Jeff & Ruth Touring with a Trailer

 We got up early and took the metro across the river to be early for our 9:10 appointment to ascend the arch. Downtown  St. Louis was pretty vacant on the Saturday morning as we strolled to the arch. Eventually the doors opened and we got in line for the ascent. After waiting 10 minutes the guide announced that there was a delay due to unplanned maintenance. An hour later we finally got to take our tour. It's a long, 4-minute climb in a cramped, 5-seat capsule. But the view from the top of the tallest monument in America was great! We rushed to get back to get out of our campground before they charged us for another day. We were a few minutes late but didn't see anyone checking, so I think we made it.  Then we drove to Nauvoo. We visited the print shop (John Taylor's), post office and gunsmith workshop (Browning's) before they closed.  Then we toured the visitors center and saw a great missionary song and dance show. 

 Mammoth Caves are astounding! Over 400 miles have been mapped so far and the number is growing. We toured 2 miles of it, much through enormous chambers and passageways. A city could fit in there. The government has already built miles of paved roads inside just to benefit tourists.  After touring the caves we drove out of Kentucky, through Indiana and into Illinois. We camped just across the river from the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

We had to take a long detour due to a chemical spill on the freeway. The last long stretch was down the Kentucky Bluegrass Parkway. We got to Mammoth Caves in time to visit the visitors center before returning to camp and playing games. 

 We dropped off the trailer in New River Gorge National Park campground. Free camping at Army Camp. Then we drove 26 miles to the visitors center whereSummer earned her 12th Junior Ranger badge. The views were spectacular. The New River Gorge Bridge is the longest single-span arch bridge in the world.  There's a company that offers excursions walking across the girders supporting the bridge. It  takes about 3 hours and is not for people who fear heights. From our viewpoint we could just make out the tiny figures up there. 

 Another, shorter visit to Williamsburg allowed us to see a highland music show, the George Wythe house, a portrayal of a slave overseer and other sights. Then off to our campground, Sherando Lake. On the way we saw a black bear run across the highway. Unfortunately, a car ahead of us couldn't stop in time and knocked it on it's side. Fortunately, the bear survived the impact, got back up and ran off. The car drove on also. It all happened too fast to take pictures. 

 We spent the day touring the town. It's been reconstructed like it was in 1776. Summer Petitioning in Court Summer and Tia in the Stocks George Washington Making a Speech  Bruton Parish Church  Governor's Palace We finished the day at Golden Corral.

 We attended the Hershey Ward before getting wet while hooking up the trailer in the rain and moving to Williamsburg, Virginia, and a campground on the navy base.  Tropical Storm Ophelia had petered out by then. We were relieved to leave the rain behind. We're hoping to dry out our wet clothes and things. 

 The rain started in the night and continued, probably due to our proximity to Tropical Storm Ophelia. I tried to buy propane but found that the law prohibits filling propane tanks in the rain.  We took the shuttle to the theme park and took the Hershey Chocolate World tour. When the gates opened to the rest of the theme park we rushed in only to discover that most of the rides were closed due to rain. But we enjoyed a few indoor rides and getting free candy on the Treat Trail. Then Grandma and Grandpa headed back to the trailer to get dry and warm while Carrie and Summer stayed a few more hours.

 We packed up early to drive to Delaware and the Go Ape Treetop Adventure and Zip Line Course. It was a crazy, adrenaline-filled challenge! We climbed ladders to platforms high in the trees and then walked between trees on a wide variety of shaky bridges. There were 5 courses, each ending with a long zip line. The final zip line started over 50 feet up (though it felt much higher) and traversed the water, taking 29 seconds. I was terrified at several points, such as the "Tarzan Swing" which required a brief free fall after stepping off the platform. But we all survived. Ruth usually took the lead, having no fear of heights. Summer did great! Carrie tried one exceptionally difficult ring bridge that the rest of us declined, got stuck and had to be rescued. I was the most fearful. We were advised not to take cameras so didn't get many photos. We rescued a turtle that was sitting in the road. As we continued on to Hershey, Pennsylvania we got stuck behind an Amish buggy.  We

