Want Apple?

Sunday, 18 September

Our weekend getaway to Winchester is over and we're back at the stix & bricks. Today was pretty typical of our Phaeton departure days. We spent the morning relaxing before running our departure checklist to make sure we were all set to leave by the noon check-out deadline. Mui squeezed in a quick trip to Costco before we left Candy Hill Campground, thus saving himself some shopping time when we returned home. The drive back was uneventful, and after a detour to fill up at Fannon Petroleum ($3.84/gallon for diesel), we had the coach back in storage by 3:00p.

Seeing as that short paragraph would be the start and end of a very boring post, I’ll share with you some of the fun stuff we did over the weekend.

Friday …

We made the most of the short time the sun was out Friday afternoon to wander around Old Town Winchester. Once Shawnee Indian camping grounds, the area was settled in 1732 by Pennsylvania Quakers. Surrounded by orchards, the town is appropriately nicknamed the Apple Capital. In fact, it was apples that had brought us here, but that’s a story for a bit later.

It was a quiet Friday afternoon in Old Town. The restaurants, pubs, and sidewalk cafés lining the pedestrian mall were all but deserted; the shops had just a few patrons. We figured the area would be humming once the workday came to an end. In the meantime, we enjoyed the opportunity to have a quiet stroll.

We are in the Apple Capital after all.

It’s not just the cat that curiosity kills. It also kills my time. A click of the shutter button often leads to extensive Googling time when I get home. The apple sitting near the pedestrian mall was no different. I just had to find out why these five men were chosen to decorate the apple. Here’s why “I” think they were chosen:

• Confederate General Jubal Early (far left) – his troops were instrumental in defeating Union defenders in Winchester and opening the Shenandoah Valley to General Robert E. Lee’s forces.
• Judge John Handley (far left) – an Irish immigrant from Pennsylvania, in 1895, he bequeathed $1.6 million to the city for the “education of the poor.”
• George Washington (middle) – came here in the mid-1700s to survey the lands of the Sixth Lord Fairfax; built Fort Loudoun during the French and Indian War; and was elected in Winchester to his first public office as Frederick County’s representative to the House of Burgesses.
• Admiral Richard E. Byrd (top right) – Medal of Honor recipient and polar explorer (claimed that his expeditions were the first to reach the North Pole [not] and the South Pole [true] by air), was born in Winchester.
• Confederate General Stonewall Jackson (bottom right) – following the Battle of First Bull Run, he commanded the Valley District, headquartered in Winchester.

See, this is why my blog posts grow like weeds. Curiosity. It’s a good thing; it’s a bad thing!

The court house (1840), now a civil war museum, was used as a hospital, barracks, and prison by both sides during the War. The statue in front of the building is dedicated “in lasting honor of every confederate soldier from Winchester and Frederick County who faithfully served the south.”

“I went to the court house; the porch was strewed with dead men. Some had papers pinned
to their coats telling who they were. All had the capes of their coats turned over to
hide their still faces; but their poor hands, so pitiful they looked and so helpless.
Soon men carried them away to make room for others who were dying inside.”
Cornelia McDonald, after the First Battle of Kernstown, 23 March 1862.
[from signage near the museum]

A few notes about the collage, which includes two photographs of images from nearby signage. The image on the left depicts James Taylor’s sketch of Confederate prisoners held outside the court house after the Third Battle of Winchester, 19 September 1864. The top right image depicts graffiti inscribed by a Union prisoner on an interior court house wall.

Clocks in tandem.
(Left: Old Court House; right: Rouss city hall)

First Presbyterian Church

Hill’s Keep is an early 19th century building that was relocated here in 2004.

A short outing; lots of fun nonetheless. We liked what little we saw of Winchester; we’ll be making a return visit to further explore the town.

