Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey

Sounds like a rock band tour schedule, but was actually several relaxing days. Got to College Park, MD on Tuesday afternoon the 27^th and set up camp. Sister-in-law Laurie came over to see my rig and brought me my mail forwarded from Michele in Seattle. A few things that made me smile and some that I needed to take care of. Laurie and I had a great dinner at a Chinese buffet with more variety on it than any I’d ever seen. The food was great and reasonably inexpensive.

Wednesday, Laurie picked me up and we went to Baltimore. I’d only been there once thirty years ago and that was for work so I didn’t see much. Otherwise, I’ve flown in and out of the airport on occasion, but missed anything interesting. This time I really got to see some of the cool old buildings and head up to Federal Hill. And how could you visit without going to Poe's grave? The views were great and some of the artwork we could see was a little whimsical. We went into the old part of the city down a street that was only a car wide and finally got to our late lunch spot. I’m sure everyone has to try this place and I’ll add my vote. Eat Bertha’s Mussels. Bertha’s Café was great. The food—I had crab cakes and Laurie had mussels—was outstanding. Our waitress had a marvelous attitude, brought us four different beers to sample, and then served us the two we chose, then made sure I had the other two “to go.” That is in cans to put in the fridge. It was a great day!

 

Thursday was my day to sightsee in Washington DC. Not. It rained hard all day Thursday with thunder and lightning that sounded like it was inside the trailer on Wednesday night. I’ve been to DC a number of times and didn’t feel like my trip was ruined when I decided to stay in and write instead of sightsee.

Friday I moved my camp to Delaware, a state I’ve never visited before. I had a great campsite at the Trap Pond State Park for the weekend. Friendly neighbors, wonderful smell of woodsmoke in the air. Truly relaxing weekend. I did some writing and some exploring.

Saturday, I went to find a piece I needed to fix my ever-problematic plumbing in the trailer. While I was out, I inadvertently crossed back into Maryland to the south and saw a sign that pointed to “the beaches.” I figured, why not? I turned east and my hour errand turned into a hundred mile loop as I went to Ocean City and explored the Boardwalk. I turned and headed north along the shore before looping back several hours later to my campsite. What a great, unexpected little journey.

Sunday I did a little hiking and just relaxed with a book. I picked up a bumper sticker that now rides on the trailer. It says, “I took the road less traveled. Now where the hell am I?”

Monday I drove north through central Delaware and was impressed again by the beauty of these eastern states. I know that at one time my opinion of the East was all based on visits to cities. Driving through Delaware and New Jersey left me marveling at the amount of rural beauty I could see. In general, the roads are narrower and they wind around a lot. There are frequent small towns, but much less of the strip mall sprawl that I saw in the West and South. Pretty cool. This is the Morgan Oak at Princeton Battleground.

Monday night, I bought a stack of firewood and decided to have my own little fire, forgetting that I had no kindling and no paper. I managed to solve my firestarter problem with a ball of hemp twine. It lit and burned and eventually, I managed to get my fire gently roaring.

Tuesday, I continued north, cleverly weaving my way between Philadelphia and NYC and not touching either. That took me through Princeton and past several battlefields from the revolution. Again, New Jersey strikes me as more rural than urban. I touched Pennsylvania for half an hour before winding my way into New York and finding my campground near Mountaindale in the Catskills. Just barely got this photo of the sunset before it disappeared.

Next, into Connecticut.