys room. Foster and Tom have almost identical C-PAP machines so there was no snoring contest.

The next morning after breakfast and some repacking, we dropped the three hikers off in downtown Hanover close to Dartmouth. The trail runs right through Hanover by the It had just started to sprinkle - the beginning of a five days of rain, rain and more rain. At least here in the western mountains of Maine, we have had day after day of rain. The rivers are filling up and folks are watching the rivers rise. We hope that Vermont wasn't quite as wet.

We left Kenny's truck at their next stopping place and headed back to Bethel. On the way, we stopped at the Long Trail Brewery between Killington and I-93. Very interesting place. I loved the "Blackbeary Wheat" summer brew. Probably the first lighter beer I have ever liked. I brought a six-pack back to Maine. We are headed back on Sunday to meet them again and help with the next shuttle - the plans include a night in a lean-to on the trail but I bet they will want some real food and a dry bed!

In Alabama - April & May, 2006

We spent all of April and the early part of May in Alabama visiting friends and relatives. Most of the time we were parked at our friends' house in White Plains. The picture at the top left shows one of the most exciting afternoons that month. The hail in that storm was a little bigger than golf ball size. The sound of those things hitting the top of the RV roof was scary. Fortunately we had little damage. The awnings over our slide outs ended up with some holes, but nothing too bad.
The other two pictures were taken at Coleman Lake campground in the Talledega National Forest. The sites are large and shady; the electric service is 50 amp so you can run air conditioning easily (of course, in Alabama that is almost a necessity!); and the bath houses are almost luxurious.
Our friends joined us for the weekend - they have a trailer and really love to camp also. We'll look forward to seeing them in the fall and camping at Coleman again.

Bickford Slides

We started out to hike the Royce trail in the White Mountain Natl Forest todaysouth of Gilead, ME, but the first river crossing was a little tougher than we wanted to tackle. So we went across the road and hiked the Bickford Brook trail instead. It turned out to be a beautiful hike - just enough climbing and a realy pretty bit of white water at the top. This is a view looking down the Bickford Slides. If you follow the trail down by the brook, you can get a close up view of that really narrow slot to the right of Tom. The brook keeps tumbling downhill for at least 1/4 mile. We are looking forward to getting back up and doing some more exploring in the area.
BTW, the head gear may look funny, but it helps keep away the gnats, mosquitos and black flies!
June 6, 2006

Stephen's Graduation - May 13th

I promised to share some of the events of March, April and early May and will start with the most recent BIG event. Sally's son Stephen graduated from Tulane Law School on May 13th. He was the top student in his class, an award presented at the Law School honors reception Friday night.

The main Tulane graduation ceremony was Saturday morning - speakers were Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush. It was held in the arena, across the street from the Superdome. It was a very different ceremony - no Pomp and Circumstance. The music was provided by a jazz band. The invocation was even musical - a version of Just a Closer Walk with Thee done in the traditional funeral format. The first section was a very soulful clarinet solo, followed by a rousing jaz version by the full jazz ensemble, including brass and saxophone.
At the end of the graduation, there was a surprise appearance by Ellen DeGeneres. She appeared in a white hotel-type terry robe saying that she heard everyone would be in robes. At the end, instead of a formal recessional, she and the university president led the students in a "second-line" dance carrying a parasol and waving a white handkerchief.
Stephen took us out for steaks at Dickie Brennan's after the Law School graduation ceremony. He started work Monday the 15th as a law clerk for Edith Brown Clement of the Fifth Circuit Federal Appeals Court.

Our picture

We finally did it!

We finally retired, got all our "stuff" sorted out and given away, and traveled to our location for the summer. The RV in the foreground of this picture and the truck pulling out are ours. We are located at Bethel Outdoor Adventures in Bethel, Maine, for the next few months.

The campground is on the banks of the Androscoggin river. BOA offers canoe and kayak rentals, guided fishing trips, tubing and a guided tour of an old mine - interesting to all rockhounds.

We are already exploring the area - we can see that this is going to be an exciting place to be. There is so much to do that we don't anticipate being bored at all. We are close to the Appalachian Trail and the White Mountains National Forest. There are so many trails there is no way to hike them all this summer (not to mention that some of them are so tough we are in no shape to tackle them yet!)

Just a note about our intent with this blog: The idea is to share with our friends where we are and what we are doing. It will probably not be updated daily - we'll see how often we can manage it.

Right now the blog is under initial construction so please be patient. We'll post later about our trip up here and what we have been doing since March, 2006.