Saturday …

It all started with an apple that a colleague gave me last year. A Golden Delicious to be precise. It was so goooooooood; crisp, and sweet, and juicy. One bite … and I had to have more … a lot more. My colleague told me the apple was from Rinker Orchards in Stephens City, so on a beautiful, blue-sky Saturday, we drove up to pick our own apples. We returned home with 90+ lbs (40+ kg) of the most delicious Goldens, Nittanys, and Yorks. When that same friend brought me another Golden Delicious this year, we decided to combine apple picking with weekend camping.

Oh, Golden Delicious!

We woke up to overcast skies on our apple picking day. We weren’t concerned. After all, there was no rain forecasted. Yeah, right!!!! Just as we were getting ready to leave for the 10-mile (16 km) drive to Stephens City, the skies opened up in a deluge. So we sat back down to wait it out. An hour later, the rain was over and we were on our way.

Finding Idared, and Golden and Red Delicious apples ready for picking, we decided to concentrate on the goldens. Just two bags this time. I’m guessing that’s about 45 lbs (20+ kg); should last us a while.

From trees to bags … plenty of golden deliciousness.

We’re going to try and drive up for the day in a few weeks to pick some Nittanys; they’re our favorite of the Virginia apples. And if we can’t get back to Rinker this year, at least we will have had our fill of the Goldens.

Last year, we concluded our apple picking with a picnic lunch at the orchard. The wet grass and cool temps did not invite us to do so this time. Instead, we returned to the coach for our noon meal. Afterwards, we headed out to the Apple Harvest Festival at the Jim Barnett Park in Winchester. En route, we made a quick stop at the local Loft, one of my favorite clothing stores, so I could take advantage of their 30% off sale. Three pairs of slacks, a blouse, and a sweater later we were on our way to the festival. By the time we arrived, it was after 3:00p and the admission was waived. I’m actually glad that we didn’t pay to get in as we were quite disappointed in what we found. There was no sign of all the antique cars the flyer said would be there … surely the two we saw weren’t the ones the organizers meant! Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

“Apladay” is one of two Whitehouse antique vehicles at the festival.

Despite the ups and downs of the day, we had a good time. We have apples galore to enjoy at home; the apple pie ice cream at the festival was good; I have clothes to see me through the fall-winter season; and the sweet corn we bought from the roadside market on our way back to the coach was a great addition to our barbecue shrimp dinner.

Bang Goes the Water Filter

Friday, 16 September

Today’s a work-from-home day for us. But we’re not at the stix & bricks in Vienna; we’re at Candy Hill Campground, in Winchester, Virginia, about 80 miles (128 km) away. Ain’t it great to be able to telecommute :-)

An easy drive puts us in Winchester, near the Virginia / West Virginia / Maryland state lines.

We left the house around 1:15p yesterday. An hour later, the toad hitched up, we were on the road in the Phaeton. Google Maps’ driving time estimate was spot-on. With the traffic flowing smoothly, we made good time, arriving at Candy Hill Campground shortly after 4:00p. Even the weather cooperated — sort of — and the rain that accompanied us part of the way fizzled into a light drizzle, allowing us to set up in relative comfort.

This is our first time here. It’s a nice enough campground, with plenty of trees and lots of grass, but the sites are packed close together and share water/electric pedestals. Cozy is the word that comes to mind. This is not the place to come if you’re looking for privacy. Since we don’t plan to “stay home” Saturday — our one day to play during this trip — we’re not bothered by the close proximity of neighbors. Not that anyone seems to be out and about anyway. Besides, with sites in our section of the campground alternating back-to-front, we have some semblance of privacy where we are.

We’re in F9 (circled in blue on the left); the office-lounge-arcade building is
actually across from us and not offset as shown on the map.
[map courtesy of the campground website]

We were initially assigned site B9 (the one in red in the lower right portion of the map), but asked to be switched after seeing its proximity to Route 37. Instead, we were given F9, another 50-amp, full hook-up, premium site. At $50/night (plus 10% Good Sam discount), this campground is not inexpensive, but we’re used to that in this part of the US. Cable is included (26 channels); Tengo-provided wi-fi is available for a price. Our Millenicom aircard works just fine, so we won’t be availing ourselves of that service.

