Our Wander Years

“The Affair” by Lee Child

Posted on May 27, 2017 by Sparky

Delacorte Press, New York, 2012

You probably know by now that I love the Jack Reacher series of mystery/adventure books by Lee Child. I like them so much that I have a different scale for them when reviewing them. “The Affair” is about a 4 out of 10 on the Reacher scale but a 7 out of 10 on the generic book scale.

The reasons I like this book are the usual Jack Reacher ones: it is well-written, it has a lot of twists and turns, it has a beautiful woman that Reacher beds, it has Reacher easily winning a 6-on-1 fist fight and it has Jack Reacher giving attitude (and getting away with it) to everyone he meets. In this book, set in 1997, he is still in the army and is assigned to sniff around the periphery of a murder investigation in a small town in Mississippi that the army fears may implicate a soldier from the nearby Fort Kelham army base.

The reasons that I don’t like this book are that (1) the plot is thinner than usual, (2) the resolution, though final because the perp ends up dead, is unsatisfying because the logic that ties him to the victim(s) is tenuous and (3) the violence is more gratuitous than usual. At one point Reacher kills a militiaman just to “send a message” to the rest of the militia force. Strong message, sure, but necessary? Hardly.

Related to the gratuitous violence is the ease with which Reacher gets away with his bad behavior. He commits multiple felonies (including the aforesaid murder) with the full knowledge – and in some cases in the company of – the local sheriff, yet is never charged in any of them.

I like Reacher, but I need him to be more hero and less thug.

7 out of 10

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Pilgrim Hall

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Sparky

Lower hall

Portrait of Elizabeth Wensley

We were blessed with a break in the rain Wednesday (the only day this week that we haven’t been drenched) and used the “good” weather to venture into downtown Plymouth to visit Pilgrim Hall, a small museum celebrating the arrival of the Mayflower and the early history of the Pilgrims in Plymouth. I wasn’t expecting much. Our primary goal was to find the portrait of Elizabeth Paddy Wensley (1641-1711), one of Jett’s 8th great-grandmothers. We found it, easily, but found much more, too. This turned out to be a very nice little museum.

One of the unexpected pleasures was a very informative 12-minute film about the Mayflower. It was presented in a small room that included artifacts that survived the journey – another surprise. I guess I had assumed that nothing would be left after 400 years. One of the artifacts was a rocker brought over by a very pregnant Susannah White – one of Jett’s Mayflower ancestors and a 9th great-grandmother. To see a rocker that likely once held her 8th great-grandfather, Resolved White (who was 6 years old in 1620) and definitely held her great-uncle, Peregrine White, the first English child born in the Plymouth Colony, really put a personal touch on the visit.

The room also had a poster which rather graphically depicted the toll of the brutal first winter during which half of the immigrants died. It was an opportunity to reflect on how tenuous our existence is. If any one of her ancestors had not won that 50/50 lottery, she would not be here today.

White rocker

Mayflower deaths

The museum also had a temporary exhibit of wedding dresses through the years, from Pilgrim times to the present. That interested Jett more than it interested me. But there were some very nice paintings of the Mayflower journey and Pilgrim life, the Bible owned by John Alden (another ancestor) and an early copy of Longfellow’s epic poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish, which is about John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. Another opportunity to reflect: if that “courtship” hadn’t taken an unexpected turn that resulted in Alden and Mullins marrying, Jett would not be here today.

The final unexpected pleasure was the gift shop. They had a coffee mug depicting the Alden/Mullins marriage, some really nice T-shirts and postcards and a variety of other things that we just had to have. I think we dropped about $150 in there.

All-in-all, a very nice time in a very nice museum. Recommended.

Courtship copy

Alden Bible

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Plymouth by night

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Sparky

Plymouth Harbor

Lobster art

On Saturday afternoon I visited Burial Hill again, looking for the elusive grave of Elizabeth Walker Warren, which I did not find. But I encountered some of Jett’s distant relatives who were also searching for her grave. We had a nice chat about her and about genealogy in general.

Dinner at the Lobster Hut

Later my brother Dennis joined me and we spent a few minutes walking through the cemetery together (he had never been there, despite living just 15 minutes away for over 35 years). Then we went off in search of a place to dine. We wandered the streets of downtown Plymouth as dusk arrived and I got to see how Plymouth came alive on a Saturday night. There are many restaurants and even more pubs, some with live music. We ended up at the Lobster Hut, on the Town Wharf and had a very nice seafood dinner. And we enjoyed some of the music from the adjacent very active pub.

