Traveling the I-95 Corridor

Hello again. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, August 26^th, when we left Kennebunkport, Maine and arrived at the Circle G Farm Campground in Bellingham, Massachusetts. Bellingham is located about 40 miles southwest of Boston. After our arrival in Bellingham we got the coach set up and we settled in for our five day stay. In the title of this episode I use the phrase “I-95 Corridor” as it is commonly used to describe the ultra-populated area from Boston south to Washington, DC. This includes Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.

Sunday, August 27^th, we decided that this would be a good day to go to Boston to do some sight-seeing. We hoped to avoid some of the work day traffic that the tenth largest city in the country would generate. It took a little under an hour to get into the central downtown area of Boston. Jackie had been to Boston once, some 25 years ago or more, I have never been. Our first stop was to find a parking garage near the Quincy Market area in the middle of town and get parked. The weekend parking price was a flat rate, $20, for all day. We walked around Quincy Market, which is a very large shopping, dining and tourist spot, finally settling on having lunch at Cheers. The location in the Market was not, of course, the original Beacon Hill Cheers made famous on the TV series, but was owned and operated by the same company. I guess the Beacon Hill location is still open too. I was a big fan of the show and just wanted to be able to say I ate and had a beer at Cheers in Boston. The food was a little pricey, but tasty and you got a decent portion, so we were happy when we left.

After walking around the Market for a couple of hours we got the car out of the garage and did some touring. We drove by Boston Commons, Beacon Street, the Paul Revere house, the Old North Church, and a lot of other historical sites located in Central Boston. We then drove through the tunnel under Boston Harbor to East Boston and then the suburb of Winthrop. We got a geocache in Winthrop and then stopped at the Winthrop Elks Lodge. The lodge is in a big building right on the waterfront and was very nice. The place was very busy and we quickly found out why; they were having a party for a bunch of Past Exalted Rulers and the guest of honor was Michael Zellen, the immediate past Grand Exalted Ruler who just left office this month at the Elks Grand Lodge meeting in Reno, Nevada. We got a chance to talk to him, the first time in my 20 years as an Elk that I ever met a GER. We also met the President of the Massachusetts State Elks Association and the local District Deputy. We had a good time, got a free drink, and a lodge pin, as well as pins from the State President and the District Deputy. A very nice visit with some surprises. After our visit at the Winthrop Elks we set out to go to the Boston Lodge, lodge number 10 and the mother lodge of Massachusetts, but got lost a couple of times trying to get out of central Boston. I finally decided it was getting late and we just got on the freeway and headed back to the the RV park. It was a great visit to Boston, a very pretty and historic city, but now I have seen it and don't need to go back. The streets are narrow, confusing and congested and I just don't like big cities anymore. Once we got back to the coach we settled in for the night, watched some TV and went to bed.

Monday, August 28^th, we had a badly needed stay at home day. We got a bunch of chores done around the coach and in the afternoon we did a Walmart run. Although there was a regular Walmart just up the road from the RV park, the closest Supercenter was about ten miles away. We were surprised when we arrived to find that it was actually located in Rhode Island. I knew that we were close to the state line, but didn't know it was quite that close. We also did a few geocaches, three for the day, two of which were in Rhode Island, making them our first RI caches. We now only have nine states left in which we have not cached. We did some burgers on the grill for dinner and relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, August 29^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out and did a little bit of geocaching, getting four new finds in pretty short order. We then decided to try an Elks pub crawl and headed east towards West Roxbury, a suburb of Boston, to visit Boston Elks Lodge 10, the mother lodge of Massachusetts. The lodge was chartered in 1878 at the beginning of Elkdom, so I am sure that they had one or more buildings in downtown Boston, but they are now about ten miles southwest of downtown. It was about 25 miles for us and we arrived there about 2:00. This lodge has just under a thousand members, making it one of the bigger lodges we have been to recently. There were not too many people in the lodge, but those that were were pretty friendly. We had a couple of drinks and got a lodge pin, then moved back to the west to visit the Norwood Elks Lodge. This is a somewhat newer lodge, number 1124, chartered in 1908. This lodge has about 750 members. Everyone here was also very friendly, especially the bartender. We again had a couple of drinks and got a lodge pin for the banner. We then continued west towards the RV park, stopping at the Franklin Elks Lodge, which is only about 8 miles from our RV park. The Franklin Lodge only goes back to the early 60's, but also has over 800 members. The bar in this lodge was very busy as they were having their weekly “Queen of Hearts” drawing and the pot was up to over 35 thousand dollars. The Queen of Hearts game is a very big deal in Elks Lodges and we have seen it in lodges all across the country. In lodges with big memberships and active members, like Franklin, the pots can be huge. One of the members we met in the bar, a Past Exalted Ruler of the lodge, and current District Deputy, told us that the last game they had here was won with a pot of over 105 thousand dollars. He also gave me a tour of the lodge building and we met a lot of other members. A very friendly lodge. We had one drink and got a lodge pin, then headed back to the coach. We had pork chops on the BBQ for dinner, watched some TV and went to bed. This was our first Elks Pub crawl in a while and we had a lot of fun.

