ON THE ROAD WITH US: November 2007

Friday, November 30, 2007

Friday-----Caching in Yorktown

Friday we visited Yorktown to see some of the

historic sites, and boy did we see some, and do some caching. We left about 9:00 am and were there in just a few minutes as we drove the Colonial Parkway which goes along the York River through a very picturesque setting of forest and river overlooks. We crossed the river on the Coleman Bridge and started our caching below the bridge finding 3 caches in that area with the most interesting being at Tyndall's Point Park where they had several historic markers and earthworks redoubts. The most interesting thing in the park was an old Parrott Rifle used during the Civil War (1861-1865) recognized by its wrought iron jacket and its rifled barrel (see pic). We did several more caches on that side of the river and came upon Powhatan's Chimney which according to legend is all that remains of a house Captain John Smith built for Indian Chief Powhatan at Werowocomoco a capital village of the chief. The chimney was almost completely destroyed in a storm in 1888 and was rebuilt using Marl the original material obtained from a nearby island in the 1930's (see pics). After that cache we went to Achilles, VA and got skunked on another cache so we headed back over the bridge to Yorktown and the Yorktown Battlefield. We did 4 virtual caches first, the most notable being "The Cave" a bluff overlooking the river that the townspeople hid from the incessant shellfire in and also forced the British General Lord Cornwallis to move his headquarters to a nearby cave in the same bluff while York was under siege in 1781(see pic). We stopped at the top of the bluff overlooking the York River to see the Yorktown Victory Monument that was authorized by the Continental Congress, October 29, 1781, just after the news of the surrender reached Philadelphia. Construction began 100 years later and was completed in 1884. The original figure of Victory was severely damaged by lightening and was replaced by a new work in 1956. The shaft of Maine granite is 84 feet tall and Liberty adds another 14 feet (see pic). We finished the day with a few other caches in the Battlefield of Yorktown area, and several more at places like Wawa, St George's Episcopal Church, Skiffles Creek Redoubt and Endview Plantation. We headed home and made a pizza for supper and ohhhhhhhhhhhh yes I thought everybody might like to see how much gas is here in Virginia. Love to all and see you soon.

A Not Much Going on Thursday

Not to much going on here today as we broke camp and had to go get gas for the motorhome and then had to find a place to fill up with propane. We went to a Texaco station that said if we were there between 10 and 3 he could do it. Well we got there and the fellow that does it wasn't there so another attendant came out to do it. Well if you don't think that wasn't a joke, he didn't even know how to put the hose on our tank to fill it and we didn't want to blow sky high if he made a mistake. By the way he was Indian who could hardly speak a word of English. Well we said adios to him and drove about 8 miles north to Toana to get the propane, it was the only place around other than the Texaco station and we didn't want him blowing up our coach. We arrived back at Anvil and set up camp again and had lunch and Mom went shopping at the outlets and I stayed around and worked on caches for our Friday trip to Yorktown. Well that's about all from here take care and we love you all.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Cleaning Day at the Faulkner Estate

Well today we decided to give the coach a good cleaning so Mom did the inside and I did the outside. She vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, mopped the floor and took a spot out of the rug. I did all the windows inside and out (boy sure was a lot of them). Well now what to do as that only took us about an hour. We decided to load some caches and away we went with Muffy and Raggs. We spent the afternoon caching and found 9 and that brought us to our 600th find, we put a pic of Mom holding the cache, and another milestone. We didn't visit to many historic sites today but did go to The Greensprings Trail which is west of Williamsburg and is a 3 mile long biking, jogging, walking trail through the woods. Sections of it are very lovely through a swamp with lots of wildlife and a boardwalk about 10' wide and about 600' long right through the middle of it. There has been over 200 species documented on this site. We found 4 of the 5 caches along this trail and did find some interesting historic markers at one end(see pics). Got back home about 4:00 pm and showered and ate dinner. Muffy and Raggs are pooped too as they are sound asleep in the chair. Have a great evening and love to everybody. Oooops there goes another train and not sure if we mentioned it before we have a train track about 40 yards from our coach with about 10-15 trains going by a day........some fun.

Tuesday in Colonial Williamsburg

Tuesday was our day to walk around Colonial Williamsburg and see some of the wonderful old history of the city and do some geocaching along the way. Our first stop was the statue of Thmas Jefferson at his writing desk doing his rough draft of the Declaration of Independence and #3 on Dog virtual cache (see pic). Our next stop was a few of the shops and stores along The Duke of Glouchester Street and the Bruton Parrish Church that has been serving man since 1715 (see pic). Walking along the street we saw The Colonial Garden & Nursery, Green how Store, Shoemaker, The Courthouse, the Magazine & Guardhouse, Printing Office & Post Office, Chowning's Tavern, Blacksmith Shop, Wetherburns'Tavern, Silversmith, King's Arms Tavern and Gingercakes Bakery where we also located our second cache. On our way back we saw the Hanging Tree (see pic), several colonial homes, the Governor's Palace and (see pic) a large steel dome right in the middle of the Town Square, which was the location of our 3rd cache, a virtual, Noise Out of Place. This is an air vent for the tunnel that goes under Colonial Williamsburg along the Colonial Parkway. We visited a few shops and Mom did some Xmas shopping along our walk back to the car. After getting back to the car we left and did 5 more caches, one of which was Literary Limpet which took us to a lovely library with a interesting sculpture in front (see pic). We returned to the campgrounds and picked up Muffy and Raggs and went grocery shopping and stopped at the Dollar Store. We also met 2 lovely older ladies from Albany, NY that were camping across from us in a conversion van. They are traveling cross country to Tucson, AZ making lots and lots of stops just like us. They asked us about geocaching and thought they might get into it as they travel. Well see everybody again soon. Miss you all and love you guys.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Monday---Cloudy