Settled into site f9.

We’re butt-to-butt with the sites to our left and right, so there’s a bit more privacy here.

By 5:00p, we were parked, jacks down, slides out, hook-ups complete. While Mui dumped the black and grey tanks from our Bull Run stay, I vacuumed and Swiffered the floors before unrolling the rug to make our home nice and cozy. Then it was time to explore the campground.

We’d just returned from our walk and were talking about getting dinner on the table when a really loud BANG startled us. What on earth???

At first we thought our neighbor must have accidentally dropped open the door to their toy hauler. To be safe, we stepped out to investigate. Oh, oh! There was water flowing out from under the coach. My first thought was that our fresh water tank had somehow ruptured and I envisioned a disaster on our hands. It turns out that it was just the water filter. The bottom had split off from the rest of the canister and water was gushing out all over the place. Shutting the spigot at the source immediately stemmed the flow. BUT we now had no water coming into the Phaeton.

OK; no big deal. We have every RVers best friend — duct tape. Mui dries the canister and tapes it up real well. It doesn’t look pretty, but as long as it holds, who cares! He screws the unit back in place and turns on the water. Problem solved, right? Nope; water gushes out like a geyser, though a smaller one now.

OK; no big deal. Camping World is just down the road a bit. But wait; it’s closed for the day. No problemo. Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and Home Depot are all a short drive away. They’re bound to have what we need. Right? WRONG! None of them have a canister to match ours. There are other brands, but it’s already dark, and it’s cold, and Mui’s not in the mood to install a new system.

OK; no big deal. Waterproof epoxy should work to temporarily secure the bottom of the canister. “Sure, that will do the trick; I used it for my truck’s fuel pump,” says the helpful young man in the orange apron. $5 nets us a tube of PC-Plumbing. Back home, Mui starts kneading the Play-Doh like stuff until it’s a uniform color. Soon, the bottom of the cartridge is attached with a ring of epoxy around it. It doesn’t look pretty, but as long as it works, who cares! While the epoxy sets (60 minutes the instructions say), we have dinner and watch a show on TV. Then Mui goes out to install the filter. “BANG,” I hear, but assume it’s the basement door being closed. Nope; the filter has blown it’s bottom again. Nothing to do until morning; a couple of buckets of water from the spigot outside and we’re good to go for the night.

Plan A and Plan B don’t work.

And thus we brought yesterday to a close. Mui headed out to Camping World first thing this morning and picked up a replacement. Our plumbing is operational again. We have no idea why the filter canister blew like it did. Perhaps there was a hairline crack that finally gave under pressure. At least it happened while we were at home.

Plan C successfully restores water to the Phaeton.

After such an eventful evening, a quiet day at Candy Hill was in order today. We spent most of the day indoors since we both had work projects requiring our attention. The cool temp — 58F (14C) at noon — didn’t encourage spending time outside anyway; nor did the overcast skies that quickly replaced the beautiful sunshine we woke up to.

Shortly after 3:00p, our work-day having drawn to a close, we drove into Winchester for a look-see around Old Town. At least the sun came out briefly and there were patches of blue sky while we were out having some fun. But that’s a story for another post. Dinner is over, the dishes are loaded into the dishwasher, and Mui’s got the second disk of John Adams (HBO mini series) cued up and ready to go — time to enjoy a quiet evening at home.

Lee Plays a Nasty Trick On Us

Friday, September 9

Don’t know what it is with these hurricanes and tropical storms named after friends of ours. Instead of quietly passing through, they’ve been staying a while and dumping on us. REALLY DUMPING on us since Wednesday. Such rude guests don’t deserve to be invited for a return visit. If possible, Lee has been worse than Irene in terms of the water it has dropped on us.