Wednesday, August 30^th, we left the RV park after lunch and drove to nearby Milford and a laundromat so we could wash clothes. That took up most of the afternoon. We then went back to the coach and put everything away. Jackie made a meatloaf for dinner and we sat with the TV the rest of the evening. Thursday was another travel day. We didn't get out until just before 11:00 because we didn't need to hurry. Today we are only going 60 miles east to Plymouth, Massachusetts, home of Plymouth Rock and Cape Cod. We arrived at the Sandy Pond Campground just before 1:00 and got set up in our hookup 50 amp site. They put us in an open area so we have good satellite, but the sites here are very uneven. No matter what I did I couldn't get the coach level front to back. The front is several inches off giving you the feeling that you are climbing a hill every time you go to the back of the coach. I don't have any lumber available to put under the front wheels, so we will just live with being off level for three nights. Prior to our taking out the old RV refrigerator this would have been a major problem as you cannot operate those types of refrigerators unless you are completely level side to side and front to back. Our household refrigerator doesn't have any problem working when it is a little off level. Because it took us so long to get settled in we just stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Friday, September 1^st, the 19^th anniversary of Jackie and I being together. Yea! We left the coach about 9:00, pretty early for us, and drove down to the village of Onset, which sets on Buzzard's Bay in Cape Cod, to take a boat ride through the Cape Cod Canal. To understand why this seven mile long canal exists you have only to look at a map showing Cape Cod, a hook of land running east and north from the mainland, enclosing Cape Cod Bay. North of Cape Cod is the major port of Boston, south of Cape Cod is the major port of New York. By cutting this relatively short canal connecting Cape Cod Bay and the Atlantic off of Long Island, New York, the route from Boston to New York was shortened by 140 miles and the treacherous rocks and shoals south of Cape Cod were bypassed. The first full canal was built in 1909 by a private company and it was only 100 feet wide and 12 feet deep. In 1940 the Army Corps of Engineers took over the canal and widened it to it's current 400 foot width and 32 foot depth. It is a sea level canal, meaning no locks are necessary, although the three foot and three hour time difference in tides between the north and south entrances means that there are swift currents in the waterway. The excursion we took went all the way up the canal to Cape Cod Bay, then turned around and went back down to Buzzard's Bay. It was very interesting and well narrated and we really enjoyed the entire three hour trip.

After the cruise we had lunch at a restaurant right on the same pier that the excursion boat was docked. We both had fish and chips, which was quite good. We then did some touring, driving north about 16 miles to the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, the site of the landing of the first European settlers, the Pilgrims, in North America. We saw what is claimed to be Plymouth Rock, although when you read the history it is pretty unlikely that the rock they have on display in a nice granite enclosure, is really the rock the Pilgrims stepped on. In fact, it is unlikely that they stepped on a rock at all when there is a lot of sand beach in the bay. But, it makes a nice story. We parked, looked at the rock, walked around the stores along the bay for a while, took some pictures and enjoyed the area. We also got a couple of geocaches for the day. After a couple hours in Plymouth we stopped at the nearby Walmart for some supplies before heading back to the campground. We spent the rest of the evening in the coach relaxing.