Before the RV parts store opened we were there to buy a new water pump. Then off to the Holocaust Museum. After a while Ruth & Jeff crossed the Mall to see the new African American Museum. Both museums were so sad with all the deaths, slavery said persecution.  Then we took the metro to the Library of Congress. We were able to get a last-minute ticket. The library was amazing.  From there we took the tunnel to the Capitol Visitors Center for our Capitol tour. After a film we saw the old Supreme Court chamber, the statue room and the Rotunda. The tour ended without a view of either congressional chambers. So I asked an official if we could possibly get a pass for the House Chamber. She said she could get us in! So we got to sit in the gallery for a few minutes. No cameras were allowed, however.  We saw the Supreme Court building from across the street.  Then we rushed to the Smithsonian American History Museum to see the dollhouse before it closed.  Jeff got the new water pump insta

 We took the metro to DC to start our day with a White House tour. Summer earned a Junior Ranger badge.  Then at the White House visitors center she earned another Junior Ranger badge.  We dined in the Ronald Reagan Building food court. Then we walked to the Washington Monument, the WW2 memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.  Returning we toured the Korean War Memorial.  Summer Zoomed a visit with her school class while sitting near the Washington Monument. They were studying National Parks and Summer was a featured speaker.  On the way home we stopped at a mall where Jeff bought some connectors to try to fix the water pump. It didn't work. 

 Our rest in Connecticut is over and we are back on the road again. During our stay Jeff taped up our damaged roof and Peter Hyatt welded a broken battery support on the back. The Hyatts were so kind to let us park the trailer at their house. We owe them big time.  After we got on a freeway we came to a sign prohibiting vehicles taller than 8 feet. We quickly rerouted but then took a couple of wrong/missed turns in Manhattan that put us in a huge traffic jam. We incurred too many tolls on various turnpikes but finally made it to the Anita C. Leight Estuary Center in Maryland.  Then on to our campground: Maryland Greenbelt. There we discovered that our water pump was not working. The campground had no water connections so we were glad we had a 5-gallon jug to prop on the edge of the sink. We used a gallon jug to flush the toilet. 

 We had just enjoyed a beautiful evening in our dispersed campsite in the forest in Vermont.  But the trouble started the next morning, when it started to rain.  The dirt road had already been a bit muddy, and we couldn't easily avoid the muddy patches because we were hemmed in by the trees and river.  Lying in bed listening to the rain, I started getting extremely nervous about the mud.  By 7:00, I was outside trying to figure out how we were going to get out, and soon after that Emily and I decided to have the kids eat in the car while we tried to leave before the mud got worse.  It turned out that we were already too late, though.  We got the trailer up to the road, but the SUV slipped in the mud on the edge of the road into the trees and we couldn't get it out.  We wanted to call a tow truck, but for some reason Emily's cell phone company kept giving weird messages saying that her plan had expired!  She could still text, but she couldn't make calls, and she had almo

 On Tuesday, we had a factory tour scheduled at Ben & Jerry's at 1:00, and they were very clear about not giving refunds if we missed our tour time, so we wanted to be out of our campsite by 9:00 in the morning.  We streamlined our breakfast and unhooking and hitching back up and drove away almost on time, which was a big accomplishment for us!   The U.S. border crossing was a little interesting, because the trailer didn't fit very well through the narrow passageway for cars and they didn't have a section open for RVs.  I held up the line for a minute or two while I maneuvered around the obstacles.  When we got to the front, the customs agent asked if we had any food we bought from Canada, and we remembered that we had some leftovers.  He asked if we had any citrus fruit, and I said yes, I thought we might have some cut blood orange left over, and he wasn't very happy with me!  ("You THINK?  You don't KNOW if you have it?")  I had to get out and unlock

 On Monday, we took the SUV into Montreal for a day of tourism.  We parked in a parking structure and walked to the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal.  Then we walked around the city, enjoying the sights and the food.  It was a very walkable area with cobblestone streets and lots of shops aimed at tourists.  There was even Le Petite Duck Shop, which seemed to exclusively sell rubber duckies!  Fortunately, they were closed, so the kids couldn't beg us to buy any.  (They were very cute but very expensive.)  We went to a crepe shop for lunch and got crepes with strawberries and Nutella and chocolate.  Emily and I split a Canadian special crepe with almonds, bananas, and maple syrup.  It was interesting and pretty good but not something I'd order again.  Gotta get the local special when you visit, though!  The crepes all came with a side of fresh fruit, and stay tuned for how that comes into play in tomorrow's post. In front of the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal Inside the Basil