North Carolina

We both had a much needed good nights sleep and while Marty fixed the trailers lights I went for a bike ride along the canal. It warned of wild animals, snakes and the like but I never saw any or anybody. By the time I returned (a nice easy 6 mile ride) the Welcome Centre was open and we soon left armed with half a forest and the knowledge that the canal was part of the network that links Maine with Florida. Part of the canal was originally hand dug by slaves but over the years it has been widened and extended by machines to make it into the very busy boating highway it is today.

We made our way to Pettigrew State Park in the eastern corner of North Carolina. It is situated on Lake Phelps and we were amazed to discover that we could actually swim here. The Lake is 16600 acres and the average depth is 4½ feet deep so we did have to walk out quite a long way to have a decent swim. But it was worth it. We were the only ones swimming while we were there.

Next to the camp was Somerset House. This is the former home of a very wealthy Plantation owner and one of the areas biggest owners of slaves in the area during the days of slavery. We went on a guided tour (again just us) of the property which was really interesting. The house was amazing. The guy was loaded but by the end of the civil war he was dead and the family was broke. A not uncommon scenario for plantation owners it seems.

We decided we would ride out to the Outer Banks catching the ferry from Swan Quarter to Ocracoke then ride up to Kittyhawk and back to camp. We were a little late leaving (no more than 10 minutes) but the back roads down to Swan Quarter were empty so we were able to get along at a good pace. We arrived in Swan Quarter but couldn’t find the road to the ferry. Turns out it was closed and there was a detour but this was not very well signposted from the way we had come. It was nearly departure time so we sped up but the bike was having none of this and did another “Memphis”. By the time we arrived at the terminal the ferry was on its way. The next one wouldn’t be leaving till 1pm which wasn’t practical so we decided to head down to the historic town of Bath and see what that had to offer. Nothing really but Blackbeard did live there for a while. A lady we were talking to a little further down the track said the most interesting thing to see in Bath is the Information Centre and we didn’t go there. By the time we had meandered our way home we had clocked up just over 200 miles. We decided to go for a swim but rather than go at the boat ramp in the camp we decided to check out another swimming beach the ranger told us about that had a sandy bottom. (it was a bit sludgy where we were). A nice ride and we had the area to ourselves except for the odd snapping turtle. By the time we got back to camp we had ridden another 40 miles and just about needed another swim it was so warm.

Next morning we were on the road in good time and actually made it to the ferry with 20 minutes to spare. As we pulled up I said to Marty that I hoped we hadn’t missed it again because it was not to be seen. He said it probably hasn’t quite arrived and will just be a quick turn around type ferry. Wrong!! It had broken down and hadn’t even left the other side so we were fated not to get to Ocracoke. We decided to ride up to Manns Harbour and take the bridge over to Kittyhawk and if time permitted ride down to Ocracoke and catch the ferry back to Swan Quarter. The road to Mann Harbour was straight and boring but we could scoot along so that helped. We went to the Wright Brothers Museum and had a look around and listened to the historical lecture then at the question and answer time asked the guy where he thought Richard Pearce fitted in to the picture. He really didn’t want to go there but we had a fun time winding him up.

Left there and began our descent to Ocracoke. 20 miles later and having seen nothing but sand hills we stopped at Pea Island and walked out to have a look at the Atlantic Ocean. I was disappointed not to see any surf but at least there were people on the beach and you could swim. We asked a couple what the next 40 miles of road was like scenery wise and as it was more of the same we didn’t fancy it so headed back the way we had come and then took the Inter State back to Camp. I saw a Black Bear along the road but by the time Marty had stopped and turned around it had gone. Despite signs promising alligator sightings we never saw any. Found a nice little café in Columbia where we stopped for a very late lunch. Another 250 miles clocked up.

Next day we loaded the backpack with the laundry and headed back to Columbia. It was not a pleasant ride as at 70 odd mph the wind was catching the top of the pack and trying to pull me off. I had to ask Marty to slow down for the return trip. We revisited the café (they made a really yummy strawberry and cream cheese croissant) and had a good old yak to the owner. Before we left he gave us a packet of freshly baked pecan cookies for the trip so if anybody travels through Columbia you must go to the Scuppernong Mill House Café.