Saturday, September 2^nd, we left the coach about 10:30 and started the 70 mile drive around the Cape Cod “hook”, the narrow strip of land that extends east and north from the mainland. The very last town at the end of the cape is Provincetown, or as the locals call it, P-town. This is actually the very first place the Pilgrims landed back in 1620, but they decided to make their settlement on the mainland inside of what is now Cape Cod Bay, at Plymouth. This is a very quaint fishing and tourist town, one with a large and highly visible gay population and clientele. This being a holiday weekend and a very nice afternoon, the place was packed. In addition, the town was hosting the annual White Party today. There were a lot of folks in some very elaborate costumes parading around town. We first stopped for lunch at one of the more popular restaurants, the Lobster Pot. Lunch was expensive, but quite good. We both had clam chowder and lobster rolls, and we had some calamari as an appetizer. Too much good food. After lunch we spent an hour or so wandering around town, shopping and looking around. We went out on the pier and checked out some of the artist shops. We also got a couple of geocaches in town. After walking around we drove around the north end of the cape for a while, then started back south.

On the way back we stopped at the Orleans-Eastham Elks Lodge, which is about half way up the cape and is the furthest east Lodge in Massachusetts. They have a very nice building and have over 600 members, not surprising since they serve most of the east and north Cape Cod area. We had a cocktail and were able to get another lodge pin for our banner. We left the lodge and continued our travel towards home, stopping again at the Ocean City Job Lot store. This was the company whose store we first visited with Helen a few weeks back in Vermont. They have stores all over New England. This time we didn't find anything to buy, so we headed back home. We got home about 6:00 and spent the rest of the evening in the coach.

Sunday, September 3^rd, another travel day. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey that ravaged South Texas last week were passing by last night, so we had light rain most of the night and it was still sprinkling when we were packing up. We were on the road about 11:00, heading 70 miles west in a light rain to an RV park in the country just west of Providence, Rhode Island. We arrived at the Holiday Acres Campground about 1:00 and quickly got parked in a nice full hookup 50 amp spot. We are also level and have good satellite access, life is good! Since it was still raining a little and everything was wet, we just stayed in and relaxed for the remainder of the day. We are here for three nights.

Monday, September 4^th, Happy Labor Day. This is one holiday that, to me, seems a little superfluous. I don't understand how to celebrate labor. For one, I don't do it anymore. How do you decorate for Labor Day? Little plumber and carpenter cutouts? Show some butt crack for the day? It really exists to mark the end of summer and let you know it's not OK to wear white anymore. We had planned to drive into Providence, the capitol of Rhode Island, this afternoon, but after lunch Jackie was not feeling well. She was throwing up and feeling headachy, so we stayed in for the day. I spent the afternoon doing some chores I needed to do, including fixing the rear air conditioning. About six weeks ago or so the back air went south. The symptoms were really strange in that the fan would not turn off. Even if you turned the unit completely off with the thermostat, the fan would still run. The only way to get it to shut off was open the breaker on the 120 volt breaker panel. If you did have the thermostat on, the compressor would cycle normally with the temperature, so the air would work, the fan just wouldn't stop running. These A/C units are pretty basic, three main units, the sealed cooling unit, compressor, condenser, etc., the fans, and a control unit. I guess the thermostat would be part of the system too. I knew the thermostat was OK, because the front air, which works off of it too, was working fine. I knew the cooling unit was OK, because it was still working. I knew the fan worked, too well, it wouldn't turn off. I figured that it had to be the control unit, which was inside the box but easily accessible from inside the coach. I found a new control unit, same part number, on Amazon, and got it when we were in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

