The Maine Thing Is…

I’m currently in the northern part of Maine.  In a little town called Jackman, at Moose River Campground.  I’m so far north that it’s only 15 miles to the Canadian border.  It’s a different world up here.  Very peaceful, very beautiful.  Very sparsely populated. It’s also fall in an off-again/on-again kind of way.   A lot of the leaves are already turning.  A couple of the nights have been in the low 50’s, although it’s back in the 80’s today.

the view from my campsite

The skies here are incredible, both day and night.  The cloud formations are intense and varied from one part of the sky to the next.   The night sky is the big thing.  Really big.  And really full of stars.  I’ve been in places with low degrees of light pollution before, where the stars really jumped out at you.  But here they are spectacular.  The Milky Way is so intense it almost looks like a stripe of cloud across the heavens.  A couple of nights ago I was standing and staring, trying to get my fill of this incredible sky before heading to bed.   A shooting star blazed across from one side of the horizon to the other like an endless bolt of arrow-straight lightning.    Perfect.

The forests are almost like a movie set.   I’ve seen wooden cut-outs of tall pines with a moose under the trees.   Cutesy stuff for tourists to take home and set on a shelf.    But up here, particularly when the pines are silhouetted against the night sky, it is the cute cut-out brought to life.   The only thing I haven’t seen up here is an actual moose.  I’ve seen dozens of signs warning of moose crossings for the next 10 or 15 miles, but no moose to go with the signs.

ruins in the woods

I’ve ridden all over this area on my little motorcycle.  Put at least 250 miles on it, and seen a minimum of a dozen lakes.    Almost seems like more water than land.  Each lake is more beautiful than the last.    Tiny islands dot the waters, brooks while streams and rivers flow into and out of them and criss-cross the land.  The air is heady with the sweet-spicy-fruity smell of the pines.  The white bark of the birches gleams in the sun and lights up sections of the forest.   I’m never in a hurry to get where I’m going.  I might miss something even more breathtaking than the last bit of scenery.

Long Pond lake

People in Maine really seem to embrace the outdoors.  Almost every car or truck I see has a canoe, kayak or ATV on it or being towed by it.   Sometimes all three toys at once.   Outdoor sports are big up here, very much a part of everyday life.

stream

The campground I’m in is very quiet.  Last week it was just me and one other person on the other side of the campground.  Then Labor Day weekend came and the place filled to capacity.

I’ve never seen so many ATV’s in my life.  Four-wheel off-road vehicles are a way of life up here, except in winter when it’s snowmobiles.   The trailers hauling the ATV’s were often larger than the camper or trailer the people were staying in for the weekend.    If it was mom and dad and two teens, then there were at least three (if not four) ATV’s.

People from Maine go to bed early (lights out by 9 PM for the most part) and get up early too.  All to have more time driving their ATVs on the ubiquitous off-road tracks.  I think there are more trails for off-road riding than there are roads for cars and trucks.   People from the campground would head out after breakfast and not return until dark, or after, covered in mud.   They all seemed to have a wonderful time at it, but I prefer my pursuits a little tamer and a lot quieter!

But once they all headed out for the day, peace once again reigned in the campground.   Now it’s Monday, and almost everyone is gone again.  It’s just me and the birds and insects.   And one guy on the other side of the campground.   I suspect there are a lot of other critters out there too (I’ve seen a lot of porcupine road-kill…), but they’re very shy.

grasshopper

I leave here tomorrow to head to Bangor for shopping and restocking, then it’s on to Acadia National Park.  But I’m going to miss the peacefulness of this place.  It has been a pleasure.

campground pond falls

 

 

Last Train to Parksville (TN)….and Ohio

OK, I admit it, I’m lazy. I’m having entirely too much fun. Life on the road is sweet. There is so much beauty around every corner that I’m finding it hard to edit the photos and get these posts up. By the time a week passes I can easily have taken over 100 pictures and visited half a dozen places that took my breath away. So how do I possibly keep up? I’m starting to realize that it just isn’t possible. So, but for a few exceptions, I’m not even going to try. Posts like this one that hit the highlights of several places I’ve been are likely to become the norm.

Of course, I may change my mind about that tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here’s some of where I’ve been and what I’ve seen:
First stop–Parksville Lake campground, Tennessee. This one was the termination of a long, somewhat-white-knuckle drive to reach. The campground is near one end of a long, sinuous canyon. Unfortunately I started from the far end. So 40 or 50 miles of two-lane highway that snaked along a cliff-face on one side, gray rock wall soaring higher than I could see in many places. (Taking the time to look up could easily have resulted in a fatality, me or someone else…) The other side of the road, the on-coming lane side, there was a river. A beautiful, raucous, meandering, narrow, white-water river that widened into a series of lakes along the route. Until the canyon narrowed again and the river re-formed.

There were no passing lanes on the road, but not a lot of steep grade either. What there were were curves. Lots of curves, “S”, switchbacks, wicked bends that repeated many times per mile. Most were marked with a speed limit of 30 mph down to 15 mph. To add to the fun, semis also use this route. And they’re always in a hurry. If I kept my eyes on the road I could keep to a speed that wouldn’t tick off those drivers, but I want to actually SEE the country. And there was almost no place on the road with an area to pull over large enough for my RV. Which means I also didn’t get any pictures. I do plan to go back to the area again. It was too beautiful for so short a stay.

