Day 28: Drive to State College (28 Aug 14)

Made the drive through the rolling green hills of Pennsylvania to State College.  The weather is gorgeous - sunny and cool.  This is the first time we've been able to sit outside since we left Ft Huachuca - not humid , no biting bugs, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Lots of breweries in State College, and we discovered our first one today - the Happy Valley Brewing Company.  Gotta love the name (especially since it's what the locals also call the Mt Washington Valley, where we live in NH).  Food was phenomenal - local, fresh, innovative.  Beer was decent too. Definitely not the college bar we feared it would be.

Tomorrow:  Riding trails where the local legend is that the elves come out every night to sharpen the rocks.  Should be interesting for our crash tally.

Day 27: The Great Allegheny Passage (27 Aug 14)

No good singletrack in the area, so we set off on a rail trail, the Great Allegheny Passage, which is part of the C. & O (Chesapeake and Ohio) rail trail. It was so pretty - just flat and relatively straight, but along the river the whole way and under big leafy trees. We brought the pups for the first 2 miles, but Sunday's little legs couldn't keep up, so we brought them both back to the RV while we headed out for another 20 miles without them.

Upon our return, Jen took Finn out for a ride by himself. 4 miles of all-out running, with a couple of dips in the river to cool off. Damn, that dog can run!!

But no, that wasn't the end of pup adventures - after that, we took them both down to the boat dock to swim. There was a flock of about 20 geese swimming there - both dogs went into full-on herding mode, and swam out to the geese, trying to circle them. Luckily for us, even when they are heading, both dogs do an immediate about-face when Doug uses his "commando voice", which he did every time they looked like they were going to get attacked by angry geese.  They both survived their adventures and lived to herd another day. Video here:  Herding geese in Pennsylvania: HERE

The rest of the afternoon was filled with travel planning and some work stuff for Jen.  Tomorrow, off to State College, PA.

Day 26: Boring travel day (26 Aug 14)

Nothing much to report today. Drove to Connellsville, Pennsylvania.  Because of the holiday weekend coming up, our travel plans are odd, due to non-availability of campgrounds amd/or 2 &  3 day minimums at a lot of places.

No good mtn biking here, but the campground is right on the C & O rail trail, so that was good for a long pup walk and some good ball throwing for Sunday.  Jen was happy that we passed a farm stand on the way here, so she loaded up on local zucchini, tomatoes, corn, melon and peppers (and Doug is relieved to not have to hear her whine about needing vegetables any more!)

Had another "new state" ceremony on our map when we got here. Nothing much else to report from sleepy PA.

Day 25: MTB & beer Bust (25 Aug 14)

Tried mtn biking in West Virginia today, but wouldn't put it up there with our list of favorite places. Weather was beautiful, but it must have rained a lot here this summer because the trails were just slick slick mud and slimy roots. Add that to the ginormous spiders across the trail every few feet, and I'd say we did more walking than riding. We both kept whining "I wanna go back to Arizona!"  We didn't even do the whole trail - bailed out after only 4 miles.

Then we went to check out the downtown area, and of course visit the much-hyped Tap Room (not a brewery, but they purported to have over 100 beers from around the world on tap).  Well, after wandering around for far too long, we finally found it, but it was closed and locked up,  out of business!  Bust #2 for the day. So we bought some cupcakes from a cute little bakery and went back to the RV.

Tomorrow:  Pennsylvania.

Day 24: West Virginia (cue the banjos!)

We were supposed to stay in Knox one more day, but when we woke up to more rain, we decided to move on.  Of course, we had no cell or Internet service at Knox, so we had to drive into town for a signal.  Lucky for Doug, we found a signal at J-Bobs diner, so we did our research and made reservations over a breakfast of diner food. Doug reached far back to his southern roots and had some kind of meat and hash-brown filled omelet smothered in gravy (See photo).  Something tells me it's going to be a long trip in the truck today.........

Arrived in West Virginia this afternoon, to a cute little campground in between Huntington and Charleston.  Weather is better - still humid , but temps are back down to the 80s.  The pups immediately found a green slime covered pond and dove in, which meant Jen had to give them both baths. They were not happy. 😞

Since it was never dry enough in KY to do our new state ceremony on our map, we did a double-new state ceremony here tonight. We've both been here before, but first time in the RV.

Tomorrow checking out some MTB trails, and well, you know, if a brewery just happens to pop up, we'll be obligated to support the local business. 😉

Day 23: Ft Knox, KY

Left STL long before the sun came up to head east to Ft. Knox, Kentucky.  Even at 0400, opening the door of the RV was like entering a sauna. Blech.

Stayed at Camp Carlson, another Army MWR area just outside of Ft Knox.  It was beautiful - acres of the greenest lawns, huge green trees and a lake. The pups had a blast running around on the grass - much softer than desert rocks. Unfortunately, the weather still sucked - a little cooler than STL, but still miserable. So we just ran some errands and then sat in the air conditioning. Saturday evening, we went over to Jen's old boss's house, COL Cody, who is now the SJA here at Knox. By that time it was a torrential downpour (See photo below) so we sat inside and drank beer and complained about the Army. 😆

Day 22: St Louis (22 Aug 14)

Drove to St. Louis this morning. Staying at a KOA just west of the city - less than a mile from Six Flags.  We thought about spending a day at Six Flags, but it's still in the 90s with over 60% humidity, and schools not in session yet here, so we figured it would be packed with screaming children (remember, Jen gets hives).  So we'll save that for another trip. BTW, remind us that the next time we decide to move across the country (of course there will be a next time), to do it in the spring or fall!