I thought it would take me most of a day to change the box out because there were a lot of wires going into it, so I kept putting it off as our travels to new places was keeping us busy, and the weather was such that not having a back air was no big deal. As it turned out, it was a two hour job and pretty simple. Cut and splice two wires, connect the 120 power with wire nuts, and unplug and plug in five connectors. I also had to set some micro switches inside the box to match the settings in the old box. Probably not real easy for someone without any electrical or electronic experience, but pretty basic for me. The first time I turned it on after installing the new control unit it worked perfectly. I also got a couple of other chores done, including cleaning out some clothes for donation. Jackie was feeling a little better by dinner, so we had dinner, watched some TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, September 5^th, Jackie was feeling better and we left the coach after lunch to explore Providence. Providence, a city of about 180,000, is the capitol of, and largest city in, Rhode Island. Rhode Island, with only 1,200 square miles of territory, is the smallest state in the Union, but is the second most densely populated. It is called the “Ocean State” because almost fourteen percent of it's territory is ocean water. Rhode Island was the first of the original thirteen colonies to renounce British rule in 1776, but the last to ratify the new constitution of the newly formed United States. We drove around the capitol mall and government center for a while, and also explored the campus of Brown University, an Ivy League school and the seventh oldest institution of higher education in the country.

We did a couple of geocaches, including one down on the waterfront, near where there used to be a 60's era Soviet submarine on display. The non-nuclear patrol sub had an interesting post-active duty history, including serving as a bar and restaurant in Finland for a while, then being brought to the U.S. as a museum boat in several different cities as well as a sound stage for the movie K-19, starring Harrison Ford. The boat ended up in Providence in 2002, but was not properly maintained and sunk at it's moorings in a storm in 2007. It was raised and scrapped after that. After a couple hours of touring the city we drove to West Warwick and the Elks Lodge there. It was a small lodge, only about 250 members, and the few that were in the bar at the time were not very friendly. They also didn't have a lodge pin. We left there and drove to Warwick to visit the Tri-City Elks, which was formed a few years back by the merging of three lodges, including Providence Lodge 14. They kept this low number as the number of the new lodge. The place had just opened and the bartender was the only one there, but he was very nice and friendly. We also got a lodge pin from this lodge to put on our banner. After having a cocktail we headed back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, September 6^th was a moving day. The weather forecast showed on and off rain and storms for the day and we had a pretty strong storm come through a little after 10:00 a.m., just as we were finishing our travel preparations. Since we only had less than a hundred miles to our next destination, Clinton, Connecticut, we just waited out the storm. We finally pulled out about 11:30 and the rest of the trip was mostly clear, with only a couple episodes of very light rain. After a fuel and lunch stop we arrived at the Riverdale Farm Campground about 2:30 and quickly got parked in a nice full hook up site. After we got set up we just stayed in the rest of the night.

Thursday, September 7^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove into New Haven, Connecticut for the day. New Haven has a population of about 130,000 and is the second largest city in Connecticut. It is also the home of Yale University, which sets right in the middle of town, near the downtown area. The Ivy League school was established in New Haven in 1716 and has about 6,000 undergraduate students and an equal number of post grad scholars. A number of presidents are alumni, including both Bush's and Bill Clinton. We also drove around the downtown area, then went down to the harbor area, which is actually in West Haven. We got a few geocaches around the area, ending up with three new finds for the day. We stopped by the West Haven Elks Lodge, but it didn't open until later in the afternoon. We also drove by the New Haven Lodge, which is right downtown, but it was closed too. After touring town we went to a local Walmart for some supplies then went back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Friday, September 8^th, we left the RV park after lunch and drove north about 20 miles to the town of Wallingford so Jackie could get a haircut and get a pedicure. After Jackie's beauty activities we stopped at the Wallingford Elks Lodge for a cocktail. This was a nice lodge with over a thousand members. There were a number of people in the bar and we had two drinks, one on the house for being visitors and another free one bought by one of the guys at the bar that we were talking to. We were also able to get a lodge pin. A very friendly lodge. We left Wallingford and drove south on I-91 back to New Haven and stopped at the New Haven Elks, Lodge #25. It is on the main street, right between downtown and the Yale campus. It is in an old building that looks like it used to be a neighborhood bar. There were a couple of people in the bar, but they were very unfriendly. We had one drink and left after getting out lodge pin. We went back to the RV park and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, September 9^th, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road just before 11:00. Today's trip takes us east to Matamores, Pennsylvania, which is a small town on the Delaware River, right at the corner where Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey all come together. The Tri State RV Park is right on the river and only about a quarter mile from the point where the three states join. We got quickly parked and set up in a full hookup site. It is not the most attractive spot, mostly gravel and asphalt, and is right next to Interstate 84, but we are only here for three nights. Since we didn't get in until about 2:30 we just stayed in for the rest of the day.