There were two campgrounds in the area I was headed for. The lower one is very small, probably less than 25 sites. The upper one is much larger, but I didn’t get that far. The small one is several miles closer to the road I had been on. And it was almost empty when I got there. The sites were flat. There was electricity and a nice restroom and shower house. The setting was fabulous, with a little stream off to one side and lots of spring flowers in bloom. Squaw root, wild geraniums, Jack-in-the-pulpit, Carolina Silver Bells, foam flower, dogwood, iris and many more that I don’t know the names of.

tiny flowers each less than 1/4 inch across

some kind of lily

Carolina silver bells

Jack-in-the-pulpit

foam flower

The second day there, I hiked up to Rainbow falls with the couple that were the camp hosts. Nice people. It had rained for a couple of days before I got there and stream below the falls was high. In two areas where you can usually cross on rocks it was easier just to wade. At least for me. Less chance of falling and dunking my camera. It was a week before my boots dried. (I forgot that there are two layers of insoles…)

Parksville campground

rainbow falls

squaw root

Anyway, another great place I have to go back to. From there it was on to Atlanta and Allatoona Lake. But that was another post.

From there I went thru KY to visit my ex- mother-in-law’s place. She died while I was in Florida, a couple of days after I had talked to her on the phone and promised to come see her in the spring when I went back north. I felt like I needed to honor the promise to go there.

From there, I spent a couple of weeks in St. Louis before going to the Escapees rally in Goshen, IN.

After I left the rally, I spent a few days at a place called Camp Timberlake in IN. I chose the place because it was closest to a small (very small) town called Roann that I passed through on my way up to Goshen. As I drove through the town the first time, I crossed a bridge that paralleled a broad spillway from a large mill-pond. The restored mill perched alongside. It was so “picture perfect” that I stopped in the middle of the bridge and took a quick picture. Then I promised myself I would come back and actually see the place.

clouds at camp Timberlake

Timberlake was a very nice, but rather expensive (at least as regards what I usually pay) campground. There’s a small lake full of fish, boats and canoes for rent, a new zip line with rope bridges and all kinds of goodies (I’ll pass, my balance isn’t what it used to be), full hook-ups, etc. The owners are really trying to make it something special. The older section of the campground has primitive sites and sites with just water and electric, plus some fulls.

Lake at Timberlake

Like many campgrounds, it’s peaceful during the week. Not so much on the weekend. I only got the spend the weekend because someone cancelled at the last minute and I had already let the office know that I wanted the first cancellation that came in. I had to move to a different site, but at least I had a site.

I drove back to Roann while I was there, like I had planned. It turned out to be even smaller than I had thought. I went to the covered bridge (1877) first. Cars still use this bridge. It spans the Eel River. Next to it is a quaint little cemetery. I like old graveyards. I like trying to find the oldest dates I can on the headstones. Reading the inscriptions. All that stuff. Peaceful. Also a great spot to take pictures of the bridge from.

spillway at mill

I talked to a couple of women who were out walking (residents of the town.) From them I learned about a diner in town where I got a great BLT and vanilla shake for a very reasonable price. Then I went next door to an antique store and found an inlaid wood serving tray that was the perfect size to become a cabinet door in the bedroom for only $16.00. (I removed the bedroom TV and turned its “hole” into storage) It’s a little rustic but with quite a bit of detail and the price was right. I strapped it to the back of the bike and went out to the old mill.

view of bridge from graveyard

Stockdale mill

It’s very picturesque. I wish I could have seen the inside of the place, but it turned out to only be open on Saturday. I was there on Friday. Oh well, the pictures of the outside are nice.

bridge inside, detail

inside bridge

Roann bridge

From Roann the next stop was Berlin Lake in Ohio. Another Corps of Engineers campground, older than most of the others I have stayed at, so more rustic and in need of TLC. But again, beautiful. Huge lake. Without a power boat of some kind I don’t know how you could see it all. I took my new kayak on her maiden voyage there. It’s the two piece unit I bought in St. Louis. Swedish design. Snaps together and is very sturdy. Has inflatable lumbar support in the seat back and foot controlled rudder. Very sweet. It was windy the day I took it out. Just a little pressure with the proper foot and I was always headed in the direction I wanted to go without having to paddle extra strokes to compensate for the off-course push of the wind.

blowing bubbles …

rhododendron

small part of the campground

sunset, part two

lake sunset

Home at Berlin Lake

I had a great visit there, then headed for PA, on my way to Washington DC.

Sailing Beyond Ocean Pond to Atlanta

Still catching up here. Probably always will be at this point. Writing these posts tends to take a back seat to having fun. Funny how that works…
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After I ran away from the ticks in Ocala National Forest, I headed for Osceola National Forest. I had heard good things about Ocean Pond campground there. It wasn’t that long a drive and I arrived in plenty of time to set up the RV before dark. Unfortunately, I was not only following spring, I was also following the tail of spring break. I thought it had ended. Silly me. Since I was now at the top of Florida, near the GA line, I ran into the kids on break from that state. That meant that the (very) few sites in the campground that had electricity were taken. Almost all the sites have water hook-ups in Ocean Pond (except the rustic tent sites), but it was electricity I wanted. I had full water tanks but I still don’t have the solar panels I want.

ocean pond campsite

Over half the sites in the campground are right on the shore of Ocean Pond. So if you have a canoe, kayak or other small water conveyance that can be launched from shore, waterfront is the way to go. I still didn’t have my kayak, but I took waterfront anyway. I hooked up to the water, put out the slides and awning and prepared to chill for a few days. The weather was warm and the scenery pleasant.