The harbor is lined with lobster art – a public art project reminiscent of the painted horses in Ocala. The real treat, though, was watching nighttime settle over the harbor. Though chilly, the sky was quite clear and the sunset was gorgeous.

Sunset over Plymouth Harbor

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Rain. Cold rain.

Posted on May 14, 2017 by Sparky

It is raining now. It has been raining steadily since midnight. The forecast is for an all-day rain. With a forecast high of 48.

It has rained nearly every day since we left Virginia. And it has been unseasonably cold, too. It is getting to us.

Jett yesterday: “Next year let’s come north later.”

That actually would fit well with our nascent plan to spend some time in Central America next winter. We are committed to being in Florida for 6 months, starting in mid-November. But it doesn’t have to be 6 consecutive months. We could stay 4 months, go to Panama for a month, then return for 2 more months in Florida. That would have us leaving Florida in late June. It will be very warm in Florida then. But it will also be warm all the way north.

Which sounds pretty good right now.

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New England Tour (NET) preview – revised

Posted on May 13, 2017 by Sparky

New England Tour plan

The “New England Tour” is how we are describing our summer in New England. In previous years we stayed all summer in a fixed location – the Minuteman Campground in Littleton MA. This year we will stay at that campground for just 9 nights; we will travel to 7 other spots for the rest of our stay and will leave earlier than usual – the end of July. So, briefly, this is what the NET looks like:

Pinewood Lodge Campground, Plymouth MA, for 24 nights. This is the longest stay on the NET. The primary reason for hanging out in southeast Massachusetts is to give me a base to do some genealogical research – primarily for Jett’s Mayflower ancestors, but also some of mine. My brother is also nearby and this will be an opportunity to catch up with him.
Normandy Farms Campground, Foxboro MA for 11 nights. We have stayed here before and love it. We are looking forward to enjoying the beautiful pools (if the weather improves), the snack bar, the disc golf course and the other amenities.
Beach Rose RV Park, Salisbury MA for 10 nights. This will be a good base for doing genealogical research on Jett’s Salem and Rowley ancestors and will get us close to Rockport for our annual visit. This seems to be the best of the Cape Ann campgrounds, so we thought we would give it a try.
Newfound RV Park, Bridgewater NH for 3 nights. This is a quick trip to central NH, near Newfound Lake, to attend the Escapees Northeast Chapter 3 rally. We attended one of these rallies before, up in Maine, and enjoyed ourselves immensely, so we are looking forward to renewing some acquaintances.
Sea-Vu West, Wells ME for 8 nights. We have long wanted to spend some time on the Maine coast and this will give us a few days near some great beaches as well as the beautiful beach towns of Ogunquit and Kennebunk. It is also near the gravesites of some of Jett’s Maine pioneer ancestors.
Saddleback Campground, Northwood MA for 9 nights. This takes us back to where it all started in the summer of 2012. It is very close to our sister-in-law’s summer cottage (where we expect to spend a lovely July 4th holiday). It is also close to a place where we can, if we choose, get some RV repairs done. We could stay with our sister-in-law for a couple of days if necessary (right, sis?).
Minuteman Campground, Littleton MA for 9 nights. This is our old summer “home” so it will be nice to see the owners and, we hope, some old friends. It is also relatively close to Boston so we will probably schedule some medical and dental appointments. Fun.
Pine Acres Family Camping Resort, Oakham MA for 14 nights. This is near Worcester where both Jett’s brother and my son live, so there will be some family time. It will also be a time to prepare for our next trip, the Second Trip West (STW). There are also more graves to find in the area near Worcester.

The path looks torturous, but in truth it is a rather short journey – just 445 miles. We arrive May 5 (we are at the Pinewood Lodge Campground now) and depart August 1. The hops are short but the stays are long, totaling 88 nights. So while we are traveling more than usual this summer, it won’t be a lot of driving.

And we get to see parts of New England that we haven’t seen before, even though we have lived in the area most of our lives.

