Andy & Gillie's Big Adventure!: We Live in a World Without Weather…* Y’all

If only. We have just driven down part of the fabled Blue Ridge Parkway, in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, one of the most picturesque and arresting drives in Eastern USA. We were, literally, on the trail of the lonesome pine. Where everyone sounds like Dolly Parton.

Since our last post we have had weather. Big style. Driving around New England before we went back to the house sit in Cohasset for a couple of days, we stopped at a lovely campground by the bay in Salem – home of the famous witch trials on the 17^th century and allegorized by Arthur Miller in his famous play ‘The Crucible’. As an aside, I [Andy] recently heard from one of my ex-students who is currently at The Brit School and has just been cast as Elizabeth Proctor (‘Crucible’) in their showcase performance next Spring – coincidence or what? Good luck Zoe!

We spent a wonderful day going around Boston in a trolley bus, listening to various driver/guides (it’s a hop-on, hop-off service) point out the ‘oldest’ or ‘second-oldest’ something-or-other building in the United States. Or showing us buildings made famous by the ‘Revolutionary War’ (War of Independence).

Anyway it was very nice and we had a great time. Boston’s attraction is in its history, not the beauty of its location or surroundings or anything. After Boston, we went back to Sally, Bear and Tigger and a proper bedroom again for a longish weekend and the disaster that was England v Wales in the Rugby World Cup, little suspecting what was to follow… Anyway, we were also able to see the Super Moon eclipse from the porch on the Sunday evening with our lovely hosts Susan and Jamie. Then off the following day to a brace of Walmarts, heading toute suite for Washington DC.

We camped a while (one night, actually) at Camp A-While campground near Shenandoah PA and haven’t been able to get the song out of our heads since.

Then it started to rain. And rain. And rain. And – you get the picture. Apparently, the weather was caused by a combination of particularly low pressure on the Eastern Seaboard and the approach of Hurricane Joaquin from the Bahamas. This gave The Weather Channel a purpose to exist for a couple of days, with men standing in t-shirts and shorts in Virginia Beach, looking like they were about to be swept out to sea. But lots of flooding and high winds and scary warnings about Armageddon etc later and it still rained, but the hurricane didn’t hit land on the East Coast.

That didn’t help us as we’d booked a coach trip to go sightseeing in DC on the Friday. Ho hum. I [Andy] have just finished reading Gore Vidal’s historical novel about Lincoln, so found the monuments and references to him and the Civil War to be very touching and revealing. It rained all day in Washington. But we got to see The White House, The Capitol, where we had a charming tour, some very moving memorials, among which the FDR, Korean War and Martin Luther King Jr monuments were quite special, even in the rain. It rained all day in Washington – oh, have I already said that?

We decided the following day we would dry out, do our laundry, watch the rugby and generally relax (!) as it had rained all day in Wash..sorry! In retrospect a day sightseeing in the rain again would have been infinitely preferable to watching the horror show at Twickenham, but as we said to Holly and Emily the following day: ‘shit happens, it’s only a game’.

Oh, and despite our friends’ best efforts on Sunday morning, we didn’t get tickets for Glastonbury either. As we said, shit happens.

After the rain in Washington, we headed southwest to start our trip along the Skyline Drive, which runs alongside the Appalachian Trail in the Shenandoah National Park. Interesting fact time: for much of its length the SNP (not Scottish politicos) is only one mile wide. Thinking about it, Alex Salmond is about a mile wide…

As another aside I’ve [Andy] just finished reading Bill Bryson’s ‘A Walk in the Woods’, which is all about his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail. Just been made into a film, we believe. Well, we’re not walking it, but are driving down some of it and walking parts at a time, so once again, very evocative. We used much of his observations in ‘Down Under’ (renamed ‘In a Sunburned Country’ for the sensitive Yanks!) to help guide us in Australia and are finding some interesting points of reference in this book.

The colours are quite simply stunning. We were aware that we had timed our drive around New England slightly early to get the full benefit of ‘Fall Foliage’, but we have been more than compensated during our days along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The kaleidoscope of purples, crimsons, reds, pinks (!), oranges, yellows, golds, browns, greens, plus the blacks and greys of the tree trunks has been truly wondrous. Every 100 yards (or less) has brought a new gasp of delight. We’ve snapped away like hungry turtles at a lively card game trying to get The Shot and digitized hundreds of vistas and moments, with another million-plus beautiful views stored in our memories, but we also remind ourselves that we’re the only ones who’ll be looking at these photos. For the moment…

Interestingly (or not), we arrived at our third Wal-Mart of the week – at Lexington VA – having just completed 12,000 miles since we started from Santa Clarita CA back in May. And we haven’t finished yet! Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Going to watch England’s final RWC match later (sob, sob). Lots of love and y’all have a wonderful day now, y’hear?

P.S. Howdy Folks…Oh dear! It’s really catching… but we love the accents just as much as they love ours, yes indeedy…stop it!! Now I would like to discuss Halloween. We all know that it’s a big thing in the States and that it’s trying to infiltrate the UK with moderate success. However what WE didn’t know was just how big a deal it is. Early in September we noticed ‘happy Halloween’ cards in the shops. Then we noticed glittery decorations, with all the staff in Walmart wearing glittery crowns and headgear. I asked if they were starting Christmas early, but was ‘reassured’ that it was of course for Halloween. Next step, towards the end of September we noticed huge displays of pumpkins, pots of chrysanthemums, corn dollies and sheaves of corn outside of nearly every house we’ve passed. It’s now October 13^th and the excitement is almost unbearable, we can’t wait to see what happens on the 31^st!! We hope to be in Memphis then, so perhaps we’ll celebrate with Elvis(!!!???!!!)

We are gradually heading towards Florida, spending time in New Orleans for my birthday. I’m so excited, as what a cool place to spend your special day, don’t you think?? Hopefully we’ll be able to ‘take a Chevy to the Levee’ or some such thing.

We were hoping to catch up with the girls this Christmas, but it’s turned out to be too difficult, so we’ve booked flights to Sydney for next April, from the UK, then we can celebrate the girls’ birthdays, as well as having a belated Christmas with them. We have however booked into a campsite for 10 days in Fort Myers Beach in Florida, to cover the Christmas period, so it’ll be turkey and the trimmings, chez Molly!! We’ve also booked our flight to Peru, leaving Fort Lauderdale on 9^th Feb, how exciting is that??

Now a final word about credit card fraud. It happened to us twice in Australia, but was quickly spotted and sorted out by Halifax. Then last week we discovered that a card I closed 18 months ago, has been used to pay a subscription to the AA (breakdown, not AA!!). When I contacted the AA they have no record of it, so Barclaycard is having to deal with it. Fancy paying out on a closed card!! Let’s hope that’s our lot for this trip.

Time to go folks as we’re still hoping to find ‘the lonesome pine.’ We’ll be in North Carolina by tomorrow, so will have to be quick.

Bye for now

Love Gillie xxx

*Any of you of a certain NSDF vintage will recognize the opening lines of ‘Tea Without Mother’.