Ocean Pond

Ocean Pond is a much, much larger body of water than Clearwater Lake was. So I was wondering why it was called a pond. Turns out that its deepest point is usually about 12 feet. It was at “flood” stage during my visit so it was probably nearer to 13 feet deep. Not exactly deep. It was therefore not too surprising that none of the boats I saw on the lake were all that large. Lots of jet skis, canoes, kayaks and fishing boats instead.

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The next morning I took Topper for his walk and found that someone in the electric loop had decided to leave early. I brought in the awning and slides in record time and moved over to my new site before anyone else noticed the vacancy. Lucky me! I could turn on the microwave without first starting my generator. My generator is large enough to run almost everything in the RV at the same time, so it burns quite a bit of gas. I’m planning to pick up a small, inexpensive generator (about 1000 watts) just for keeping my batteries charged so that I don’t have to run the big one every time the batteries need feeding. At least until I get the solar panels I want….and for those extended rainy periods that are bound to happen sooner or later.

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Anyway, I now had the site I wanted and Topper and I went exploring. We headed off on a path that ran into the woods. After a few minutes I heard a woodpecker doing its thing and looked around to see if I could spot it. It wasn’t hard. There was a big pileated woodpecker on the side of a dead pine. Its head was back-lit by the sun and its bright, red crest was glowing like a flame. I tried to get a picture, but it fled the scene before I could get the shot. Bummer. I did get a couple of nice pics of a butterfly on a thistle flower, just not the bird pic I really wanted.

butterfly on thistle

After a few days, the weather turned again, back to cold and rainy. I was finding Ocean Pond not really to my liking. It was very noisy and the “neighbors” were, for the most part, not exactly a class act. After staying up most of the previous night due to the drunken party across from me, I decided to go elsewhere.

wildflowers

The drive up into GA was beautiful in spite of the rain. Wildflowers covered the roadsides and wisteria vines were cloaking the trees from top to bottom in their beautiful blossoms. The trees were covered with them for miles. It was heavenly, wisteria is one of my favorite flowers.

wisteria in the rain

Once in GA I started looking for a campground in a different national forest that my GPS swore was there. According to the into on that lying device, the campground had electric and water and was handicap accessible. I’m assuming that the info was bogus, because the road that (according to the GPS) led to the campground was dirt, very narrow, went straight up a hill, would have required four-wheel drive to access and looked anything but promising. I found a place to turn around and went back the way I came. I had passed a private campground a few miles earlier that looked pretty and darkness was coming on.

Skeenah Mill

I arrived at the Skeenah Mill campground about 30 minutes before the light totally failed and got hooked up. It was a great relief to get off the steep, winding roads of the area. The rain continued after a brief respite, but Topper, the kitties and I were snug in our new location.

my site

inside old mill

mill sign

The woman who owned the campground had built a dock out over the mill-pond and kept a large can full of fish food for feeding the enormous trout that lived in the pond. I threw a couple of handfuls of food into the water and was rewarded by a frenzy of activity from the fish. There were at least 50 fish leaping out of the water and fighting over the food, many of them the colorful rainbow variety. The owner doesn’t allow fishing in the pond, the fish are too tame there, they are her “pets”. But any fish that go over the dam into the creek below are fair game. Fresh trout sounded good, but I didn’t have any way to catch them. And even if I did, it would have meant my having to clean them, after catching and killing them…..and that’s just too much like work. So I entertained myself with making them fatter and taking their pictures.

rainbow trout

trout feeding frenzy

I only stayed at the campground two days as it was too expensive for my taste (over $40 per night….yikes!) and the rain was refusing to leave. So I left and headed on up to Atlanta.

dam overflow

Skeenah Creek

I made it up to the northern ‘burbs and Allatoona Lake by the early afternoon. There are quite a few Corps of Engineers campgrounds on the lake, but in April only two of them are open. I picked one, got a site and set up with a divine view of the lake.

Allatoona camp site

I chose Allatoona because it is near my friend Judy’s house and it was a good excuse to spend some time with someone I like, who makes me laugh and could also do my taxes! What’s not to like? Atlanta was also covered in wisteria, so riding around on my little motorcycle was fun, once the rain stopped and the weather warmed up at least a little.
I spent about a week enjoying the scenery and the company (at least until it got too close to April 15th and Judy had to work too many hours…) and wandering around the lake. Once again I was really unhappy that I still hadn’t been able to get the kayak I wanted. The good news on that front was that the West Marine store in Atlanta put me in touch with the manager of the West Marine in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles. He was able to order the kayak I had been looking for and would have it waiting for me when I hit St. Louis. Joy! The kayak I had my heart set on was a new one out of Sweden that comes apart for transport. Two halves, each weighing less than 30 pounds and slightly over four-and-one-half feet long. No problem getting half on the bumper with the bike and half inside when I travel. Looking forward to seeing it. And trying it out on the water.

more sunset

sunset on lake

Ocala You Later, When It’s Clear(water)

Before I get into the subject of my stay in Ocala National Forest, just a few observations on my life on the road over the past three or four months. First, I’ve always liked spring and fall better than summer or winter. I like the gentleness of those seasons. They don’t overwhelm like summer and winter often do. One season is a re-awakening of life, the other is nature’s wandering toward slumber. Both are beautiful in their own ways.