Sunday, September 10^th, we left the RV park after lunch and went out to do some geocaching in the area. There are no big cities close by and, except for the proximity to the three state junction, there isn't much to see around the area. So, we were able to devote an afternoon to geocaching for the first time in a while. In the course of about three hours we were able to get a dozen new finds. We also logged one DNF, but twenty minutes later we ran into a local geocacher at another cache and got a hint for one we couldn't find, went back and got the smiley. Yea! In the course of our caching we cached in three states, a first for us, and also got our first cache in New Jersey, increasing the number of states in which we have cached to 42. Only eight to go. Yea again! After caching we stopped at a Dollar Store and a local supermarket for a few items, then went back to the RV park for the rest of the night. Monday we had a stay at home day. We got a few chores done and had a relaxing day. Of course, today was the anniversary of the September 11^th attacks. Like most people, both of us recall that day sixteen years ago as if it was yesterday.

Tuesday, September 12^th, another travel day. We left Matamores about 10:30 and started the 154 mile trip south and west to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The trip was a bit stressful as there were few freeways on the route. Much of it was two lane road with quite a bit of traffic. We arrived at the Circle M Thousand Trails RV Resort about 3:00 and got registered. Like most Thousand Trails, we had to go out into the park and find our own spot. We were able to snag a nice full hookup, 50 amp site with great satellite access, got the coach parked and set up. We spent the remainder of the evening in the coach.

Wednesday, September 13^th, we woke up to clouds and fog with the weather calling for on and off light rain all day. This is apparently the leftovers from Hurricane Irma. We still left the coach about 10:30 and went out for a day of exploring. We first drove through downtown Lancaster, one of the oldest inland cities in the country, dating back to colonial times. Lancaster has a population of about 60,000. We did a couple of geocaches, including a virtual which was located right in the middle of downtown. We had to park to get the virtual and got a parking ticket because we didn't pay for the five minutes we were away from the car. The cache cost us $20. Oh well. We stopped for lunch at a little Mexican restaurant called El Publita, which is in the back of a small Mexican market. The place had good ratings on Yelp and we found that the food was pretty decent, certainly the best we have had in a few months. It was not Southwest or Sonoran style, really looked and tasted more like what we get when we go to Algodones, Mexico. After lunch we toured Lancaster a little, getting another geocache. We ended up with three for the day.

After driving around Lancaster for a while we headed northwest to the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania. Of course, this is the home of the Hershey Chocolate company. The company was started here in 1894 by Milton Hershey and is now a multinational food corporation. The town has a population of about 15,000 and is not an incorporated city. Hershey has created a huge attraction in the town called Hershey Chocolate World, which includes a 121 acre amusement park, a stadium, an indoor arena and show place, museums and visitor centers. We went to the visitors center, which is primarily a huge candy store, and took the free tour which describes the candy making process. The tour is really a ride, similar in construction to the people mover cars at the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland. It was quite amusing, entertaining and informative, and a lot of fun. Somewhere in town they have an actual chocolate factory, but it is not at Chocolate World.

