Road Trip Aug 2019 - Maryland State Capitol

We left our home in Norfolk VA mid-day on Saturday for Fairfax VA to see Adam and Melissa.  We we planned an overnight stay before heading to Williamsville, NY.  We changed it up a bit and drove to Fairfax by way of the Eastern Shore through Annapolis MD.

Since we hadn't seen the Maryland State Capital, we drove there for a quick visit in the middle of the afternoon.  We parked downtown near the Vistor's Center in the public garage and walked the two blocks to the capitol.

The Maryland State House sits atop the what seems like the highest point in the city.

The capitol is small by some standards but is rich in history.  It is the oldest State House in continuous use in the U.S.  That note is quite amazing to us since it goes back to 1772.  

It has a beautiful dome that is unique as it is made completely of wood with no nails.

The current State House is the third to be located on the site.  The first one burned in 1704, the second was completed in 1709 but was not adequate for the growing colony.  The current structure was started in 1772 and completed in 1779.

The State House has the distinction of being the only State Capitol to serve as the nation's capitol from November 26, 1783 - August 13, 1784.

I took the diagram from self-guided tour brochure that gives a layout of the the old portion of the State House at the top and the annex which was joined to the existing building during the 1902-1906 construction period.

The building included spaces for both the bicameral body with 47 members in the Senate and 141 representatives in the House of Delegates.  We took a self-guided walking tour and viewed the old House Chambers which was set up as a replica of how it appeared in 1876 - 1905.

Something I don't remember seeing is a walking area that was an additional thickness of the existing carpet pattern where viewers walked.  I don't know why that caught my eye.

Next we saw a collection of silverware from the USS Maryland housed in the next room on the same side.

The silver service was created in 1906 and depicts 167 scenes from Marlyland's 23 counties and Baltimore city.

Across the hall is the Old Senate Chamber's where General George Washington resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army on December 23, 1783.

A painting as well as a statute captures the event in the Old Senate Chambers.

The State House is also the place where the Treaty of Paris was ratified, ending the Revolutionary War.

The Senate Committee and Stairwell Rooms house two galleries with important paintings.

The walls are filled with paintings of key figures in Maryland's history including Washington, Lafayette and Tilghman at Yorktown, and John Hansen who was a delegate to the Continental Congress and at one time served as President of the Continental Congress.  I've never heard of him.  But that's one reason we go to these places -- to learn.

The Stairwell Room is surrounded with paintings showing important Maryland events.

Displays includes paintings showing George Washington's travels through the Revolutionary War, the four Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

We spent about an hour at the State House trying to absorb as much as we could and then continued our drive to Fairfax to see Adam and Melissa and spend the night with them.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Financials - September 2014

Roadrunner Recap

During the month of July, we were in the following locations:

• Camp Meade RV Campground - Fort Meade, MD
• Beacon Hill Camping - Intercourse, PA
• Assateague State Park - Berlin, MD
• Kiptopeke State Park - Cape Charles, VA

We spent time in the DC/Fort Meade area primarily to be near Adam and Melissa who live in Chevy Chase, MD.  They are about 45 minutes from Fort Meade, but there are not a lot of options closer to them.  Next, we traveled to Amish Country in Lancaster County to see friends Mike and Sue in New Holland, PA.  On our way down the Eastern Shore, we stopped a for a few days at both Assateague State Park and Kiptopeke State Park where we ended up staying through the Labor Day Weekend to wrap up the month of August.

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget

We had a good month in the following areas:

• Diesel fuel
• RV maintenance
• Campground fees and 
• 1 Time costs

Biggest Expenses
I paid our semi-annual insurance payment which caused a spike.  Other areas were

• Groceries and
• Misc (good fitting hiking boots)

Large One Time Cost Item
Our large one-time cost item for the month was our Medical/colonoscopies.  Results were good but as you know, they are not the most fun thing in the world.  Necessary evil.

Monthly Average

That's a snapshot of how we're feeling about the cost of things on this Full-Time Journey.  We are in month 63 of doing it.

Hopefully, some of the thoughts and figures are of some interest/value/curiosity.  If you'd like a blank spreadsheet of what I use I'd be glad to send you it at no charge to do with what you wish.  

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

House Work etc

We worked on Kelly and Jon's house for the last few weeks and it has been fun.  We have chosen some smaller projects that we can get done in a few days.  We tackled a number of things and here are some photos of our progress:

We began with the garage and wood around the door.  On each side of the door there was about a two foot section that was a separate piece down the side.

It was rotted at the bottom so I cut it off, removed it and replaced it with a painted piece.  Then the I painted the whole garage door frame and trim.