Monday didn't start out to good as we tried to find someone to fix what we thought was a problem with our refrigerator and were told by all the local dealers that it would be anywhere from 2-4 weeks till they could even look at it. We decided to just suck it up and use ice till next week when we were scheduled to leave and head south and not miss any of the goings on and great caches in the area and have it fixed when we got to MB. So we left it in the hands of Camping World in Syracuse to find a dealer to fix it and we went caching. Got a call on our cell soon after that they had found a mobile trailer repair to possibly come and look at it today, so we called and sure enough they met us at the coach at 1:30. Well it turned out to not be the refrigerator but it was the converter. It wasn't pulling enough power and would kick the fridge off, and it was lucky we didn't lose everything we had, so they found us a new one and we called CW to see who was going to pay for it. Well at first they said we would have to and they would reimburse us but we soon told them no way and we wanted it fixed immediately so they did agree and Kathy & Ron are on there way to Newport News to pick up the converter and come back and install it. Update on the repair tomorrow. So on to caching, we only had time to do 6 caches before we had to be back so it was a quick trip out and back. All caches were traditional one and we visited a Luthern Church, a Park & Ride, Library, a Hometown Grocery Store, an old General Store (see picture) and a lovely old church. Hickory Neck Church was built in 1740 and it was part of Blissland Parish. The church was abandoned in 1786 as it fell into disrepair. From 1825-1907 it was used for Hickory Neck Academy. The church served as an army hospital during the War for Independence in 1781, and again by Confedserate troops during the Civil War's Penninsular Campaign in 1862. In 1917 it was restored and re-consecrated. Well we are waiting for our repair and hopefully it gets done soon so we will see you all tomorrow.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Sunday and all is Well

Sunday was really kind of uneventful as we got up and ate breakfast and hung around for awhile and I was finally able to load a few caches into the GPS and away we went. We went to Waller Mill State Park first but couldn't get any GPS reception at all, first time that has ever happened, but it was a very cloudy overcast day and it was right in the middle of the woods. So we traveled down to Williamsburg and did 3 caches, one at a Methodist Church, one at a Wal Mart, where we ate lunch at Sonic and one in the Williamsburg Indoor Sports Complex. This one of the largest sports complexes we have ever seen as it had several baseball fields, softball fields, a sports field house, many many soccer fields and a lighted football field. The indoor facility, which has 77,000 square feet, has indoor soccer on 2 of the best indoor fields available, basketball, field hockey with one of the premier field hockey leagues in Va, 12,000 square feet of Life Fitness cardio and circuit strength equipment as well as a free weight area by Hammer Strength, gymnastics and cheerleading, one of the finest in-line hockey surfaces on the East coast and lacrosse programs. It really was quite a facility and was quite an undertaking. Well time for supper....see you all soon.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Our First Day of Caching

We got up early and left about 10:00 am after taking M & R for a walk and having breakfast. We did 5 caches today, one of which we couldn't find as we were in the wrong location. Two of the others were traditional caches which we found quickly and the other 2 were multi-puzzle caches. The first one brought us to the Eastern States Hospital which has the honor of being the first public facility in the U.S. constructed solely for the care and treatment of the mentally ill. The buildings were erected on an 8 acre site near Wm & Mary College and first started admitting patients on October 12, 1773. The Hospital provided care both during the Revolutionary War and the War Between the States and moved from its downtown Williamsburg location to it's present site in the late 1960's. The dedication plaques and Eastern States Therapeutic Labyrinth were erected on the present location and it is one of the oldest contemplative and transformational tools known to humankind and brought us there for stage 1 of our cache. They say that the labyrinth can promote a healing environment for all who chose to traverse its single path to the center. Walking the labyrinth with its single path can reduce stress and quiet the mind. (See Pictures) The second cache took us to 4 of the more than 15 pancake and waffle houses in Williamsburg (Ye Olde Houfef of Pancakef as they were known in Patrick Henry's era as he was often distracted by the delectable smells wafting from the inns along the Richmond Rd.) We visited the 4 locations and obtained the names of them and entered them on our puzzle sheet and figured out the coords for the final location and drove there and parked the car and found the cache quickly, then took a short tour of the area which included a monument to the Confederate Soldiers & Sailors of Williamsburg and James Counties, the burial place of members of the Galt family who died between 1773 & 1866 and they had served as chief medical and custodial officers of the Eastern States Hospital and several unusual trees that all the bark had peeled off of. (See Pictures) Back to the coach and a quiet supper with M & R. See you all soon.