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Aloha MM's,
I woke up this morning and
thought—OMG—I can sleep in. What bliss. I go back to sleep again. I wake
up again—OMG—I can sleep in. What bliss... This continues on for several
incarnations of waking and sleeping.
Leo however, thought that
sleeping in late was for the birds. He has an idea that he could go for a
walk BY HIMSELF at
But like all mothers across
the ages, I use bribery and diversion. I feed him biscuits in the hope it
pacifies him enough to stop asking over and over like a broken record... But
Mummmm, I'm a big cat... But Mummmm. I can go outside by myself... But
Mummmmm.....
Go back to sleep Leo snaps
Aaron and holds up his hand to say—enough! Leo scowls at Aaron
and stomps off to his day bed, refusing to come back and sleep with us.
I drift back into the sweet haze of not having to get up AT ALL today if I
don't want to! Soooo good.
I wander out of bed around
Where are we? We are now in
Nu Joyzee. But weren't you in
I realize I'm too hot and
bothered to have an act of defiance. We turn the AC up full blast. I am
cranky, Aaron is cranky.
We get up the next day and I
want to shift to the beach park. The whole idea of STOPPING for a few days
was that we could sit somewhere nice, swim and do nothing. This RV park is
not doing it for me though in ambiance. I am really cranky today. More so
than yesterday. I wonder if my thyroid meds are a bit too high. Aaron is
equally cranky. We pull up stakes and try and start the generator. The ratso
thing is cranking but not starting. Boy—no surprises there—it's mirroring
us perfectly.
We drive off to look for some food and Aaron decides we MUST deal with the generator today. We stop at one place and they don't fix generators but try the RV place up the road. We drive there, and no they don't either. But hang on. He rings someone who does. Yes, sure, we fix them, come up here. So we drive 15 minutes up the road. We get there and "Oh no, don't have time to look at it today, maybe call me tomorrow, I'll see if I have time." Aaron is fuming when he gets back in the camper. "Why the bloody hell did he tell us to drive all the way up here then!" He fumes. And rightly so.
We sigh and drive back to
town. We will go and get some stuff at the Walmart, the premium shopping
store of choice. :-) We need to eat, the blood sugar is skyrocketing or is
that diving through the floorboards for both of us. We look for a food place.
Aaron says, just check with the State Park that I insist on going to.
I ring up. Yes, they have RV sites. Good. I tell Aaron. He asks, do they have
30 amp sites. I consider this and ring up again. No, they don't, they only
have gas and water. No electric. That's out then.
I rifle through the
incredibly short 2 pages of places in
Driving back into town I say, "You know, we can try and find another place to stay here, or we can just blow this town and get on the ferry and go to Joyzee, what do you think?"
Aaron brightens up and says
the ferry sounds good. I ring the ferry and they have one at 2:45 and not
very full, so we are good to go.
We go and eat. I have my
first lobster roll and it's really good! Chunks of lobster, spicy seafood
sauce in a peculiar but very tasty 'roll.' Imagine, cutting about an inch off
the top of the bread, where the high top rounded crust is (old fashioned
loaves) Then imagine cutting a slice off that of about an inch...slitting it
in the middle and toasting it. Then stuffing it with lobster and sauce.
Excellent!
We arrive at the ferry,
encounter more grumpy Delawarians—matching us, I'm sure and over to go
to the
And here comes the Universe
demonstrating how easy things are when you're in the flow, in the right
place, doing the right thing. Aaron rings one of his best friends Annelies to
wish her Happy Birthday. She is sounding so happy.
They have been looking for a while for a new house and nothing has been working out. Finally, after following a series of signs and instincts, they 'luck' upon the perfect house. I see the pictures of it and say, go for it! Everything has been a breeze with this transaction. Annelies says she finally gets what Aaron means, when he says, if it's right, it's easy. If it's not right, it's hard. She is blown away by how things are going. They love the house they found 'by accident.' We get a text from her later that the auction for their house went like a bomb. They were hoping for 465K. Aaron said, intend for more - you will get it - go for 475K. It came in at 486K! Thanks Universe!!! And just shows once again, how when you are doing the right thing—everything just flows... As it should do.
I am reminded of this,
lovely physical story as we change our direction and arrive in a place that
you can feel the change in energy. It's much slower here, much more
peaceful. We find a lovely RV Park, that is quiet, got lots of trees, close
to things and has a fabulous swimming pool. We are set. Yay!!! And it's
lovely. We are staying here for 3 days. Today is a designated 'do nothing'
day. It's quite warm, so I am off to have a float in the pool soon. Very
nice.
 
