Today was amazing! We went to Magnolia Plantation here in Charleston, and spent the afternoon exploring 500 acres of gardens. This plantation has been in the same family since the mid 1600's, and was one of the most beautiful days I've spent in a long time! I've heard that spanish moss means that a place isn't haunted, but I really felt the ghosts of the past walking around the grounds! Not in a haunting way, but in a caretaking way. It was very cool. Took 49 pictures, but these were our favorite. The gardens weren't in bloom so much this time of year, but I can just imagine how gorgeous it is in the spring. A must see for anyone visiting this area. Yesterday we ventured into downtown Charleston and walked through the open air market where locals sell their handywork. It was housed in what used to be the slave market. But it was raining, so we didn't spend too much time there. Lots more to see down there, so we'll have to go back when the weather clears. I love this part of the world.

Wilson, NC

Well, our fun-filled week in Wilson, NC has come to an end. Actually it was a good week. We found golfing for $7.50/9 holes,...our first round was a disaster, and today improved considerably! We spent an hour or so at the driving range yesterday trying to improve our drives, and obviously did so:) And last Saturday night at the stock cars was quite the smash-um-up! There was even an instance where one of the drivers ran out during awards to attack the winning driver! Can you say redneck? It was fun. Also lots of relaxing, SuDoku, reading, futzing, and exploring. Not much to see here, but it was a good week. Tomorrow we head to Charleston, SC for a week or so. It's going to be a big 300 mile day getting there, so we'll have to get an early start!

Wilson, NC

We spent the last few days in eastern Virginia, went to Yorktown, Jamestown, and Williamsburg via ferry 2 days in a row. Wow, the history and reconstruction of the revolutionary war and civil war were pretty amazing. Didn't get a lot of pictures, these things are sometimes hard to capture on film, so what do you photograph? We stayed at Chipokes Plantation State Park at $27.00/night:( and explored the area pretty heavily. Great park...they had a working plantation (thus the name) attached to the park, it was pretty cool. It has been continually farmed since the 1600's! Tobacco, cotton, peanuts and corn are the main crops here. And there's still a lot of surviving, working plantations all over. Beautiful country. Williamsburg was great.
We walked through historic Williamsburg, adjacent to William & Mary College ( a beautiful campus), and they had period dressed staff working in the 400 year old stores/houses. We felt like we really stepped back in time. And Yorktown was hit pretty hard by hurricane Isabel in 2003, and they've rebuilt it beautifully. We toured the battlefield where the brits surrendered to Washington ending the war. It's on the York River, which is just as wide as the james River that we were camped near, which is as wide as the Mississsippi! Lots of water in these parts!
Then we traveled 150 miles today to Wilson, NC to a campground we found by joining "happy Camper" (1/2 price campgrounds). It's not a great place, but it's cheap, and that's what we need for a while. The weather is great 75 degrees, and there's a botanical garden, rose garden, golfing, a tobacco museum, and we're staying here for a week. We're getting a little tired of moving every couple days. Have I mentioned that before?

Charlotte Hall, MD

Maryland is a beautiful state; well the western side of it is. We haven't seen the eastern side (across the Chesapeake Bay). And probably won't this trip. Spent the last 3 days in Point Lookout State Park, Scotland, MD, where they have a civil war museum and Fort Lincoln. Apparently 50,000 prisoners went through the prison there in just over a year! And Fort Lincoln is all that remains of the original structures (it's been renovated). Very cool. We rode our bikes all over the park a few days ago (it's about 1000 acres...we didn't do it all!) Now we're in Charlotte Hall, north of the park for a farm festival going on this weekend (free camping). We'll be here til Monday or so...we offered to help clean up the grounds after it's over. Should be a good weekend. The reason we're in this part of the world is because our friends, Bernie & Shirley from the Baja trip live in Hollywood, MD, about 20 miles from the state park. Caught up with them Tuesday evening, then they made us dinner Wednesday night and we were able to meet their daughter Julie that night. She's a traveling nurse, so we had lots to talk about.

Bob's doing well, but I "threw out my back" yesterday:( I've been dreading this day all my life. You know, the day you wake up and realize you're old. I was taking a shower, and I turned wrong. I was out of commission all day, but today is better thanks to a bunch of Advil. It really is true...when you retire you fall apart...

Washington DC

10/5/07Today was a travel day from hell. We left the campground in PN (big mistake...it was great there!), and drove 300 miles, around Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and Washington DC. It took 8 hours with traffic!!! An accident in Wilmington, then rush hour in Baltimore and DC. Bob's a little nervous about driving the camper around now, since the guard rail incident, but we made it. We're camped at Prince William Trailer Park just south of DC for the weekend. We were here 3 years ago on our east coast tour, loved it, and wanted to spend more time here. We're both getting a little tired of moving every couple days, so we need to work on staying in one spot for longer...maybe get a job in a campground or something??? It'll work itself out...it always does.

10/7/07Spent yesterday in DC. It hasn't changed much in 3 years, so only spent about 3 hours there. The metro is a wonderful transportation system, and we remembered how to use it. So went through the Smithsonian Institute museums, saw the white house, washington monument, lincoln memorial, IRS building, FBI building, Ford theatre,... We're ready to leave the northeast tho...way too many people. Headed toward Point Lookout State Park in southern Maryland tomorrow. We've never been to Maryland, so plan to spend some time exploring...A sidenote...we saw a news clip on national news about the acorn storms in Green Bay...thought that was pretty funny, but it is seriously raining acorns here at the park, and it's pretty slippery and noisy!

Mystic, CT

Lovely, charming, quaint...I'll be using those words frequently in the next page. The New England area is lovely. We've spent the last week in the Mystic, CT area exploring. Windy, narrow roads on quaint rolling hills, slowly changing lovely dying foliage, very old, well kept large homes with charming rock walls everywhere. And lots of money.

Stonington, just across the bay from Mystic was one of our destinations a few days ago, and while walking around the small borough, we noticed a lot of remodeling. So we asked the lady at the coffee shop if a hurricane had gone through; she raised an eyebrow and said with a smirk, "there's a lot of very rich people here. They're simply remodeling". And while walking past a realtor office, the pictures in the window indicated these homes were going for $1-7,000,000! And they're on lots smaller than ours in Appleton! But on the ocean. Lovely, quaint, charming.

Yesterday we went to Groton, the submarine capital of the world and toured the Nautilis, the first nuclear powered sub. What an experience. It was so big, but so small. They housed 12 sailors in a single room with 3 rows of 4 bunks high, and maybe 2 feet between the bunks (above and beside). And to be in close quarters like that 400 feet under water. Wow! It was very interesting.

Then while driving to our appointment at the camper repair station, at 6:45a.m. on Friday we took a sharp left turn and "bumped" the guard rail on the right, causing $2,400.00 damage to our brand new camper:( Did I mention we were on our way to the repair shop? Who also employs a very good body man. He had us buttoned up that day, but we go back this week for paint.

The day wasn't a complete loss... we went to the Mystic Aquarium while they were working on the camper. That was a blast...they also had a 3-D virtual roller coaster that took us through outer space. It was great! Also beluga whales, penguins, sea lions, and lots of cool fish. Bob was so bummed about the camper...he's NEVER done anything like that, and for it to happen to our BRAND NEW CAMPER! But the roller coaster put a smile back on his face.Today we watch Brett Favre break the record, drink bloody mary's, and contemplate our next destination...after the camper is fixed of course.