Categories: NET, Preparation/Planning | 1 Comment

TTN Wrapup

Posted on May 13, 2017 by Sparky

The Third Trip North (Ft Myers Beach FL to Plymouth MA) is now history. The salient statistics are:

21 nights
8 hops
2,184 total miles
1,672 tow miles
$1,117.63 campground fees ($53.22 per night)
$523.72 fuel and tolls ($23.81 per day)

Highlights:

Time with family in VA
China Lee Buffet in Ocala FL
Savannah South KOA
Angelo’s Steak and Pasta in Myrtle Beach SC
Scenic back roads in PA
Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford CT
Diesel fuel prices (under $2.50 per gallon except in PA)
No major dings

Lowlights:

Verizon Wireless (replacing my router with an even less functional one)
Oak Tree Village in Ocala FL (a really nasty campground)
Weather (cold, dreary and wet from NC to MA)
A couple of minor dings (most notably the puncture of the front basement door)
Lots of disagreements between Google maps and GPS routes
I-84 in CT and US 6 in MA

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Plymouth MA

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Sparky

Mayflower memorial

Yesterday I braved the 55-degree chill and drove to downtown Plymouth MA with the intent of searching for the graves of Jett’s Mayflower ancestors. Those who died in the horrible first winter are all buried on Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth harbor. But there are no headstones. It is not a traditional cemetery; it is just a small steep hill on which the Pilgrims were buried. I was initially disappointed as I had hoped to find individual graves, but upon reflection I fully understand. Those people were in flat-out survival mode. It was winter and they were starving. Just getting people buried – half their number died – was a major undertaking. I am sure marking their graves for posterity was pretty low on their priority list.

The hill is near the Plymouth Rock pavilion which houses Plymouth Rock – ostensibly the rock on which the Pilgrims first set foot on shore in Plymouth. I am skeptical, of course, that anyone bothered to mark the location where they first set foot. And in any case it is NOT the first place where they set foot in America as they landed first near the tip of Cape Cod, then worked their way along the shore of Massachusetts Bay until they found a suitable location for a settlement. The rock itself is unimposing, being about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide and tall. Like a billion other rocks along this shore. I took a photo, but it was late afternoon and the lighting was terrible.

Plymouth Rock pavilion

Plymouth Rock

Jett has at least one ancestor – Elizabeth Walker Warren, died 1673 – who is buried in a nearby cemetery in Plymouth – Burial Hill, the first “real” cemetery in Plymouth. It is a large cemetery and, being very old, many of the headstones are illegible. I had no realistic expectation of finding her headstone, but it was a beautiful cemetery with spectacular views over downtown Plymouth and out to sea. Walking through a cemetery like this and taking the time to reflect on the courage and fortitude of the early settlers is never a waste of time.

View from Coles Hill Burial Ground

Burial Hill

Plymouth from Burial Hill

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Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford CT

Posted on May 9, 2017 by Sparky

Founder’s obelisk

I have been spending a LOT of time researching and documenting Jett’s ancestry. Much more time than I have been spending on my own ancestry because, frankly, her family is much more interesting than mine. But last week, when we were in CT for two nights, I took the opportunity to check out some of the cemeteries in and near Hartford where some of my ancestors are reportedly buried. In particular, I was very interested in seeing the Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford CT where at least 5 of my distant great-grandparents are said to be buried:

Thomas Bliss Sr (9th great-grandfather) – died 1639
James Ensign (9th great-grandfather) – died 1680
Sarah Elson Ensign (9th great-grandmother) – died 1676
Sarah Bearding Spencer (9th great-grandfather) – died 1685
John Steele Sr (11th great-grandfather) – died 1685

Great-grandfathers Bliss, Ensign and Steele are included in the group of people who founded Hartford, so their names appear on the Founder’s Monument that was erected in the cemetery in 1837 and was replaced with a new one in 1986. The wives of these men were also founders, of course, but 17th-century women were definitely second-class citizens.

I was hopeful of finding at least one of the individual headstones for these people, but I was disappointed. It is possible that not all of the “founders” are buried here. For example, Thomas Bliss Sr reportedly died in 1639, just 3 years after the founding of Hartford and a year before the establishment of the cemetery.

I also checked out the Old Suffield Cemetery in Suffield CT where at least six of my ancestors are reportedly buried. This cemetery is not quite so ancient, founded in 1743. But I was no more successful here, finding none of my ancestor’s headstones. Worse, I later found a list of headstone incriptions, made in 1934, and none of my ancestors are listed there, either. I am wondering now if there might not be an error in the identification of the cemetery. Perhaps there is another old cemetery nearby. Further research is needed.