I had convinced Marty that we really should hang around in Nth Carolina and attend the Jampot Rally in Maggie Valley. He doesn’t do hanging around well and to have to do it for three weeks was not easy for him. After 4 days at Lake Phelps he was getting twitchy so we headed off towards the west and Falls Lake Park that also offered swimming. He wasn’t amused when I somehow had us heading back to the east coast and Virginia Beach St Park on the coast when we were only about 40 miles from our destination. Don’t know what happened there as I was watching the map. The west just seemed to say east!! No real harm done just gas down the gurgler and we did make camp before dark. The lake level was so low here that the designated swimming area had no water in it at all and I didn’t fancy my chances further out amongst the many speeding boats and jet skis so we had to be content with a couple of small hikes instead. After a couple of days a twitch was detected so we made our way to Hanging Rock State Park. Disappointment again as the swimming beach was closed here as summer had ended 2 days previously. I thought we could still sneak in a swim but the beach was inaccessible due to a high wooden fence and locked gate. We did a small hike to a waterfall but the drought had taken care of that and not a drop of water to be seen. The cave on the same trail was merely a hole in the rock. An outing on the bike around some of the back roads was fun. We stopped in the historic town of Danbury. We didn’t find anything historic to look at but it must be one hell of a party town on Friday and Saturday nights because the biggest advertising signs were for the AA meeting on a Thursday night and the Bail Bond Centre. Unfortunately we were there during the week so we never did find out for sure.
Rumblings of boredom and discontent were being heard as we headed towards Lake Norman State Park. Here we found what we were looking for. A nice camp, swimming, fishing, biking and centrally located so that we could visit some AJS & Matchless Owners we knew. We finally succumbed and bought ourselves a couple of cheap fishing rods (or poles as they say here) and licenses and hit the water. Our camp hostess was a keen fisherman so it wasn’t long before we had convinced her to join us. We fished most nights with little success. Patsy managed to catch quite a few little fish and Marty the odd small catfish. I never caught anything till the last night and all three are hardly worth mentioning. Patsy and I had a deal. She would put the horrible wriggly worms on my hook and I would taker the fish off hers. It worked very well. Marty had to do all the untangling and remove any catfish as there was no way Patsy and I were going to get “horned” by one.
I biked most every morning, even venturing onto the mountain bike track but I didn’t really enjoy doing that on my own so stuck to the park roads. I had a nice 7 mile circuit to ride. One morning I crossed paths with a coyote so that convinced me even more not to go onto the mountain bike trail alone.
We spent a day with Horace and Susan at Hickory. Horace has a large collection of old bikes, mainly BSA, Triumph and Harley waiting to be restored. Also has several BMW’s. His shed was a real treasure trove and it was hard to get Marty out. Another enjoyable day was spent with Kevin (ex kiwi) and his wife Susan in Charlotte. Kevin gave Marty some NZ, UK and American Jampot magazines to read so I was spared my nightly thrashings for a few nights while he read them. That is at cards in case you were wondering. The hat trick of visits ended with a ride over to John and Diana’s place a little further round the lake. John has a very impressive line up of AMC machinery. His shed kept Marty occupied for almost as long as Horace’s had. We all went to a seafood restaurant for dinner and had a great time. Even the waitress was a bit of humour. She would be good value at a party.

Time had flown by and before we knew a week had passed and the Jampot was only 3 days away so we packed up and said our goodbyes to Kurt and Patsy and set sail for Maggie Valley. This was the first time I had really felt sad to be leaving. Patsy and I both had tears in our eyes as we had a final goodbye hug. But as per normal nothing is ever that easy and we only got as far as the dump station. It was locked so we had to go back to their site to get the combination. While parked there I discovered that one of the trailer tyres was way past it’s used by date so Marty had to do a tyre change. Luckily we have 2 spares onboard so it wasn’t a drama. Curt and Patsy both came down and we got yarning again and nearly an hour past before we finally hit the road.

We had a straight through run to the campsite at Maggie Valley. From here we plan to do lots of motorcycling including the Jampot Rally and judging from the number of bikes that are here tearing around the roads there is no shortage of fun to be had.

Washington DC and Maryland

We managed to negotiate the 5 O’clock traffic around Washington DC and out to our campsite in West Virginia without too many dramas. Biggest problem was finding the camp. We discovered that the road we had been told to take just 2 hours before was closed and a detour was in place. Nothing a few extra miles and a bit of back tracking didn’t fix. We had booked into a basic site but discovered we had electricity and since it was sooooooo muggy we plugged in and let out air con unit do its thing.