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Spring arrives in southern Florida around the end of January, which is exactly where I was at that point in time. As the Everglades warmed and the arrival of mosquito season loomed, I went just a little way north and lingered while spring found its way there. I continued following spring’s leading edge as it crept up the Florida peninsula. Palmetto gave way to oak, then pine and later still to dogwood and redbud as I wandered north.

Happy Topper at home

Instead of the two to four divine weeks of really pleasant weather that comprised a St. Louis spring, I’ve had four months now. By the time summer finds me, I will be far enough north that triple digit days will be a most unlikely occurrence. I’m not saying that every day is flawless, but I do wake up every morning feeling like it’s just another day in Paradise. Since I’m avoiding large cities as much as possible and camping in national forests or state parks, it pretty much IS paradise. When the view of my current “yard and garden” gets to be too familiar there is another place just as beautiful a little way down the road.

Home at Clearwater Lake campground

I am avoiding interstate highways as much as possible. The back-roads are much more interesting. And far nicer to look at. Yes, they can be steep, narrow and winding. The going is slower, frequently much slower. But my agenda is loose and my time my own. This is all about the journey, any “destination” is only a mid-point on the way to somewhere else. A place where I can linger as long or as briefly as I feel like staying. It took me awhile to get the hang of that nowhere-I-have-to-be mentality, but I think I’ve got it down pretty good now. I try to keep track of which day is Saturday, because it’s really hard to find a campsite on a Saturday , they tend to be filled with people who only have weekends to recreate. When moving to a new area I usually drive on Sunday, Monday and/or Tuesday. It makes finding a camping site so much easier.

sunset, Clearwater Lake

The final observation here is about loneliness. I’m traveling with two cats and a dog for companionship. There is the potential to miss human interaction. But I’m rather outgoing by nature and campgrounds are frequently full of other people. I have met more really great people just by saying “hi”. I have gone sightseeing, hiking, etc. with people I met only a few hours before in the campground we were all staying at. A wonderful time was generally had by all. Plus I have lots and lots of CD’s and music is one of my favorite foods (feeding the soul instead of the stomach.) With the excellent new sound system I had installed, I find it almost impossible to feel isolated or unhappy.

old palmettos

So, on to Ocala National Forest and Clearwater Lake campground.
The campground is just outside the tiny town of Paisley, FL. Blink and you really will miss the whole town. But just past the post office and Dollar Store is the turn-off to the campground. There are two loops of campsites bordering one side of the lake. The lower loop has several sites that back up to the lake, the upper loop has direct access to the trails and service roads that criss-cross the forest. Lots of hiking opportunities along with diverse flora and fauna.

Forest trail and Spanish moss

The lake is quite small, but has a nice sand beach and a pleasant trail skirts the circumference. Topper and I enjoyed walking it each afternoon. A pair of Sandhill cranes had taken up residence on a point of land that jutted into the lake. They were always strutting about the area. They woke us up each morning shortly after dawn calling to each other. Their calls also got Davey (cat) quite excited, but as soon as both the cat and the birds calmed down, I could go back to sleep for an hour or so. A most pleasant way to start the day.

Sandhill cranes

There were several other people in the campground that had been staying there for weeks in some cases, months in others. (Some campgrounds allow you to stay as long as six months at certain times of the year. Particularly unimproved campgrounds….those that don’t provide water, sewer or electricity at each site.) As it turned out most of them were really nice, outgoing people and Topper and I ended up hanging out with them fairly often. Ten of us (along with two dogs) even ended up spending the day on the St. John river on a rented pontoon boat.

St. John’s river

white heron, flexible neck

boat trip, St. John’s river

The scenery was wonderful and there were plenty of birds, turtles and the like offering themselves for photo ops. We even saw a mama manatee and her little one gliding along in the river, in spite of the fact that most of the manatees had already left the area to move closer to the ocean. I got lots of wonderful pictures along the way and had a great time. Thanks George. (It was his idea and he set the whole thing up!)

critters

nesting heron

I had originally planned to spend a week to ten days there, it ended up being three weeks. The only time the place was noisy was Saturday night when the weekenders were there. The rest of the time it was so peaceful that it was hard to believe that the place was at least half-full most of the time. On Saturday night it was almost always full. Some of the week-end people were loud, some were quiet, some were just stupid. Like the guy who decided to teach his kid how to use an axe by telling him to cut down one of the small trees in their campsite so that they could use the (green) wood for their campfire. They ended up spending the weekend at home after they were asked to leave. (Hello? You’re in a national forest. Cutting down the trees in the campground is not on the list of acceptable activities.)