Update: I was definitely at the wrong cemetery. I searched the West Suffield (or “new”) cemetery while I should have been looking at the Old Suffield Cemetery. Both are located on Mountain Rd, which is why I ended up in the wrong place.

Thomas Bliss Sr

James Ensign

John Steele

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TTN Hop 8: Bristol CT to Plymouth MA

Posted on May 7, 2017 by Sparky

TTN Hop 8

161 miles via CT 229, I-84, CT 2, I-395 (toward Worcester), US 6, I-295 (around Providence), I-95, I-495 (around Boston) and US 44. Cumulative tow miles: 1672. Cumulative truck miles: 2184.

This was a relatively short hop (3.5 hours, including a short rest stop) along some roads that we have traveled before, but also a few new ones (CT 2 and US 6). CT 2 was pleasant but US 6 (between I-395 and I-295) was a nightmare – arguably the worst road we have ever traveled. “Rough” doesn’t begin to describe it. The macadam surface was so cracked and pitted that a gravel road would have been more pleasant. Fortunately it was a fairly short segment – about 20 miles. But 20 miles of misery.

And it was all done in the rain. A constant, all-day rain that varied between drizzle and downpour. There were short periods when I could shut off the wipers, but not many.

We stayed 2 nights at the Bear Creek Campground at Lake Compounce in Bristol CT. Lake Compounce is an amusement park which I can’t describe because it was not yet open for the season while we were there. As the campground exists mostly to cater to amusement park customers, it was not surprising that it was mostly vacant. But it was a surprise when we looked out of our window after our first night there and found that we were alone – the only RV in the park. That was, in our four years of traveling, a unique experience.

Office

This is a relatively new park – not yet 3 years old. The facilities was modern, the sites were huge, the office store very large and well-stocked. In addition to the RV sites (all pull-throughs), the park has cabins, huts, tent sites and a few tipis.

Loneliness

Tipis

Cabins

Categories: CT, MA, Places, RI, Routes, RV Parks, TTN | Leave a comment

TTN Hop 7: White Haven PA to Bristol CT

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Sparky

TTN Hop 7

198 miles via I-80, I-380, PA 423, PA 191, PA 507, I-84 and CT 229. 198 miles. Cumulative tow miles: 1511. Cumulative truck miles: 1920.

Sconce-less fixture

Broken sconce

This hop was 198 miles and 75% of those miles – 149 miles – were on I-84. Which meant a very bumpy ride. Although I-84 is constantly under construction (major work in Waterbury this year), it is always rough. This time the ride was so rough that one of the chairs – probably the dining room chair – jumped up and broke the glass globe on the wall sconce. I think if all of our travel was on I-84 the RV would shake itself apart.

Jett asked why we take I-84. Because it is better than I-95.

The sad fact is that most of the major roads in New England are in poor repair and not very RV-friendly.

The interesting miles on this hop were the 15 miles on PA 423, PA 191 and PA 507 through Tobyhanna and Newfoundland. These are interesting little towns that would be scenic any time of year. But in the spring, with flowering dogwood trees and various colorful bushes, they are beautiful. If I hadn’t been towing 8 tons of RV, I would have stopped and taken some photos.

The weather continued to be cool. The high was 65 and the day started with a little cold rain. We definitely aren’t in Florida anymore.

Our overnight stop was at the Lehigh Gorge Campground in White Haven PA. This park is conveniently located less than a mile from an I-80 exit. The park is basic, with many long-term residents in mostly very old trailers, but the owners have provided a row of pull-through sites for transient travelers. The site was gravel and not very level (the front landing gear was fully retracted to get level) but the utilities were very good. The big surprise was the cable: good reception and 75 channels. Jett loved that.

We didn’t care about the pool, the playground or the laundry, but the park has all of those. The pool is unique in that it is heated by a wood-burning furnace. The storage shed next to the furnace had a “bathing place permit” posted. I guess the local government licenses commercial swimming pools. But the posted permit was dated July 9, 1973 – almost 44 years ago! I guess you don’t need to renew the permit very often.

Wood furnace for the pool

Ancient permit

Lehigh Gorge sites

Categories: CT, NY, PA, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TTN | Leave a comment