After our tour of Hershey we drove back to Lancaster and stopped at the Lancaster Elks Lodge. This is an older lodge, Number 134, chartered in the early 1880's. They are in one of the old, classic downtown Elks buildings, an ornate and large three story brick mansion. As was typical in these old Elks buildings, the public rooms, the bar, library, pool room and dining room, are on the main floor. Lots of dark wood and stone. The second floor is the Lodge Room, and the third floor, which is now just storage, was originally apartments for traveling Elks. They also have a four lane duck pin bowling alley in the basement. At one time they had thousands of members, but they are now down to about 350 or so, hardly enough to maintain the expenses of the big building. There were a few people in the bar and they were very friendly. I walked around the lodge and checked out all the rooms. They even say it is haunted. About 25 years ago the then Lodge Secretary died at his desk in the office on the second floor. Since that time “Paul” has haunted the lodge building. We had a couple of cocktails and got a lodge pin for our banner. After our visit we headed back to the RV park and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Thursday, September 14^th, we left the coach after lunch and took a drive around Lancaster County. Lancaster County is considered the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country and the eastern county is dotted with small towns, some with interesting names. On our drive we visited, among others, Bird in Hand, Blue Ball, Intercourse and Paradise. Of course, we had to get a geocache in Intercourse. This is the area which gave rise to the term “Pennsylvania Dutch”, which has nothing to do with the Netherlands, but is rather an English mangling of Duetsch, which means German. Many European religious sects were drawn to Pennsylvania in colonial times because of William Penn's strong feelings about religious freedom. The area that is now Lancaster County was heavily colonized by Mennonites from Germany. The Amish are an offshoot of the Mennonites with much more strict ideas about how to live and work. While the Mennonites believe in hard work and simple living, they do utilize modern things like electricity and motor vehicles. The Amish do not. Of course, the shoulder areas of all the roads are covered in horse poop from all the buggies driving around. Most of the bigger stores and strip malls have horse sheds so the horse can be out of the sun while the family is shopping.

The Amish community has created a huge tourist industry in the area with dozens of shops selling Amish crafts, furniture and knickknacks. They even have buggy tours with buggies that seat eight, like a small, horse drawn bus. Although all of the drivers we saw on these tour buggies appeared to be Amish, beards, suspenders, straw hat, hand sewn clothes, they may or may not be really Amish. While driving around I did see one of the “bus” buggies parked outside a house that had two cars in the drive and a satellite dish. They may hire real Amish to drive, but it would appear that at least some of the businesses are owned by non-Amish. We stopped at several stores and antique shops while driving around, and took a lot of pictures. After several hours of touring we drove back into Lancaster for a visit to Costco. It has been a couple of months since we went to a Costco. We bought a lot of stuff or the freezer. After the Costco run we drove back to the RV park and stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Friday, September 15^th, another travel day. Today's trip was fairly short, only 75 miles, and took us south and east a bit into New Jersey. Like the last couple of trips, this one had a very complicated route on a lot of two lane, State highways with lots of road changes. I got lost twice, but was able to get back on track without too much trouble. We stopped for fuel and lunch and arrived at the Four Seasons Campground near Pilesgrove, New Jersey about 2:00. We got into our full hookup site and spent a couple of hours getting set up for our three night stay. We are an hours drive from both Atlantic City, where I have never been, and Philadelphia, where Jackie has never been. We will be visiting both places during our stay. Once we got set up we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Saturday, September 16^th, we left the RV park about 10:30 and headed east to Atlantic City, New Jersey. It took a little over an hour and we were on the shore, checking out the high rise casino hotels. I have never been to AC and Jackie was last there in the early 90's, and I have to say I was not impressed. As a guy who grew up in the Southwest, I have been going to Las Vegas since the early 70's. Vegas is my idea of a gambling city. The first thing that struck me when we got into the heart of AC was the lack of cars and people. Vegas is wall to wall people and cars 24/7, AC looked abandoned. I was also shocked by the fact that right behind the casinos were tenements and ghetto looking neighborhoods that looked like those we have seen in Detroit or Gary, Indiana. Sure, the boardwalk it glitzy and new, after Sandy knocked everything down a few years back, and the casinos are nice. However, the next block back, in full view of the boardwalk is slum. My feelings, OK, I've seen AC, don't need to go back.