Despite that, we do walk the
battlefield. It's HUGE. There are canons all over the place and boards saying
what happened where. Neither of us are really civil war fans, so this might
be our last battlefield, I feel.
As we walk we put out
feelers for any war energy here, but there is nothing very strong. It's quite
peaceful. This is what it was like when we went to the Normandy beaches
too. I expected to feel all sorts of 'angst' but it was incredibly peaceful. Aaron
has a theory that soldiers knew they were probably going to die, they had a
purpose, for their country—so in some ways, they were okay and have moved on.
We certainly don't pick up any old souls here still floating around.
I hear horses panicked
though and Aaron keeps getting whiffs of canvas, every so often. We finally
realize, it's the knapsacks they carried.
We walk the whole 'circuit'
which is a reasonable distance in the heat. At the very least, we do have
more appreciation for what went on between the South—Confederates and the
North—the Union armies and the people in general. We realize as we go
through the South that they still feel strongly about the Confederate flag.
Rather than just 'red necks' carrying it, many people still do. The OK RV
park we stayed at in Delaware—the guy and his son were reenactors of
the battles. If you have ever seen the film 'Sweet Home Alabama'—you'll
know what I mean.
Everyone gets dressed up in all the gear—uniform, guns, swords, horses, canons, the lot. And they go out and have a 'battle.' I would actually like to see one of these, to get a feeling of it all, despite not being overly involved in the history like we are for WWII.  
The American Civil War is
said to be basically about the fight to end slavery. But there were many more
issues than that. In truth, a lot of it was really about money.
The North has a lot of manufacturing, while the South had agriculture.
The South relied on it's slave labor to work the land. Very labor intensive
for lower yield, at the end of the day, than manufacturing.
There were about 800
plantations just around Beaufort in South Carolina alone. Let alone every
other place in the South. They grew rice, cotton, and indigo (the dye) at
different times. All very labor intensive crops. And some very, very wealthy
plantation owners that went along with that. There is nothing inherently
wrong with wealth or money. But when it is made on the backs of slaves... there is a morality to that doesn't work for me. This was probably one of the
few wars that at the end of the day, wasn't based around religion but a
hundred and fifty years down the track, still heavily dominates parts of this
country.
We leave there and go to
Chantilly, near Dulles Airport in DC to see the HUGE and I mean HUGE......
flight museum there, that is part of the Smithsonian Institute that covers a
lot of museums throughout the DC area. They are all free and covered by
Federal Government money and donations in some cases, depending on the place.
This one is part of the Smithsonian National Space and Air Museum. The
Udvar-Hazy museum. There is another part in DC itself and we wonder what that
one holds, as this one has so many aircraft in one place. It's awe
inspiring.
There is everything here
from a replica Wright Brothers aircraft, to the first bi-planes
and monoplanes. WWII fighter and bombers—including the original
B-29 Superfortress—the Enola Gay! She dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Wow...
There's modern day fighters and bombers too. The beautiful F-14
Tomcat—Top Gun—we never get sick of seeing these beauties.
Everywhere you look, up,
down, around—there are aircraft. It is sensory overload, as you turn and
turn, looking at the aircraft EVERYWHERE.
There are small private
aircraft like the Cessnas through to the super manoeuverable
aerobatic Pitt Special. Commercial aircraft throughout the ages, a
   
The selection is phenomenal.
We are walking around gasping. We love planes!
And a huge wing dedicated to
Space Flight, which has never grabbed me but I found it fascinating. They had
the Space Shuttle in there. One word. Wow. I am awe struck. I can't believe
how HUGE she is. When you see her in film, she's a very plain
aircraft to look at. But in person, she's riveting. I walked around her with
my mouth agape. To say that she is impressive is an understatement. They have
all manner of space stuff. Rockets, moon buggies, engines, command modules.
They had the command modules that bring the astronauts back to earth—you
know the light bulb sort of shaped things. They are incredibly small with a
ton of 'stuff' in them. They must have felt utterly claustrophobic.
 