Next, we worked on the front porch and painted the inside ceiling, the trim, posts and the soffit and the fascia board.

Next, I painted the fascia and soffit on the front of the house and managed to forget to take a single picture...  

And we got started on the back of the house near back deck. We had to fill in a number of carpenter bees holes.  First we sprayed each hole, then emptied some spray foam into the holes and let them dry.

And Pam caulked the joints and areas that needed it before she painted.

It rained a couple of days so we put the painting on hold.  

I tackled a doggie door insulation that went pretty easily.  

The it took about 10 dog biscuits to lure them through the door and get used to the idea of easy access to the back yard.

Then I got back to it and finished the fascia and soffit along the back side of the house.

While I was finishing up on the back side of the house, Pam was inside at the Master Bathroom shower replacing some tiles.

We got an attachment to our oscillating tool at Home Depot that cleaned out the grout, then she chipped away to make a clean and smooth surface again before she put down new mastic, replaced the tiles, then filled it with new matching grout.

So now the bedroom shower is in good shape again.  We finished up our projects there with one last one.

A shampoo/cleaning of the upholstery on an accent chair that was we were taking to Adam and Melissa.

Kelly and Jon got a chair for a great price but the couldn't make it work in their place so we took it up to Adam to see if he wanted it.  First though, we used an upholstery cleaning vacuum that was really good.  It took a shampoo solution along with hot water and we went over the whole thing a couple of times.  A little while later, and we had almost a new chair!

Theres a quick recap on how we spent some of our time the last couple of weeks.  It worked out well--they had some things for us to do and we love working on the house.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

A Few Days at the Beach - Assateague State Park

On Sunday we had a beautiful drive from Beacon Hill Camping in Lancaster County PA down the Eastern Shore to Assateague State Park.

We avoided major highways and had excellent country roads.  It was great!

We arrived about 11:30 AM and had to wait until 1 PM to check in.  So we parked and went for a hike down to the campground to check out our site which was about 1.6 mi away.

Wow - this is a big campground! In fact it has loops A through J with 20-30? camp sites on each.  Most were a mix of tent camping, trailer, and motorhomes.  We made reservations about 3 months ago.

The biggest attractions to the park are the wild horses (and deer), the beach and the Assateague Seashore NPS which is almost co-located. By car it is about 3 miles to the Visitor's Center.

After check-in we got set up and walked on the beach.

The horses are not everywhere but are frequent visitors to campsites.  They walk around like they own the place, which they do.

They are beautiful creatures but ones that bear watching.  One has to remember they are wild and though somewhat used to people, they could be still dangerous.  Plenty of signs and warnings are around but you know people...

Gladly we did not see any problems with people getting too close.  On the other hand, we saw ponies nudging their noses through picnic tables and coolers.  But to no avail-- nothing handy to eat that we saw.

We liked our campground a lot.

It had plenty of space between neighbors, was close to the beach access and the restroom/showers and came with a fire ring.

The camp hosts drive around selling firewood and plenty of people took them up on it.  We had a good one blazing.  There is just something wonderful about a campfire!

There are no hookups for campers at this campground.  It was really no problem, we love to boon dock and chalked up another one.  We ran the generator in the morning and evening and had all the power we needed.  We monitored our black and grey tanks and had to fill up our clear tank when we arrived.  I took showers in the campground facilities and we will be dumping our tanks when we leave later on today.

The beach is a great one.  It is long and has plenty of wave action to mesmerize one for hours....We went to the beach everyday with a book, chairs and our shade umbrella.  We also went for a couple of long walks and really enjoyed it.

Back at the campsite a couple of days it was a bit breezy, if not windy, so we didn't ever pull out our big awnings.  We only pulled out the over-the-window awnings.

There was no shade unless you brought your own.  We are looking for a good end-of-season deal on a folding canopy that is on the smaller size.  We will see how that goes.

We liked it here because of all the campers.  Most folks are friendly and stop to talk and are here getting in one more vacation before school starts.  We had a couple next to us from Michigan three nights that were on their honeymoon.  Across the way, a couple were here for a two weeks that had been doing this for 16 years.  Yesterday morning a guy with three small boys came by and asked if they could tour the Roadrunner.  I said sure! and learned a little about them.  Wished I had taken their photo.

Time to move on down the Eastern Shore.  Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Until next time...

Plans Change for the Winter

We had thought we were going to be spending most of the winter in Florida.  There's something about the warm weather and great beaches that we find very attractive.  Plus there are so many other things we like about Florida.  I think we have spent four of the last five winters there and love it.