First stop in the STL was White Castle for Doug.  He's been planning for this for several states now, so it was an important stop.  The truck now smells like onions and grease, and he keeps holding his stomach saying "I don't feel so good" but apparently that's a sign that everything met his expectations.  Even the pups got in on the WC action, chowing down on the French fries Doug saved for them. 

Right behind the WC was a sign for a store named "Dickey Bub Farm & Home" . How do you NOT go into a store named "Dickey Bub"?  Turned out to be like a CalRanch, and Doug even found the screws he needed to fix something on the RV. I guess that makes us honorary hillbillies.

Since we hadn't been to any middle-america brewpubs, we had to find one here. Surprisingly, we found one in a little industrial town called Pacific - looked like a dive from the outside, but they had good beer, great food, cold air conditioning, and excellent service.  Of course, Doug didn't need to eat because he was still holding his stomach from all the WC.

Not a bad stopover, all things considered.  O'dark-thirty departure tomorrow morning, headed to Kentucky.

Day 21: Ozarks MTB & a ride in a boat (21 Aug 14)

Out early to beat the "record breaking heat wave" and sample some Ozarks trails. It was still hotter than hell, even at 0730, and with the humidity, we were, again, soaked before we even left the parking lot. We are not going to fare so well back in DC... ugh.

Ride was a lot of fun. Swoopy single-track, a lite bit of up, and a whole lotta down. Not too many spiders, but we did have to "brake for turtles" and turkeys and squirrels.

In the afternoon, we rented a pontoon boat here at the Lake camp and tooled around on the Lake for a few hours. Pups were so funny - these desert dogs have never been on a boat and had no idea why the ground under them kept moving.  Once they realized how good the breeze felt, they both had their heads hanging over the railing. We finally got them off and into the water with us.  Just. Like yesterday, Sunday was a swimmin fool, and Finn was terrified. Once we got them back in the boat, they both passed out in the sun.  Good day to be a Norvell dog!

Tomorrow off to St. Louis, where Doug already has his first White Castle mapped out.

Day 20: Drive to Lake of the Ozarks

Long drive to a camp at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.  We are staying at a camp right on the lake that is run by the Army MWR (Morale, Welfare & Recreation).  There's a small RV lot and about 20 cabins that people can rent.  If it weren't for the "record breaking heat wave" and 50% humidity, we'd be loving it.
Our only adventure today, other than driving here, was to take our desert dogs swimming in the lake. Sunday jumped right in and paddled her little paws off. Finn was terrified and needed lots of encouragement from Mommy. See video HERE

AT&T hates Missouri

Apologies for no updates the past few days, but we have been off the grid. Neither of us has had a cell signal since we left Kansas, and the Wi-Fi at the RV park sucked. We are heading down to the Lake of the Ozarks now, and don't expect to have any service there either (AT&T really does hate Missouri).  Posts about the past few days are here now, and we'll post about our adventures at the hot & humid Lake of the Ozarks when we get service again in a few days!

Day 19: Humid Humid Humid MTB & catching up with BFFs

Tried to beat the heat and humidity by getting out early this morning, but we were both soaked before we even left the parking lot at the trailhead! Blech. 😰

Trails were fun - clearly built by mountain bikers for mountain bikers.  Mostly smooth and swoopy, with just a few wet roots and rocks thrown in for a little challenge. The real challenge, though, was not eating too many ginormous spiders. It rained last night, so the spiders were all out rebuilding their webs across the trail. Jen assumed her usual position in front, and did a good job clearing several webs, until she cleared one with her face and the giant orange spider wound up inside her helmet.  After a lot of spitting, screaming, and helmet throwing, Doug took over as Chief Spider Killer and frontman.  Ten miles later, we were both covered in mud & spider webs, and drenched in sweat. Blech.  The good news was there was a LOT of air. Breathing was SO easy - just breathe in and fill the lungs. (If you've never biked/run/hiked at 8500 feet, just trust us on this one!) 😛

After showers and soaking up lots of air conditioning, we drove over to Leavenworth to visit Lisa & Dave, good friends from our DC days. We haven't seen them since 2010,and had never met their 2 kids, who have both been born since then. It was a great night of catching up and devouring some awesome homemade brisket.  Sadly, we were all yawning by 9:30, so the rest of our catching up will have to wait until next year when Lisa (hopefully) gets reassigned to a job in DC.

Day 18: Driving to Missouri (18 Aug 14)

Another driving day. Made it to Missouri, just over the Kansas state line. Hot and humid. We're both melting after getting so used to desert and mountain climates. 

We are at a nice "camping resort" with lots of green grass for the pups and some wooded walking trails with zillions of squirrels!!!. Today was back-to-school day for Missouri kids, so the place is empty. We haven't visited a single pool yet on this trip because they are always filled with screaming children (which makes Jen break out in hives), but Jen actually enjoyed some time in an empty pool here this afternoon.  There was another "new state" ceremony, adding MO to our RV map. (we've both been here before, - Doug lived here for the first 5 years of his life -  but this is the first time in the RV).

Tomorrow - MTB and catching up with friends.