We stagger out of there
about 3 hours later. My feet are throbbing and I am just about aeroplanned
out. We had planned to also take in the other flight museum, but pushed it
onto the next days schedule.
The next day, another
punishing day, where we go to Andrews Air Force Base nearby and see an air
show. It is super hot and zillions of people. We have to park at the FedEx
stadium close by, and they bus us in. When I say 'bus us in'—I'm talking
yellow school buses, with a few coaches thrown in, that they load up about 20
buses at a time (not an exaggeration) and they all pull out in
synchronized timing, one after another, depositing us at the Air Force Base.
AFB for short. Talk about a military operation! It's very well organized.
I buy some sun screen at a
stand. Plaster it on my sizzling nose. I am hot and grumpy. Really, I could
have skipped this and I love a good airshow. I am just so damn tired and
soooooooo hot.
But wait... what are those?
OMG—A B-25 Mitchell! Wow...
I've never seen one of those in this lifetime in person! I am riveted. And
not sarcastically this time. And what's that? OMG—A flying B-17, the one
they used in the making of the 'Memphis Belle.' And a B-29 Superfortress...
My pulse quickens. We go all the way up the airfield but I am dying to get
back to these WWII bombers. Just gorgeous!!!
  
In the meantime, we are also
drawn to the Thunderbirds tent, where there is a huge gathering and a cockpit
of a F-16 you can peer into. They are also handing out Thunderbirds books. We
grab three of them. The Thunderbirds are a precision flying team in the Air
Force. Like the Blue Angels in the Navy but they don't push it as much. They
tell us we can come back and meet some of the pilots and get books signed now
and later, after they fly. We always like autographs, so we come back for
that.
We meet Major J.R. Williams
and he flies Thunderbird 6—the opposing solo aircraft and pilot. He is very
friendly and affable. And very lean! In fact, they are all super lean, these
fighter pilots. I notice it when we talk to another Thunderbird pilot. They
take this tour all over the world and fly every day. Sometimes they are
pulling 7 to
We then go and drool over
the WWII bombers... Just beautiful. But here's the best part, as far as we
are concerned. Every one of these aircraft flew in here on Thursday. They are
STILL flying!!! There is a Lanc sitting in the MOTAT in Auckland, New
Zealand, that USED to fly. All the engines worked, but they let it go... They
didn't keep up the maintenance on her and she's fully restored. It's
absolutely criminal. There are not many of these wonderful old planes still
around and still flying. I am in awe that these were all flown in here.
We talk to the crew chief on
the Mitchell. He says they are nice and smooth to fly. They glide in at
These are the aircraft that
Jimmy Doolittle took off a carrier, pared down to nothing, for a bombing run
to Tokyo, with no fuel to return. They had to ditch them, hopefully in China
and not in Japan... all but 11 crew made it back out of 16 aircraft. 5 crew
for each aircraft, taking off on the USS Hornet, 10 hours earlier than
planned, shortening their fuel supply and hoping like hell they could
make it into China anyway. None of the men had taken off from a carrier
before... This story always fascinates me. Gutsy.
Aaron wants more signatures
and to talk to more pilots. So we get some lunch and park ourselves under the
wing of a C-130. Nice and shady. I remain there for the rest of the
afternoon, while Aaron has a happy time taking some great piccies and talking
to people. This works well. I still get to see everything that is flying
without the ear drum popping noise. from the front fence where the taxi apron
is.
When they start flying the
fighters, an A10, F-15, and the Thunderbirds in the F-16's—I am glad I have
learned the ear cupping thing. It's sonic loud. I can feel my ear drums
vibrating violently. But OMG—they are just gorgeous! So fast, so
maneuverable. We love these.
   
The Thunderbirds are ear
popping. But the precision—fantastic. Absolutely riveting. They fly in
perfect formation, very close together. They fly
  
When they come in to land, I
finally move from under the wing and go and sit in the stands, watching out
for Aaron. They come in, in perfect precision. This IS, quite literally—a
military exercise! It's perfection to watch. Every move the aircraft make,
the ground crew, the pilots—it's all a beautifully choreographed dance.
Very beautiful to watch.
 