The next day we decided to take the bike into DC just to have a look around and get the lay of the land before we made our big assault using the metro which was 10 miles from the camp. Made a slight navigational error which, with a bit of help from a Harley rider, was soon rectified and 40 minutes later we were parked in “The Mall”. This is a huge park like area from which you can walk to all the major tourist attractions like The White House, Capital Hill, and Jefferson Memorial etc. And the parking was free and plentiful. We decided then that we would not need to use the metro to travel on but could easily use the bike.

We started off by going to The Washington Monument. A huge spire that you can go by elevator to the top for spectacular views. It is free to do but you have to get a timed ticket and all tickets had been issued when we got there so it was not to be. Next stop the White House. You can’t get too close to this and it was nothing fantastic really. Sat and had an ice cream and a drink under a much appreciated oak tree. It was bloody hot. By the end of the day I was wishing that the camera would take out red face rather than red eye.

Refreshed we headed to the Lincoln Memorial and the Pool of Reflection. Bought back memories of the Forest Gump movie. We climbed the stairs to the top and had a look at that famous statue of Abe Lincoln in his huge chair, then sat at the top of the stairs and just enjoyed the view down to Capitol Hill, people watched and melted in the heat. We walked back to the bike and then rode down to Capitol Hill. Again parking was not a problem. Strolled around here for a while then ducked into the Botanical gardens for half an hour before they closed. That finished me off. My already red face became redder and I felt drenched – even the security guard laughed at me as we left. So we didn’t do justice to the gardens it was just too damm hot. We headed back to camp and our air conditioned abode. The days high humidity produced an awesome storm that night.

Day two saw us head to the Smithsonian. This is a huge museum. It was originally created in the 1800’s when an Englishman died and left his estate to the US to create a free museum for the people. It has expanded considerably since then and apparently only about 3% of what they have is ever displayed at one time. We started in the Air and Space section. We spent 5 hours here and never saw it all. We went inside a space orbital workstation. The astronauts don’t have a lot of room in those things. There were rockets, satellites, planes and more on display and they have another museum a little out of town that has the bigger planes in it like a Concord and a Galaxy. We went to an I Max movie there as we had never been to an I Max before and both thought it was a bit ho hum and nothing to rave over.

When that closed we hopped across to the Natural History Museum and spent the next couple of hours there. First stop was the mineral and gem area. Got to have a look at the Hope and Tiffany Diamonds plus numerous other stunning pieces of rock. Just made it to the American Animal section and saw the elusive Moose display before it closed. It looked like rain as we headed for home but Marty assured me it wouldn’t so we stopped off to grab a pizza for tea. As we left the shop the first blobs of rain start to fall. Luckily I had got the guy to put the pizza in a plastic bag as within 2 minutes we were absolutely saturated but the pizza stayed perfectly dry and therefore quite edible when we eventually made it home.

We had a rest from the city next day and just puttered around the area. The camp was situated on the Potomac River but again you can’t swim in it. They did have a huge pool but they were having a bring your dog for a swim in the pool day so we didn’t fancy joining in with that.

Hit the Natural Museum again. I really enjoyed the fossil section and could have easily have spent the whole day there but we had to move along. The dinosaur section was great too. They had the skeleton of a prehistoric fish that had the skeleton of another whole fish inside it. Scientists concluded that it died shortly after eating or swallowing this meal. If you look closely at the picture you maybe able to see it. Marty was very disappointed not to find a section tracing the evolution of Man. The day disappeared so fast that we never got to any other sites. We got caught in the 5 o’clock traffic leaving the city and I made one small navigation call which sent us in totally the wrong direction but did take us passed Arlington Cemetery where JFK is buried. The gold statues at the entrance were quite impressive but that was as close as I got to going in. I think it is a good thing we don’t have inter com on the bike!!

We enjoyed DC but felt like we had done enough for this visit and needed to move on so had a look at the map and the State Park at Point Lookout on the western side of Chesapeake Bay looked inviting so we headed there. We booked in for one night but ended up staying 4. When Marty rode down to the office to book the extra nights he got pulled up by the park police for not wearing a helmet. $100 fine but when he saw Marty’s NZ license he put his book away and just spoke to him instead. Another lucky escape. Just shows you can’t rely on Harley riders for info as Marty had asked a park employee - Harley owner if it was ok to ride in the park without a helmet and he said it was. Our 2nd camp site was by the water where we could sit and watch Osprey diving for fish and offer ourselves as mosquito bait at the same time. There was a nice swimming beach a couple of miles from our camp which we could use and offer ourselves to the hundreds of blue bottle and numerous other types of jellyfish that occupied the water. I was tempted a couple of times to get in but one look at the numerous mossie bites I had already collected made me realize I didn’t really want to add jellyfish stings to them. We went to the fishing pier most nights and chatted to the many people fishing there. Most have a two hour drive each way and one guy does it everyday. During the day there were lots of people crabbing on the smaller jetties with little success. Only the small crabs were foolish enough to climb aboard the chicken necks and be caught.