We stopped at the Tropicana Casino Hotel and went to one of their in-house restaurants for lunch. The Seaside Grill had a patio right on the boardwalk, so we sat there outside since it was a nice day. The food was good, a little pricey, but that was to be expected. The service was a little less than I would expect from a brand name casino. After lunch we went in and played in the casino for an hour and a half or so. Neither of us had much luck, so we called it a day on the gambling. We went out on the boardwalk and walked for a while, getting a couple of geocaches while we were there. It had got a little hot, so after an hour we went back into the casino, got the car and drove around for a bit. We then drove a little ways north on the shore to the town of Brigintine. This is where the middle and upper middle class live and have summer places. Very nice homes, mostly new because this area also got wiped out by Sandy. We stopped at the Brigintine Elks Lodge, which is on the bay side of the peninsula and has marina front property. They have a nice bar with great views. We had a cocktail and got a lodge pin for our banner. This lodge has about 1,000 members and the building has been redone since Sandy pretty much knocked it down. After the lodge we headed back home, stopping at Walmart on the way for some supplies. We arrived back home just after dark, around 7:30, and relaxed for the rest of the evening. A very nice day exploring new territory.

Sunday, September 17^th, we again left the coach about 10:30, this time driving northwest about 30 miles to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the day. We parked the car in the garage under Independence Square and walked around the historical district for a while. We went to the National Historic Park Visitor's Center and looked at the exhibits, then walked across the street and looked at the Liberty Bell. We had picked up tickets for the tour of Independence Hall, but our tour wasn't until 1:45, so we walked down the street to a place called Sonny's so we could have Philly steak sandwiches. One cannot come to Philly without having a Philly steak. The food was very good and we had a nice table out on the sidewalk. After lunch we went back and took the tour of Independence Hall, which was very interesting and informative. The Park Ranger who did the tour gave a great presentation. Of special interest was that today is the 230^th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States, which took place inside this very building.

After the tour we got back in the car and spent an hour driving around Philly. We drove by the Philadelphia Art Museum with the famous “Rocky” staircase as well as a number of other famous Philadelphia locations. We also got a geocache in town. There were no Elks Lodges in or near town. Philadelphia used to have Elks Lodge #2, but they went under years ago and the only lodges not are way out in the suburbs, nothing in the urban area. After spending the afternoon in Philly we drove back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Monday, September 18^th, another travel day. Today we left the RV park about 11:00 and drove about 85 miles southwest to a little town called Goldsboro, Maryland, just across the border from Delaware. Most of the trip was actually on the Delaware Turnpike. We arrived at the Holiday Park Campground about 1:00, got registered and went to our site and got set up. Although the campground is mostly in the trees, they were able to get us a spot with some open sky and we were able to get our satellite signal. We have only 30 amp and water, but we are only here for three nights and it is not supposed to be too hot, so we should be fine. After we got set up we spent the rest of the day chilling.

Tuesday, September 19^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove back into Dover, Delaware to do laundry. It took us a couple of hours to get our clothes washed and dried. We picked the right day to do it as there was on and off light to medium rain the whole afternoon. All of this was due to the fact that Hurricane Jose was about 150 miles offshore and we were getting the residual, outer band winds and rain. This is as close to being in a hurricane as I want to be. After we finished our laundry we visited the nearby Dover Elks Lodge. This lodge, number 1903, dates back to the late 50's and currently has about 650 members. They have a nice building and the bartender and several members that were in the bar were very friendly. The bartender told us that the lodge didn't have any lodge pins, and hadn't had new ones for a couple years, but one of the members who was sitting at the bar told us he would find us one. Just before we left his wife arrived to help with the lodge's hamburger night and had a baggie with a number of old lodge pins from the Dover Lodge. He had called his wife and told her to bring the bag so we could get a lodge pin. We offered to pay him for the pin, but he refused. A very friendly lodge. After the lodge visit we did a brief drive thought of the capitol area of Dover, as it is the capitol of Delaware. The whole government mall is old colonial style brick buildings around a big grass square, very pretty and not very imposing. After this tour we headed back to the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, September 20^th, we left the coach about 10:30 and drove to Denton, Maryland, a small town about ten miles southwest of the RV Park. Along the way we stopped in Greensboro, the town closest to the park, and picked up a couple of geocaches. We went to Denton because there was a place there called Bullock's Deli, which not only had the name of great friends Peggy and Vernon Bullock, but also had excellent ratings on Yelp. It turned out to be a gas station/convenience store/deli right on the main road into town. I had a large cheese steak, Jackie had a small chicken cheese steak, and we shared some fries and onion rings. The food lived up to the Yelp hype, it was outstanding. One of the best cheese steaks I have had and the portions are huge. Plus, the entire meal was less than $25, including a drink. We pay more when we eat at Denny's. I doubt any of you will be in the wilds of Eastern Maryland any time soon, but if you are, I can highly recommend this place for lunch. It also seemed very popular with the locals as it was packed and they were doing a brisk carryout business too.