Coming home yesterday, I had one of my worst commutes ever. A drive that normally takes me 15-20 minutes, took me about 1½ hours. And that was after I bailed off the Beltway to use side roads to get home. Luckily, Mui called me just before I turned off to Prosperity to warn me that the road I would have normally taken was flooded. Otherwise, I might have been up a creek — literally.

The immediate area around the condo turned out to be fine; wasn’t expecting it to be otherwise. But I did see side roads en route that had been made impassable with standing water. And the parking lot of one apartment complex was under water — with muddy water topping the wheels of the vehicles. The images on the newscasts are not pretty at all; hard clean-up work ahead for a lot of folks.

Lee’s real impact on us is the cancellation of our plans to go to Pohick Bay this weekend. Last time we went there, it was pouring hard and the site was a muddy-mess. Not wanting to repeat that experience, we decided to postpone our trip. I think it’s the right decision! After all, this isn’t the view we want to have …

… through the windows of the Phaeton!!!

P.S. We called Phaeton’s storage place; all’s well there. There’s no water swirling about her skirts. For that we are grateful.

BRRP: “No Labor” Day

Monday, 5 September

That’s right … no labor for us on Labor Day! Up early, we had breakfast, went for a walk around the campground, and when we returned to the coach, sat our butts down in the comfy chairs in our screened shelter, and just chilled — again. If you know us at all, you know this is far from normal. There’s something about RV’ing, however, that seems to bring out the relax-mode in us. No complaints! After all, we’re going back to work tomorrow.

It’s another dull, grey day. So far, there’s no sign of the forecasted rain; apparently the front has stalled a bit. Keeping our fingers crossed that the wet stuff will delay until after we leave. It’s quiet; the crack, crack of shots that normally issue from the nearby firing range are silent. Squirrels chasing each other rustle the leaves every once in a while; crazy critters. Otherwise, even the birds are quiet.

We were expecting that the campground would be full over the holiday weekend, and perhaps more than a bit noisy with some campers in party-mode. We were pleasantly surprised with respect to the latter. I think it helps that the campground staff are on constant patrol at BRRP. Add to that a Fairfax County police cruiser driving through the loops once or twice a day, and that seems to have helped to keep down the noise factor. Not that people have not been out enjoying themselves. I’ve gone for several walks around the campground these past days and have seen lots of people having a good time outside their camping vehicles (or tents). But they were doing it quietly, respecting their neighbors. Win-win all around.

We’re past the 11:00a check-out deadline. The exodus of campers has slowed to a trickle. The only ones left in the campground are those who are here for a longer stay and those who have paid the $10 fee for late check-out (7:00p). We fall into the latter category, but we’ll be leaving well before the deadline. After all, we have a workweek ahead of us and a few things to do around the house before tomorrow rolls around.

So, nothing newsworthy from today. But I was thinking ahead to that yesterday when I decided to postpone sharing our outing to the Manassas National Battlefield Park (MNBP). The two battles — First and Second Manassas (aka First and Second Bull Run) — were fought early in the Civil War that saw brother fighting brother; friend fighting friend. Until the Battle of First Manassas, people had this odd little idea that the war would be over after a couple of skirmishes. Maybe a day or two; maybe a week tops. The heavy losses during First Manassas pretty much wiped away any such thoughts, and the Civil War lasted for many bloody years (1861-1865).

we explored the area circled in red.

Yesterday’s short outing was not our first visit to MNBP. We’ve been to the area around Henry House (near the visitor center) many times to stroll the grounds and check out good ole Stonewall bronzed for eternity. We’ve walked some of the longer trails, and most of the shorter ones. We’ve been to Stone House; and to Stone Bridge as well (post for the latter is here). These are some of the best preserved Civil War landmarks in the area, and also the ones that see the most visitors at the park. The canons strewn about the grounds are especially popular with families.