Topper meets tortoise

gopher tortoise

Unfortunately, with warmer weather came warm weather insects. The deer ticks must have all hatched at the same time. Suddenly there were ticks everywhere. After every walk I would have to pick four to six ticks off the dog and two or three off me. That got old pretty fast. I stayed out of the woods for a few days, which improved the tick situation, but not my mood, or Topper’s. Another hike around the lake resulted in more ticks, so it was time to move on. Which was a bit of a bummer, as the spoonleaf sundew were just about to bloom. I really wanted to see what their flowers looked like, but I had had enough of picking off ticks, so onward and northward to a new locale.

weird fungus

‘gators on the river

lichen bloom

A Great Divide

As much fun as visiting family near Denver was, I eventually had to move on. I needed to cross the Rockies and continue my westward journey. This was not done without some measure of trepidation. I had no idea how my new RV would handle on the steep rises and downgrades of the passage above Denver.

Denver itself is “only” about 5500 above sea level. High enough that the altitude and shortage of oxygen takes some getting used to. But no big deal in comparison to how high the Rocky Mountains actually are. Topper and I would be crossing at over 11,000 feet, quite a jump from where I had been for the past few days.

I needn’t have been concerned.

It turned out that the worst part of the trip was all the construction and the traffic back-ups created by it. The first section of stop-and-go lasted about 45 minutes and ended before I got really sick of it. The scenery was so nice that the slow-down simply allowed me more time to take it all in.

Approaching the Rockies

About the time the traffic started to flow again, the really steep climb started. Yes, I had to go a little slower, but not nearly as slow as many of the loaded semis. I only fell below 40 mph one time when I was blocked in behind a truck carrying a load so large that it was barely doing 20.

And through it all, the temperature gauge on my RV never wavered. It stayed exactly where it had been on the flattest roads. I was really pleased. There were a lot of cars sitting on the side of the road with their hoods open whose owners would have loved to say the same. I hit the Eisenhower Tunnel and sailed on through. The Eisenhower was the first of the two tunnels built through the peaks to facilitate the traffic flow across the Continental Divide. It carries the west-bound traffic. The Johnson tunnel was built alongside a few years later and carries the east-bound traffic. Both tunnels are quite long, but well-lit and are quite comfortable to drive.

Eisenhower Tunnel

Almost as soon as I exited on the other side of the divide, the really beautiful scenery started. Since it had snowed just a couple of days before, there was still plenty of snow on the higher peaks. Just enough to give everything that “picture postcard” look. Which meant that I felt obligated to stop at almost every scenic overlook to take a few pictures.

after exiting the tunnel

It had been at least 18 years since I had driven across this section of the Rockies, so all the pictures I have of the area predate the digital age. And many have suffered the fading colors that so many photos of the film-era have fallen victim to. So it was nice to have the chance to update my mementos of the area.

A little fall color

Scenic overlook

There are several areas with long, steep down-grades on the other side of the divide–along with a few more steep climbs. The down-grades are posted with signs that limit vehicles over 26,000 pounds to speeds of 45 mph and under. They also let you know just how many miles that grade will last. The longest, steepest grades have special ramps built off the side of the road to allow trucks that lose their brakes on the way down to have a place to come to a stop. If you’ve never driven a really steep mountain road you don’t realize just how necessary they can be.

Truck escape ramp

I was very happy with the way the new RV handled. It took the “downs” as well as it had taken the “ups”. It has a grade brake that allows the engine to take a lot of the load off the regular brakes–very similar to the type of braking system that a semi uses. Not as hefty, but it certainly got the job done. A flip of the switch and I never had to worry about my brakes over-heating. Since the manual that came with the RV lists its weight at around 22,000 pounds (without gas, water or personal items on board), it’s not something you want to have get away from you….

After the worst of the ups-and-downs was over, I stopped to take pictures at a rest area just before the off-ramp for Cooper Mountain. There was a stream and small lake beside the rest area with hiking trails leading off into the mountains. Topper and I took a short hike around the lake and gave our butts a rest and our legs a little work-out. We both enjoyed it immensely, Topper probably more than me. I can tell he misses the freedom to run without a leash that he enjoyed while we were in the Black Hills.

Reflections on our hike

Cooper Mtn. exit

We later ran into another construction zone that took over an hour for us to clear, which meant that I didn’t get as far as I would have liked for the day. But so what…..if anything the section we were semi-parked in was even prettier than the last place where traffic was slow. We ended up stopping at a campground in the town of Silt and calling it a day. It was a nice enough place, located right on the edge of the Colorado River, and we had a peaceful and restful night.

Colorado River at our campground in Silt, C)

Camping in Capernaum

While searching for a place to camp for the weekend in the area I was heading towards, I ran across a place that (1) sounded interesting and (2) gave me a discount because I’m an Escapees member. So I called the number in the guide book and spoke to a nice-sounding woman on the phone. She informed me that the Capernaum Campground was a Christian campground and they didn’t allow smoking or drinking on the premises. I told her that that wouldn’t be a problem for me. I also said that I noticed that they had fellowship on Sunday evening and that it sounded wonderful to me as I had been missing my church and meeting with the small groups I belong to from that church while I’ve been on the road.

She said that everyone seemed to enjoy the fellowship time, then mentioned that someone else would be meeting me to show me to my site as she had to go away for a couple of days to help someone move. OK, that works for me.