The area that is now the park was a military strong hold during the Civil War. There were 3 forts here plus a huge POW camp and hospital. Only the moat walls of one fort remain. There is also a lighthouse which is supposedly haunted with the tormented souls of confederate soldiers who died in the camp. It was open one day so we went and had a look. We never saw any ghostly apparitions but when I opened the door into the attic it felt quite busy and reminded me of the movie Beetlejuice so I shut the door and let them get on with what ever it was they were doing. Outside I walked down to the water to watch the pelicans fishing while Marty went into some old derelict buildings that used to be used for making bouys. I gave up the pelican watch when I became live bait for a flock of ferocious biting flies. This camp has everything for the wild life enthusiast!!

I rode my bike to the lighthouse most mornings and the only things on the rode were me, a couple of park rangers and lots of deer. It was magic. Speaking of my bike I discovered that the front brakes work really well after Marty adjusted them. One morning while Marty was on the jetty watching the crabbers I decided to take the rubbish down to the bin. As I turned into the road leading to the bins I remembered that one had an open top so I decided that I could ride past, throw the rubbish in and keep going. About 10 meters away I realized I had the rubbish in the wrong hand so I started swapping it over and then realized I was going to fast to be able to throw it in so I gently applied the front brake which immediately turned the bike into a bucking bronco and threw me over the handlebars onto the road. Luckily the rubbish bag didn’t burst open and I protected the bike by landing first so apart from me sustaining some quite colourful bruising on my legs and a small rip in my bike seat no major damage was done. I got no sympathy from Marty just a “ I wondered how long it would be before that happened” and I’m sure I heard laughter!!

On our last morning there I was out biking at 7am in the morning and the cars were queued up 15 -20 deep at the gate to get in. (you have to pay to use the park). When we pulled out at 11am the park was full, the line of cars coming in was longer and they were all being turned away by the rangers. Imagine if you have just driven 2 hours to come and do a bit of fishing and you get told on your bike sunshine we’re full’’. I would not be happy.

We headed towards North Carolina. As it was labour Day weekend we couldn’t get into the park we wanted at Virginia Beach and by the time we reached the Welcome Centre at Dismal Swamp just inside the North Carolina State Line it was 7pm, we were barely speaking due to the fact that they don’t produce maps with big enough print and I had somehow missed a couple of minor/major turns on the motorway which had added the odd mile or two to the journey.

We parked up for the night in the carpark, had a wee walk by the canal, a coffee and a bite to eat and we were friends again and after a good nights sleep we would be ready to enjoy North Carolina.


(Note: I can sometimes do the navigation thing really well but that makes quite boring writing so please remember that, and that I’m not always a handicap for the driver)

Pennsylvania

We couldn’t flee the rat race quickly enough and by 4pm we had crossed through Connecticut into Pennsylvania. Stopped in at the Welcome Centre to pick up the essentials like a State map, tourist brochures etc. When we told the guy at the desk we were bikers and more interested in finding good roads to ride he was really helpful. So helpful that he began to find other tourists a bit of a nuisance as it was interrupting him tell us all the neat riding roads in this north eastern corner. Tried to get on line to check our emails etc only to discover xtra was unavailable due to the fact it was making wonderful improvements for us. We have not been able to access our web mail site since. Very frustrating as we have lots of important stuff in there. But never mind it hasn’t stopped us traveling. It is best to send emails to us at chrispy57@gmail.com at the moment.

We booked into Promised Land State Park for 3 nights and due to the high bookings meant we had to change sites each day. Bit of a hassle but we coped. This State park had two lakes and only one very small area where you were allowed to swim. The lake we were by was a non swimming one but we were told we could paddle if we wished. We didn’t bother.