Henry House and the monument to "Patriots who fell at Bull Run — July 21, 1861.”
(April 2006)

This time we went to a section of the park that sees fewer visitors. When we visited this area in 2006, there wasn’t a soul around. When we pulled into the parking lot yesterday, we found the situation pretty much the same. There was only one other vehicle, and the driver, a heavily-tattooed gent from Tennessee, headed up to the 14th Brooklyn Monument atop the hill after chatting with us briefly.

Mui captures the photographer ...

... photographing the entrance gate and the landscape beyond.

And here's the other half of the gate, completing the words: "5th New York Volunteer Infantry."

The park brochure explains as follows:

On the afternoon of August 30 [1862], seeing the Union lines in disarray following the repulse of Porter, Longstreet pushed his massive columns forward and staggered the Union left flank. A brief, futile stand on this ridge by the 5th and 10th New York Regiments ended in slaughter. In five minutes the 5th New York saw 123 men killed, the greatest loss of life in any single infantry regiment in any battle of the Civil War.

Somehow, we ended up going neither up the hill to the monument, nor into the tree line where we knew there was a memorial to Duryée’s Zouaves (5th New York Volunteer Infantry), as well as a trail to other parts of the MNBP. Not sure what distracted us and sent us in a different direction, but here are a few photos from 2006 to show you what I might have stopped to photograph had we gone that-a-way.

Left: the memorial to the ZOUAVES was erected in 1906.
right: image from signage depicts the slaughter of the 5th New York Volunteer
Infantry on that fateful day in august 1862.

Leaving the car in the parking lot, we walked a short distance up Lee Highway (Rte 29) and crossed the road to visit the Confederate cemetery instead. But first, we continued a little ways up from the cemetery to the Lucinda Dogan House, described in the park brochure as: “The small, white frame house ... all that remains of the wartime village of Groveton and one of only three Civil War-era houses remaining in the park.”

Originally built as an overseer’s cabin, the house became the Dogan family’s primary
dwelling after the main house, “Peach Grove,” burned down in 1860.

Confederate General Longstreet was a dinner guest at the Dogan House.

Backtracking from the house, we headed over to the Groveton Confederate Cemetery. Established by the local women two years after the Civil War ended in 1865, the cemetery contains the remains of 260+ Confederate soldiers, all but two of which are unidentified. It is an example of one of the earliest efforts to pay tribute to those who lost their lives and mark the general locations of battlefields.

Unknown or not, at least these men received a proper burial. As noted on the park signage outside the gate, “Hundreds of soldiers received no burial at all.” In most cases, battlefield graves were unmarked, or simply identified with sticks, headboards, or branches.

As the signage further explains:

Heavy fire often kept either side from claiming the dead, and after both battles [First and Second Manassas] the armies had to maneuver quickly. Some of the wounded lay for days in the blistering sun.

After the fighting, burial details dug shallow, unmarked mass graves. The process took weeks. Autumn rains soon washed away the thin cover of soil, exposing the remains.

[collage of historic images from nearby signage]

After visiting one such mass grave, a Harper’s Weekly correspondent wrote:

In the long, luxuriant grass one strikes his foot against skulls and bones, mingled with the deadly missiles that brought them to the earth. Hollow skulls lie contiguous to the hemispheres of exploded shells.”

The obelisk was erected in 1904 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Detail from the obelisk that stands in the center of the Confederate Cemetery.

There are only two headstones at Groveton — one for each of the identified remains. For the rest of the 260+ men buried here, a ring of markers bearing the names of the 13 Confederate states serves as a collective remembrance.

Left: A portion of the markers that ring the monument.
Right: James Jerman palmer, from Charleston, South Carolina, was only
22 years old when he died during the battle of second Manassas.

The second identified headstone belongs to a 20-year old Virginian.

And that’s the story of yesterday morning’s brief outing. As is usual when I get going with photo processing and blog writing, time has flown by. Mui’s calling me to lunch. More later ...