Aaron collects more
autographs as the pilots and crew come up to the fence and meet and greet and
sign, and sign and sign. But they are all cheerful and smiling and signing
like mad, posing for photos. Super ambassadors and the stars of the show.
I'm glad I came. It was a
great show. We stagger off home and we forget about the other flight museum.
We are museumed and planed out—finally... But it was all brilliant! We love
planes. :-)
So, after that epic 4 days—we are off. We leave the Balt-Wash area (they call it that) and head to
Delaware. We have a rough plan to stay at the beach for a few days and do
NOTHING. It doesn't really come together as you know, so we get on the ferry
and come here to Cape May in Joyzee on the shore. It's perfect.
When you choose something
better for yourself, that works for you—you open up the energy and things
start to flow again.
Despite being tired,
we went to a fantastic Lobster restaurant called appropriately 'The
Lobster House' last night and ate until we popped. I have never seen a
restaurant so packed for a Tuesday night! We had lobster bibs tired around
our necks! So fun! I ate the most velvety lobster bisque you have ever
had. My god—up there with that mushroom soup in Singapore 30 odd years ago.
It was like velvet. They must have used tons of butter and pure cream in it—it was sublime.
In case you are wondering—he is doing really well on this trip. He is a real trooper. He got himself
organized with his day bed over the cab straight away. As soon as Aaron
starts the camper, he leaps up there and sits up there most of the day.
Popping down in between stops to grab some food or go to the toilet.
At the end of the day, when
we park up—he rushes down the back and jumps on the bed, for his big cuddle
with Mum and Dad. The days we stopped in Balt-Wash—he was keen to try out
walking on his harness outside—after he saw another puss trotting
around the place—so we did that whenever he wanted. He has his glass of
water by my side of the bed and has decided the best place to sharpen his
claws are on the top of the dining room table chairs. We turn the generator
on for him, so we can run the AC when we stop anywhere.
Which brings me to the very
last, I promise—part of this blog. I REALLY must do them more often. Now, I
am more rested, I will work on that. Today we sat by the pool all day and it was just lovely. Lovely cool blue water, deck chairs, a partial mostly shade umbrella that my darling Aaron rigged up. He also bought me a new sun hat—a straw cowboy hat. I only wore it for a bit, until he had a go at it and I have to say, it looks really good on him. :-) We got talking to some people who are living here in their RV. They are from Minnesota originally and are stuck here for the duration because Nate is in the Coast Guard. Very nice people—we are having dinner with them tomorrow, which is lovely. But what you don't know about Nate, is that he has 'magic hands.' I mentioned to Theresa, his wife, that we were having issues with the propane/LPG. We didn't suppose they knew what to do. Sure, no worries, Nate would come and have a look after tea.
Well...he did. And we now
have:
a) The Propane working
properly—ah, a valve that needed turning. Yay. Thus, we now have the heater
working again if needed and the back up for the fridge.
b) The Generator working—he removed a spark plug, put some magic dust on it and Voila!—it started
first pop when he tried it. We made him try it several times to make sure it
wasn't a fluke! :-)
And c) He got the hot water
working. Here's your tank he said, it all looks fine. There should be a
switch he said. What's that switch there said Aaron, that I have seen several
times but never taken the time to figure out what it does. He flips it
on by the sink. Voila! The hot water heater gurgles happily into life.
We are ecstatic! Thanks so
much Nate!! We are so thankful for your magic fingers and expertise.
But not so dumb, that when I
thought—this is too hard here in Delaware, let's make a different choice
and go. We did. And we are loving it! And we have a fully working
RV again. How good is that!
P.S. The photos are on
Aarons and my pages on FB. Meg Amor— with the big pink plumeria flower. Or
Aaron Amor with I think Leo behind Aaron as he's driving at the moment -
Aaron changes his piccie quite often in case you look for it again and
it's not there. They are open pages - so please feel free to have a look
at the piccies. All under Americana Tour. An album for each day. Thanks!
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