Tour de Ponce de Leon

Yesterday was a bicycle tour of St Augustine. As the oldest city in the US it doesn't have the best streets for RV's so I was glad the park was only a couple of miles from the old part of town. It seems I keep going back in history. I thought New England was old but stuff around here is from the 1500's.

I stopped at the "Fountain of Youth" historic site that is speculated to be the place Ponce de Leon found. I did drink the water but it was pretty sulfurous which they said was good for you. I guess if you had been on a ship out to sea for months any fresh water would taste good.

Also checked out the old Spanish fort Castillo de San Marco. Very cool structure made out of the local limestone rock. Complete with moat and drawbridge. Same history lesson. Europeans move in to the neighborhood. Wipe out the local with war and disease and then fight with each other over who owns the land.

I think it ironic that the Fountain of Youth is in the state where the old people go. The search for answers is universal. I felt better for the bike ride then the water.

Ps: one good thing New York style pizza!

Pss: why its called the "barrel" of a gun. I watched a cannon firing demonstration. The original cannons where made like a wooden barrel with iron strips held together with stays.

Florida !

I reached another goal today: Florida. Seems like it's been awhile coming but I've crossed into the Sunshine State. I found a nice state park for a couple of nights. A walk on the beach before sunset. A fire to cook dinner and warn the evening chill. Clear night full of stars. The sound of the ocean surf to sleep by. All good reminders why I'm out here.

Not that it put a damper on my evening but I got another windshield rock and this time a crack. I stopped by a local window shop and nothing to do about. Some day a new windshield.

But taking those dents and dings is also why I'm out here.

Miles driven: 157
Music : Wheels on the road.
Toes in the ocean: Ten

Charleston,SC

(NOTE:  It appears this post did not publish when I originally posted it and so may now appear out of sequence.)

My journey south through history continues. It interesting that much of what is tourest activity is visiting monuments to past wars.  On my trip out to Fort Sumter the lecture included this fact.  The civil war caused and estimated 600,000 deaths which was 2.5% of the population.  In todays numbers it would be 7 Million.


Some new vocabulary words/definitions:

Carolina. Latin for Charles.

SeeWee. The local coastal people befor the colonists.

Gullah. The low country descendants of the African slaves.

1500 foot long cable stay bridge.

View from the pedestrian walkway.

USS Clamagore.  Part of Patriots Point Navel Museum.

Hatchways trough the sub.

Torpedo room.

Sick call on the sub.

First crew of the USS Clamagore sub now mored at Patriots Point.

Fort Sumter sits out at the mouth of Charleston bay and is of historical significance as being the place of the first shot fired in the Civil War.

This is the original flag the flew over the fort during the first shots of the war.

Impeded projectile found during restoration inside the fort walls.

View from Fort Sumter.

USS Yorktown

Catapult room.

Shipboard operating room.

Old photo of ice cream stand on the aircraft carrier.  Seeing pictures of the men puts faces on the cost of war.

Boone Plantation: besides being the reminents of an original plantation given in a land grant to Boone by King Charles. Besides cotton and pecans one significance was that it was a major brick making slave operation. Some of which went to building the forts.

October by the numbers.

The big number for this month is 10,000!

I crossed 10,000 miles driving (and 90,000 on the RV)

I'm continuing my way south and soon to be in Florida.  I was in Asheville, NC when hurricane Sandy went though and up the east coast.  Nothing but cold, rain, wind and snow in the mountains.

October

Miles Driven:  1,482

Gallons of gas:  183

Cost of Gas:  $718

Camping Fees:  $370

RV repairs:  Things are working (knock on wood)

RV upgrades:  (pretty well set for now)

Food:  $463

New toys purchased:  0

Trip to Date ( May 21-Oct31)

Miles driven:  11,434

Gallons of gas:  1596

Cost of gas:  $5,903

Camping fees:  $1,814

States

Overnighted:  21

Driven through: 25

Days worked:  0

Days missing work:  0

September Numbers

Most of September was about returning to the dome and spending time there with friends (and their family). But even with that I was able to cover some ground and see parts of the country. I know there is so much out there but sometimes just passing it on the freeway has to do.  I a little behind getting these numbers out but caught up now and moving on to what seems a new phase of the trip.

September

Miles Driven:  1,658

Gallons of gas:  246

Cost of Gas:  $969

Camping Fees:  $140

RV repairs:  $171 (oil change, front springs)

RV upgrades:  

Food:  $741 (we ate well at the dome and includes alcohol :-)

New toys purchased:  new long board (skate board)

Trip to Date ( May 21-Sept30)

Miles driven:  9,930

Gallons of gas:  1,412

Cost of gas:  $5,904

Camping fees:  $1,814

States

Overnighted:  24

Driven through: 26

Days worked:  0

Days missing work:  0

Asheville,NC

In my travels often areas come up that people talk about as a place to visit.  Asheville, North Carolina is one of those places.  It is a city of about 80,000 people within the Blue Ridge Mountains and next to the Smokey Mountains.  The people in the city are very friendly.  It has a feel a lot like Bellingham, WA (but more sunny blue sky days).  I met an Alaskan fisherman with connections in Seattle who lives in Asheville and sells his fish at local farmers markets.  He said he left Seattle and drove east and this is where he ended up.  An oasis of hippie/redneck mix of southern niceness.  Next to him at the market selling baked goods was a gal also from the northwest.  There's a couple of rivers running though town and is surrounded by mountains.

Fall in The Smoky Mountains.

A rest stop on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Side view of Biltmore.  It's so large it's hard to get a picture from the front.

Sunset over Asheville.

The Grand Dining Room at Biltmore.  Seven stories high.

A view up one of the old growth trees.

Plaque at the forest.

I got invited to participate in "Pumpkin Peddle" Asheville on Bikes Halloween tour of the city.  Even skeletons need helmets.

The view driving into town.

The Grove Park Inn was opened in 1913 as a resort and spa to help cure the ailments of the day.

Grove Park Inn

Early snow mobile (just the red part) at the "Wheels Through Time" motorcycle museum.

Hunger Games

The movie was shot on location in North Carolina with the games taking place in the Dupont State Forest south of Asheville.  District 12 is an old abandoned mining town near by (Henry River) and Charlotte as The Capital.

Triple Falls

Me on a nice morning for a hike.

The woods of the Hunger Games.

I hope this isn't a sign of what is to come.  East and West in the same direction?

954 Turns

I've been hanging out in and around Asheville, NC for a little while.  In my earlier travels the city often came up a a place to check out.  The timing worked out and it's been a great time of year to be here.  The fall colors are making their way through the surrounding hills.  The temperature has been in the 70"s during the day and 40-50's at night with lots of sunshine.

The area is in the crossroads of some great motorcycle rides.  Probably one of the most noted is the "Dragons Tail".  It is a section of US  Route 129 that winds through the lower Smoky Mountains with 318 curves in 11 miles.  Needless to say it was a very fun road.  And the best part was I did it THREE times.  Down and back on the motorcycle and once through with the RV.  There were professional photographers taking shots of everyone going by.  The pictures below are from www.129slayer.com if you want to see who else was on the road.  I didn't see to many other RV's taking the challenge.

Miles:  33

Curves:  954

Crossed the yellow line:  0

Drivers delayed behind RV:  0