We had a couple of days of magic riding. One day saw us head up the Delaware River on the Connecticut side before cutting back into Pennsylvania. There was more traffic on the river than there was on the roads. There were canoes, rafts, and kayaks everywhere. We stopped for lunch at a small town called Rileyville which consisted of a couple of houses a real estate office and a diner. The diner was packed. Marty had to help an old bloke get his truck going before we left. Poor old bloke was in a bit of a state. He told me that he had just got divorced after 49 years and now he didn’t even know how to make his truck go. Marty got him going (was a bad battery connection) and told him to go to a garage and get a new terminal, but he didn’t seem to understand so we left him to make his way home. Hopefully he knew where that was.
Next day we headed off to find the Nicholson Bridge. This was the world’s biggest concrete bridge. It was built in 1915 and is an amazing structure. It has a baby brother a few miles further up the road but no mention is made of this in the tourist brochures. We ambled our way back to camp through wonderful scenic back roads.

The temperature had dropped considerably that night so Marty decided we would have a campfire. It was great. We sat and drank our very average Cranberry Wine purchased earlier in the trip and tried to decide where to head to next.

We decided on heading towards Armish country and having a look around that area. Travelling through a wooded area we both smelt the lovely smell of percolated coffee and thought it quite strange in such an isolated area. Not strange if you’re tin of coffee in the cupboard has lost its lid!! Thankfully none had spilt and the mystery was solved. We had no more excitement that day and ended up in a small RV park just into“Armishville”.
Next morning we hit the road and headed to French Creek State Park which we figured would be quite a central location to get to places we wanted to see. Also has a non swimmable lake!!
After two days of rain it was nice to wake and find it just foggy so we hopped on the bike and didn’t go anywhere because it wouldn’t start. A wee bit of pushing on my part and words of encouragement for me like “Can’t you push a bit faster” from Marty and it soon fired into life and we were off. Ended up in the town of Intercourse. Yes a very Armish name!! Lots of Old School Armish here, who still drive buggies, have no electricity in their homes and stick to themselves as much as possible. We spoke at length to the Armish guy in the Information centre and learnt quite a bit about the varying degrees of Armishness that now exist. There are 30,000 old school Armish in the Lancaster county alone and according to our source it is continuing to gain strength. I gave it a great deal of thought and eventually had to concede that I could not become an Armish wife as there is no way I could hang my washing out in the very very orderly way they do. It was very easy to pick an Armish clothesline!! We sampled Shoofly Pie, a renowned Armish dish. Was rather tasty but I think it would have been much nicer heated with a bit of ice cream.

Having fled the city areas only days before we plucked up the courage and headed into Philadelphia stopping off in the Valley Forge National Park to have a look at George Washington’s headquarters during the Civil War and more importantly so I could use the facilities!! We passed George W (that’s Bush) and his entourage on the motorway. He felt it was necessary to be escorted by 20 odd motorcycle police and even more patrol cars. I’m sure if he just put a personalized plate on that said “Paris”or “Britney” he could have saved the taxpayer millions as nobody would pay the car any attention at all. We took the scenic route into the city via the very industrial petroleum and propane areas, followed by the usual suburban tour of both upper and lower class areas before finally ending up in the downtown area. Marty had to concede and use a parking lot. $14. They make no distinction for bikes, despite putting them all in the same car space. We wandered around for a while, strolled through a couple of the parks, visited the Liberty Bell and decided that the only thing we needed to do before we left was have a Philly Steak Sandwich. We’d been told that the smallest street vendors were the best to buy these from so this we did and it was delicious. It put the lobster roll in Maine to shame.
By 3pm we were on the freeway home and even at that time it was nose to tail so we were very glad we left when we did.

There was only one thing left to do and see before leaving Pennsylvania and that was to visit the Harley Davidson factory at York. They offer free factory tours on a first come first served basis and there are no shortage of takers. We arrived about midday and the first available tour was at 2 o’clock. To occupy those waiting for a tour they have a big display area showing the various manufacturing and assembly process involved in making a Harley plus they had the 2008 models available for you to sit and pose on. If that wasn’t enough to keep you occupied you could go into the shop and buy all sorts of Harley merchandise including items for your dog, like bowls, bones and bandanas. (These came in assorted sizes and designs). You’ve got to hand it to them they are excellent at marketeering (that’s a cross between marketing and racketeering).
The tour itself was pretty good but too damm fast. We were tail end charlies again and along with another couple were continually getting told off for loitering, going outside the yellow line and not keeping up with the group. We got to spend too much time watching the robots feed the metal into the presses than looking at the more interesting stuff - like actual assembly which they almost had us run past. All very interesting but I still don’t want to own a Harley.

Loaded down with our free goodies, magazines and tour badges we hopped into the camper and pointed ourselves in the direction of Washington DC.