In due time I reached the place, which turned out to be a retreat center with several small cabins scattered about the grounds and a couple of meeting rooms in addition to a small campground with a few sites situated under some large oak trees. All-in-all it was very inviting. The grounds were beautifully manicured and landscaped. The azaleas were in bloom. Just beyond the office there was a large lake. A gentle slope led down to the lake and dock, with a couple of wooden bench-swings at the top of the slope and some other benches placed around a fire pit at the bottom. There were areas around the grounds where there were more benches placed in secluded nooks for prayer and mediation.

cottages

I was met by a pleasant man when I pulled in who helped me pick out a site, then left me to get hooked up and settled in. He came by awhile later to pick up the site fee, all very informal.   After that I wandered down to the lake to watch the sunset, startling several white ibis that were perched on the dock rail. It was incredibly peaceful and I looked forward to a quiet weekend spent in lovely surroundings.  I was not disappointed.

Sunset

campground

I just didn’t know how quiet it would be. It seems that the people who lived on the grounds didn’t much associate with those who came to camp there. I saw a couple of people over the next two days when I was out walking the dog or taking pictures by the lake, but mostly from a distance. There just weren’t many people around I guess.

lawn by the lake

I also expected too much on the fellowship thing. I didn’t hear any more about it and never saw anyone I could ask about it. To be fair, it may have been that the woman I originally spoke to on the phone could have in charge of all that. It may be that in her absence there was no one to fill in for her. I don’t know.

What I do know is that I never saw anyone on Sunday until late in the evening when I was once again out walking the dog. That’s when I saw two or three different groups of people carrying covered dishes toward one of the meeting rooms. I said a polite hello to two of them, and got a polite “hello” or nod in response, the third person was rather brusque as they went by, which I thought was unnecessary, but maybe they just had a lot on their mind. Anyway, apparently the fellowship was also a pot-luck supper. However, so much for any “fellowship” for me . Guess I was expecting too much, but why put it in the guide book? I guess I’ll never know the answer to that one.

So I once again spent the evening watching the sun set over the lake from one of the swings on the rise (which was directly behind the room where everyone else was meeting). I let their kids pet and play with Topper, he loved the extra attention.  I took some nice pictures of the sunset, then retired to my RV to make myself some dinner.

Before I left the next day, I knocked on the door of the RV next to mine. I was looking for an alternative route out of the area where the campground was, as the route I took coming in (which my GPS wanted me to take again going out) had an extremely steep hill with a sudden rise that was OK on the trip in, but which would have caused my motorcycle rack to hang up on the road on the way out. That was something I wished to avoid.  I hoped the occupants of that RV could give directions that would allow me to avoid that hill on the way out.

Colorful house on the road to the campground

The husband said that he didn’t know the place I was talking about and didn’t know what to tell me. His wife, fortunately, was more helpful. She gave me the name and location of a church they had attended on Sunday which was in the direction I wished to go and which did not have the hill I described on its route. With her information I was able to avoid the hill that made me so nervous and get back out onto the highway without incident.

I must say, that the whole place was really, really lovely, and the price was  reasonable. However, if you are someone who likes to interact with others and dislikes complete solitude, this is not the place for you. If, however, you are looking for a place that does have almost complete solitude, a place to be left very much alone with your thoughts, this might be just what you’re looking for. It certainly was peaceful…and really pretty (which I might have mentioned…). Plus, the bird-watching was great!

A Dragon and Tiger’s Tale on Lotus Lake

One of my trips in Taiwan was to Lotus Lake.  It was a day-trip I would have to take on my own as Brian had to work.  Emma gave me a ride to the train station in Yuanlin, which is where we realized that I had just missed the train that would take me to the high-speed train station.  And there wouldn’t be another one for almost an hour and a half.   I was tempted to give the idea up as something that wasn’t meant to be, as it was already getting pretty late in the day for a long trip, like this one would be.   But Emma (bless her heart) wasn’t going to let that happen.  Instead, she offered to drive me to the station for the HSR.  Such a sweetie!

So I made it to the HSR and purchased my ticket for Kaohsiung and settled into my seat. (Oh, while in the station I noticed a little kiosk selling baked goods–called the Pasadena bakery.  How cute.  A bakery in Taiwan with the same name as the city where I went to High School.)  I had gotten a window seat so that I could view the countryside on the ride down.  And there was plenty to see.  We passed a park with a small lake that had a path around it.  Over the path was a sculptural “roof” that was like an undulating golden serpent….well, to me anyway.  Someone else I showed the picture to told me that it looked like a tapeworm!  Well, I guess I see the world a little nicer.

power plant stack

Pasadena, the Taiwanese bakery!

A little shade for your walk

Once I arrived in Kaohsiung, I looked around to see if I could tell where the lake was, because it appeared to be quite close on the map Brian had printed out for me, but I couldn’t see a way to get across the train tracks from where I was.  But I had a nice walk around the area by the station while hoping to find a simple way to the lake.  Didn’t find it, but I did find a nice little park with a pretty floral clock and a sculpture of over-sized eggs that was interesting.  Then I got smart and took a cab to the lake.  Because of the multiple train tracks and  small hill, it was about a mile and a half to the lake.  No direct route.

Eggs

floral clock

Lotus Lake is a man-made lake in Kaohsiung City in southern Taiwan.  It was created in 1951 and the various temples were then built on its shores. There are several temples on the lake, but one of the most noted is comprised of  side-by-side pagodas, one with a dragon theme and one with a tiger.  When you visit the temple, you enter through the dragon’s mouth and exit through the tiger’s.  This is supposed to symbolize turning bad luck or circumstances into good things in one’s life.