P.S. For those interested, this post from 2009 has a link to a pictorial journal of a visit to the oft-visited areas of MNBP.

... Later: At Home

The rain showers, which should have come through overnight and this morning, began just as we were taking down the screen shelter. But of course the weather got soggy — Mother Nature was crying because it was time for us to pull up stakes and go home. We waited a bit for the rain to let up, but it was still drizzling when we finished the last of our departure preparations. By 4:30p, the Phaeton was tucked into storage and we were on our way home. With surprisingly little traffic on the freeway, we made it home in no time, stopping to grab a quick bite to eat before we pulled into the garage.

A short workweek is ahead of us. Then, we go back out Friday afternoon. This time we’ll be heading to Pohick Bay. The weather forecast is for isolated and scattered t-storms. What’s the difference anyway; either might ruin plans for outdoor activities. Oh well; we’ll make the most of whatever Mother Nature dishes out.

P.S. We didn’t have to wait until we’re at a full hook-up site next week to test the dishwasher. With 25% of the tank still empty, we decided to use it last night, and again today. Not only is the machine operational once again (thanks, Mui), but it uses less water than I do when washing the dishes by hand. Output increased the grey water by just 4-6%, depending on the cycle used. That’s a good thing!

BRRP: Half & Half

Sunday, 4 September

We spent half of today sightseeing in rural Manassas; a fun change of pace. We spent the other half of the day chilling at Bull Run Regional Park (BRRP); that was fun, too. If this is what we can expect of fulltiming — when those days get here — we’re in for a treat. Actually, we know it will be even better, because we’ll be exploring not just places we’re familiar with, but brand new horizons as well.

We were up early. It was still dark out; and looked even darker with the daytime shades covering the windows. We know that if we want to go exploring, we can’t dally long around the house — or the motorhome, as the case may be. No browsing the web; no checking emails; and definitely no reading blogs. With that in mind, we had a simple breakfast and prepared for a morning of sightseeing. Even without any dalliance, though, it was 8:00a by the time we made it out the door. The temp was comfortable, but rising with increased humidity. Overhead, a canopy of thick white clouds screened out the sunshine. The light was dull — too dull for good photography — but we didn’t let that deter us.

The drive from BRRP to Manassas National Battlefield Park was short, and soon we were strolling around one of the less-visited areas of the 5,073-acre (20.53 sq km) park. I’m going to do a separate post on this portion of our morning, but in the meantime …

The Groveton Confederate Cemetery was established in 1867,
two years after the end of the Civil War.

Since I’m not sharing any other photos from the battlefield in this post, here are a few from unexpected finds and encounters we had this morning.

Stonewall Memory Gardens

Stonewall Memory Gardens

Friendly horses pose for Mui.

Out for a Sunday morning ride.

A bit of color on a dull September day.

By 10:00a, the humidity was high enough to make strolling about uncomfortable. After a quick drive to the Manassas post office to drop off the Netflix DVD we watched last night, we returned to BRRP for an afternoon of doing absolutely nothing. (Except for a quick trip to a nearby pharmacy to pick up some Benadryl for the sudden-onset of itchy hands I developed while processing photos. I’ve had this happen before, and a dose of antihistamine quickly takes care of the problem. Already, the itch is all but gone.)

Before I end this post, here’s a bit of a coincidence that struck me as odd. I took the pictures after the rain passed through yesterday, but since that day’s post was already long, I thought I’d wait until today to post these.

The sites behind us are occupied by dark-colored Class A RVs ...

... The sites ahead of us are occupied by white fivers.

Dinner time is at hand — French bread pizza (frozen, I’m afraid; keeping it simple) and a big salad is on the menu. But first, I’m going to take advantage of the cooling temperature to go for a walk around the campground. The sky is overcast and the clouds look heavy with rain, but so far we’ve not had a drop of the liquid stuff forecasted for today. We’ll see how tomorrow’s weather shakes out.