There is lots of history, things to learn, places to see we have never been and a generally welcoming atmosphere in Florida.  We need to go see the World Golf Hall of Fame again in St. Augustine.  We've been there once, but I don't think I was able to absorb all of what it had to say.  Golf being my favorite sport and a wonderful pastime, I look forward to seeing that place again.

Then there is the weather.  Usually during the winter months, Florida manages to escape some of those cold temps. At least in Southern Florida.  We like Key West for a few weeks and it is very affordable at the military campground at the Navy Base there.

We also have some great friends who live in Florida and / or 'winter' there.  So it would be great to see them again.

But this year we will spend a few weeks in the late fall in Florida, but mostly spend our December, January, February and ??? in Virginia.  We intend to be in Virginia Beach mostly, but will likely take a few days at a time and come up to the Washington D. C. area for visits.

As you know, our daughter and son-in-law live in Virginia Beach and our son and his fiancé live in Chevy Chase, MD (really about a block from the D.C. line).  And we have absolutely loved the weeks we have spent in each place and getting to see them all.  Whether it is a night or two during the week or time on the weekend it has been great to dip into there worlds again and see them.

Our goal is to do that as much as we can without over doing it.  There is a balance here and we aim to find it.  So we are going to keep at it and plan on seeing more of them.

We leave this weekend for Pennsylvania and the Amish Country.  And we will be seeing some of Philadelphia again and then heading down the Eastern Shore and back to Little Creek Navy Base Campground in September.  We also have plans for some time in Myrtle Beach and Tennessee and probably Red Bay, AL before returning to Virginia Beach for the holidays.

During the holidays, (and maybe before) we will probably be honing up on our cold weather camping and hoping that Virginia Beach doesn't get 8" of snow like it did in the winter of 2010-2011.  We got caught in that one and waited for the snow to melt enough to make a bee line South.

This winter we will hang around and wait for the birth of our first grand child which is scheduled for mid-February.  After two years of marriage Kelly and Jon are expecting their baby to be here.  We are VERY excited for them and want to be there to help.  So there will be more on that later I am sure.  We found out a while ago and were sworn to secrecy.  Once she posted it on her blog and FaceBook though, we figured it was OK to spread the news!

Which brings me to my question of the day:

Any advice for new grandparents-to-be?

Thanks of joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles! 

Oh Say Can You See?

Though we've lived fairly close to Baltimore and Fort McHenry, we've never been to the National Historic Park.  It's really impressive!

I've never been to clear about the War of 1812, but this was an opportunity to learn more and put some more history into perspective.

The United States declared war on Britain and Ireland for a number of reasons including: the hijacking of U.S. sailors and forcing them into service aboard British ships (known as impressment);  support of Indians in war against the U.S. and blockading/restricting U.S. trade with France.  The British seemed to have the resources and momentum after burning down the White House and Washington D.C. in 1812.  But later the U.S. had finally had some key victories in New York and New Orleans and in Baltimore. The war lasted from 1812 to 1814 when the Treaty of Ghent was signed and then ratified by Congress in 1815.

In Baltimore, the British were getting ready to take out Fort McHenry and then Baltimore when Francis Scott Key was trying to effect a prisoner of war exchange.  He was on board a British ship just before the hostilities broke out and they held him until after the siege was over.  It was from a British ship that Key saw the flag through the fog and smoke of 25 hours under bombardment.  He penned what was originally called 'Defense of Fort HcHenry'.  It was adopted for use by the U.S. Navy and eventually became our National Anthem in 1931.

We loved our time at the Historic Site.  The displays in the Visitor Center were unique as was the fantastic video of the story behind Fort McHenry and the flag.

At the end of the video the double wide screen went up and through the picture window we saw the flag over the old fort.

It was quite moving when one, then two--then all of us stood up as the Star Spangled Banner blared over the speakers.  Great start to our visit.

Next we went outside and listed to a Park guide give a presentation on the flag.  This was an audience-participation event and we all got into it.

First we lined up into two lines then held the flag which is an exact replica of the one  being flown.

As we unrolled it and then rolled it back, the guide gave us quite an interesting history lesson.  For example the flag that was flown at the time had 15 stars and 15 stripes.  (Guess what states that symbolized? - the original 13 plus Vermont and Kentucky.)

As we moved around the grounds, we went over to the old fort itself.

The grounds and the rooms around the fort were very well maintained.

The fort was also used in other conflicts including as a hospital during the Civil War and World War 1 and as a training base.

The fort is right on the water which has changed its look over the years with industry near by.

But some interesting vessels still make their way down the Chesapeake.

Fort McHenry was a great stop and we enjoyed our afternoon there!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!