Tiger and Dragon Pagodas

Dragon pagoda

Before you can enter the dragon’s throat, you have to  walk along a zigzag bridge that takes you across the lake to the pagodas.  The reason for the pattern to the bridge, instead of a more direct route, is the belief that ghosts and bad spirits can’t make sharp turns.  Those 90 degree corners are too much for them and they fall off the bridge into the lake.  Yikes!  Poor ghosts, so clumsy.  (They also can step over raised ledges.  So temple doorways on regular streets have wooden door sills that are several inches high that us live beings step over to enter the temple.  Ghosts are stumped by these and must remain outside.)

Walk a crooked bridge

Once you enter the dragon’s mouth you are treated to various scenes painted on the walls of the dragon’s insides.  The inside of both pagodas, like all temples I’ve seen in Asia, are painted with all kinds of pictures and scenes and ornamented within an inch of their lives.  But it’s done oh-so-beautifully.  In the case of this temple, many of the scenes reflect themes of filial duty, plus pictures of heaven and hell meant to inspire people to do good deeds and avoid wrongdoing.

More inside paintings

Painting inside tiger’s body

What really inspired me was the beauty of the place–the detail of the carvings, the intricacy of the paintings and sculptures.  On the third  floor of each pagoda there are three or four dragon or tiger figures placed around the roof edges.  The figures are about four or five feet long.  Each is finely detailed and made of hundreds on small tiles of various shapes and colors that make of the fur of the tiger and the scales of the dragon.  They appear to be made of ceramic of some sort.   There were lanterns on the balcony eaves that were solid carved wood, but they were painted and detailed to look like traditional paper lanterns.

lantern

Tiger figure

Dragon figure

It just amazes me how much time, energy and detail is put into each of these temples.  I had a hard time telling which temples I was viewing had been built in the past century and which ones were hundreds of years old.  They really go all-out on upkeep on these places.  So the ancient temples don’t look any older than one built 20 years ago.  These places are about the only things in Asia that get a new coat of paint whenever things start to look a little faded around the edges!

Temple altar

Directly across the street from the Tiger and Dragon pagodas was another temple.  I’m not sure what the name of it was, but again, another beautiful temple.  So I crossed the street to view that temple.  Lovely.  There was a wonderful embroidered hanging in the front of the temple.  Traditional Chinese embroidery.  Quite large, very colorful.  I’m not sure who this temple (or what!) was dedicated to.  Normally the god the temple is dedicated to occupies the center altar of temple.  In this case, that central position was occupied by a dragon!  After viewing the temple, I got an ice cream cone, then had some fun feeding bits of the cone to the fish in the lake.  They went crazy over the cone.  One fish actually jumped up out of the water to snatch a piece of cone out of the mouth of the first fish to grab it.  It was hilarious!

traditional embroidery

The temple across the street

Just a little way up the lake are the Spring and Autumn Pavilions, dedicated to Kuan Kung  (god of war).  Guanyin (Kuanyin), goddess of mercy is in front of the pavilions riding on a dragon.  Legend has it that the goddess appeared above the clouds, riding a dragon and signified to her followers that they must erect a statue depicting the event between the pavilions.  This was done, giving the shrines their current affect.

goddess riding the dragon

Kuan Kung

The dragon the goddess rides is hollow and lined with stories of her existence.   A lot of them are very graphic.  But  also very interesting.

Lady breaks the sword of a beheader

Dragon innards

After I left that temple, I headed down the lake towards the next one.   As I was nearing the gate of the next temple, I noticed an area set up for karaoke.   This was a permanent, covered, outdoor stage, attached to a small eatery.  These folks love their karaoke!  When I was first walking up, the guy on stage sounded like someone strangling a cat.  But that’s acceptable when performing karaoke in Asia.  Just strangle that cat with gusto!  The next guy had a voice more like velvet, very smooth, nice to listen to.  Couldn’t understand a word, but  still good listening.   He loved it when I took his picture.

I went on up to that temple and took my walk around then spent some time admiring the birds wading in the shallows and mud flats.  There were a lot of different birds in the area.  Since I love bird watching, this lake was a good spot for me.  I particularly loved the swallows.  They were nesting on every structure in the area.  Small birds, very pretty.  They were quite at home there, and not very shy at all.

lotus

wading bird

After that I continued on to the far end of the lake, to the Confucian temple.  This place was really peaceful and pretty.  Like all the temples here, it appeared to be very old, but was actually built in 1977.  I had the place mostly to myself; a couple of other people wandered through while I was there, but that was about it.  Like I said, pretty place, although not as ornate as any of the other temples i had been in.  There was also a monastery on the grounds, but it was “fenced” off from the rest of the grounds.  Not so much a fence, as ornate grill work, but sufficient to afford the monks their privacy from visitors to the temple.

main temple

temple entrance

Confucian temple gate

 

 

 

 

As I was visiting each of the above temples and shrines, I kept seeing one more place across the lake that looked interesting.   Another temple with a giant seated figure on the roof.   So I continued on along the path that runs around the lake to the temple.   The figure on the roof was Master Qing shui, AKA Chen Chao-Ying.  He was born in 1044 AD.   He became a monk at the Great Cloud temple and followed zen teachings.   According to the pamphlet I was given at the temple, he was quite the teacher and did a lot of good for a lot of people.   After he died, he was “listed in the class of fairies”.  I’m not sure what that means, but I have a feeling that he was pretty highly regarded.