After lunch we continued east, crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and into Annapolis, Maryland. Annapolis is both the capitol of Maryland as well as the home of the Naval Academy. You can no longer drive around the campus of the Academy like you could twenty five years ago when I was last here. It is now a restricted military base. We did drive around the capital area which is, not surprisingly, very colonial in nature. Very old buildings and houses, very narrow streets, and a smallish capitol building that was very difficult to get a good picture of because everything was clustered so close together. We did park to pick up a geocache and spend some time walking around the downtown area. After touring town we drove to the Annapolis Elks Lodge, which is out on the edge of town. It was in a nice, newer building and the folks that were in the lodge were pretty friendly. We had a cocktail and were able to get a lodge pin for our banner. Once we were done with the lodge we headed back to the coach and spent the rest of the night in.

Thursday, September 21^st, another travel day. We got a late start today, not getting out until a little after 11:30. We weren't in a hurry because we only had 60 miles to drive and the campground we are going to has a strict 1:00 check in time. We headed southeast to the Delaware Sea Shore State Park, located on a spit of land just south of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The park has several hundred full hookup sites that are on a narrow piece of land between the Atlantic ocean and the Indian River bay. There is nothing fancy about the parking, basically a big parking lot, but the area around it is spectacular. We got settled into our spot and by 3:00 we were out exploring the surrounding towns. We got a geocache, our first Delaware cache, and did some sightseeing, then we drove to the only Elks in the area, the Cape Henlopen Lodge, named after one of the local Atlantic Coastal points. We had a couple of drinks and got a lodge pin, although the people there were not especially friendly.

After the Elks we drove to Rehoboth Beach, a typical small one-street beach town, and found a restaurant for dinner. It was called Claws and was located in an old, turn of the century home just off the beach. It was a little pricey, but the food was as high end as the price would indicate and it was excellent. I had a stuffed flounder with lobster risotto and Jackie had grilled shrimp and grits with andoullie sausage. Both of the dishes were extremely good. We also had a calamari appetizer that was OK, but nothing special. After dinner we headed back to the coach and sat outside with a cocktail until it got dark. We then watched TV until bedtime. Our arrival here for a two night stay in Delaware also marks an important milestone in our time as full time Rvers. We have finally, after twelve years on the road, completed the “49 state” tour. We have been in, and stayed in, all of the 49 states in North America that you can get too with an RV. Yea us!

Friday, September 22^nd, the first day of Fall. Summer is over, time to head for home. We went out after lunch to do some exploring and geocaching. We got five finds, and one DNF, for the afternoon. We went south today, exploring the little beach towns of Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island, and Ocean City. The first two are in Delaware, but Ocean City is over the border in Maryland. After our touring and caching we stopped at Safeway for some groceries, then went back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Saturday, September 23^rd, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road about 11:30, heading south 100 miles to the tiny town of Quinby, Virginia. This town of 250 is on the Atlantic coast, about 30 miles north of the end of the peninsula that we have been on for the last week. We checked into the Virginia Landing Thousand Trails resort and quickly got into a nice, full hookup 50 amp site. This park is right on the water with the Atlantic to the east and a river to the west and Chesapeake Bay to the south. We are going to be here for two nights. We have now officially moved into the South with our arrival in Virginia. We are also south of Washington, DC, therefore finishing our exploration of the I-95 Corridor. For the next several weeks we will be working our way through the south and southeast. Until next time, ponder this question posed by comedienne Lily Tomlin. "Why is it when we talk to God we're praying, but when God talks to us, we're schizophrenic?" See ya soon.