Qing Shui Temple

The seated figure is 50 feet tall and sits at the top of the four story building.  The entry leading to the temple has a pair of fire-breathing dragons on either side of the path.  There are furnaces in the bases of the dragons.  When they are fired up, the dragons belch smoke and flames from their mouths.   I imagine they would be pretty cool to see when they are smokin’.   There was actually quite a bit to see inside the temple as well.  This included a display on the third floor where there was a dragon and a peacock (among other things) made out of porcelain spoons, bowls and plates.   As I was leaving, a young man stopped to talk to me.  He looked to be about 14 years old and spoke English quite well.  He told me that there was a big festival scheduled for the next day and night at the lake–lots of fireworks, music, etc.  and kept encouraging me to stay at the lake for the festival.  I wish I could have.  It sounded like it would have been fun.  But I had to leave Taiwan in two days, so the next day I had to start packing to leave the next morning.  Staying on for the next 36 hours just wouldn’t have been possible.  Bummer.

Fire breathing dragon

pretty flower on Confucius temple grounds

 

 

 

 

 

After that, I started hoofing it back to the train station.  It turned out to be quite a lot farther than it originally appeared.   While walking I passed a couple more interesting places I would have liked to visit, but I was running out of time and energy was even lower.  Sigh.   But I really did have a great day at the lake.

Sleeping Bear Dunes

My next stop was Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.   This time I opted for a National Park Service campgound.   The only problem with these is that there are NO hook-ups.  No water, no electricty, no wifi, in short, nothing.  The up side is that they are cheap and quiet.  Plus, since I have the RV, I don’t have to use the pit toilets.  I just can’t hold my breath long enough to keep from gagging in those.

Before I checked into the campground I went to the Maritime Museum, just a little way from where I would spend the night.  The museum was very interesting and I found the Fresnel lens used in the lighthouses to be utterly beautiful.   The only had a little compact fluorescent bulb lighting it up and still it was so brilliant that I couldn’t look directly at it.  Just a giant, pulsing jewel.

Maritime Museum

After that it was off to the campground.   The place was so pretty, so serene, I decided to spend 2 nights on the spot.  After a quiet night, I had breakfast then took Topper down to the beach on Lake Michigan.  D.H. Day Campground is dog-friendly.  Dogs are allowed on the beach and even in the water so long as you keep them on a leash.
This is the point at which I found out that Topper hates, I mean really, really hates water.  He was getting hot, panting on the sand so I carried him out to where the lake was about half-way up his legs and set him down in the water.  He was shaking so hard I’m surprised he didn’t raise a little froth on the water.   Then a little wavelet came in and almost splashed his belly.  That was too much for Topper.  He thrashed and twisted and jerked himself out of his harness in about 3 seconds, sprang up into the air and landed about 10 feet from the water up on the beach.  The look on his face was pure betrayal.  As in, “how could you do that?  I almost drowned out there!”
After that I settled for laying in the sun and reading an old SF novel I found in a second-hand store for a quarter earlier in the trip.  I was hoping to put some color on my dead-fish legs.  Didn’t happen.  I did manage to get a decent burn on my back, which wasn’t really part of the plan.  Still, it isn’t that bad.
After we got back to camp, I changed clothes, unloaded the scooter and headed back into town to pick up a few things at the grocery store.   There is a bit of a fly-in-the-ointment with the scooter.  It has to be driven slowly for the break-in period, which, according to the manual (which is a hoot, having been translated from Chinese by someone who had, at best, only a passing knowledge of English) is the first 300 miles.  It had 33 miles when I bought it, so I have quite a ways to go.  During this time, according to that hilarious manual, I should not drive over 25 mph.  It takes forever to get where you’re going at that rate, and the people who are driving the speed limit don’t like you at all!  On the short drive into town, I had two people yell at me, one of whom tried to scare me off the road….and I was riding in the bike lane at this point so that traffic could pass me easily!  Whatever happened to common courtesy?  Oh yeah, it left town with common sense…..sheesh.
Anyway, in spite of the obnoxious individuals I met on the road, I got to the grocery store.  Got the items I needed.  Found that my little “trunk” holds $30 worth of groceries with room for about $20 more!  Color me happy.  I made it back to the campground without incident, parked and unloaded.   Talk about proud of myself!  My first trip on real roads on my scooter without any problems on my end.   Hey, I can (still) do this!
After another quiet evening, Topper and I headed down to the lake to see it in the dark.  While it was really beautiful (the Milky Way was still very much in evidence) and I saw a shooting star burn its short life out in our atmosphere, it just didn’t match my experience on the dock at Lake Leelanau.   I think a big part of it was the fact that there were a lot of other people on the beach.  And a couple of those were talking loudly and swearing about this or that every other word.  Kind of spoiled it for me.  Topper and I went back to the RV and went to bed.

Apparently, Good Morning America, or some such show, named Sleeping Bear Lakeshore  “The Most Beautiful Place in America” in 2011.  And it is really pretty.  But I can think of at least a dozen places just off the top of my head that are as beautiful, if not more.  Whatever.  I’m sure it was great press for the area.

A Lake Michigan dock

It is definitely a place worth seeing.  I’m glad I went there.

I’m writing this from Petosky, MI which is a story for another day.

Sunset, lake Michigan, DH Day campground