Category Archives: Trips

America’s Historic Triangle

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As we left our ‘moochdocking’ in NC we headed north to stop in Williamsburg.  We wanted to see “America’s Historic Triangle”, this would be Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.  We found a location north of town a bit that took Passport America for 2 nights and a Good Sam discount for the other nights.  It was the Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center.  Here was our spot:

The first day we went to the Williamsburg visitor center to figure out what we might do.  They had a 7-day pass but we determined we would get a 3-day pass to the Historic Williamsburg area and do the other two locations separately.  The second day,  we decided to go to Yorktown and visit the American Revolution Museum.  It was a very nice museum with many interesting displays with a multimedia theater that was amazing.  They also had a ‘camp’ that was recreated extremely authentically (a precursor to what we will see in Williamsburg).  Roxie even got to sit down with George Washington:

We got to the NPS area of Yorktown after it closed but were able to do the Auto Tour to see different areas of the final revolutionary battle.

The next day we went to Historic Williamsburg on the first day of the three-day pass.  Historic Williamsburg is the historic part of Williamsburg that has been completely restored to around 1780 even along with all the residents who man the stores and walk the streets.  It is very well done.  Here are some street shots:

One of the tours we were able to take was that of the Governor’s Palace (the other shots are swords on the walls inside):

One of the best parts of the entire experience were the reenactments/plays that were performed to give you a feeling of what times were then.  Here is a shot of George Wythe and Thomas Jefferson (right) during one of the performances:

We went to the town on the first and third day of our 3-day pass.  We missed the middle day (more on that later) but each of the two days we were there we ate at a restaurant on site that was also set in that time period.  Since there is only two of us we were told that if we were willing to share our table we could get seated sooner.  Fine with us, we love to meet new people.  The first day a teacher sat down with us, she was here for an educational seminar and was actually staying in the town!  Very nice to meet her.

The third day we were seated with a wonderful couple where we found out that we had many similarities and realized that there are very strong people in this world.  This couple is definitely in that group!  They even took time at the end to pray for Roxie and her back.  Very thankful to meet them!

So what happened to our ‘middle’ day at Williamsburg.  We were contacted by Steve and Angelique to see if we wanted to go to Busch Gardens at Williamsburg as they have a season pass and can get friends in free in June.  OK!  We went to Busch Gardens.  Roxie and I remember going to Busch Gardens in Southern California.  It was primarily a beer tasting venue (which my Dad loved) and a lot of lush greenery and birds/animals/etc on display.  This Busch Gardens was a full on amusement park with rides and shows.  It was a very enjoyable time but a lot of walking!  Plus it was hot and humid.  Many thanks, again, to Steve and Angelique.

The final day of our touring we were in Jamestown.  This was the first settlement of Colonists in the New World.  There was a very nice museum, like in Yorktown, Jamestown Settlement.  They also had a representative town set in that time.  Here are a few shots:

The NPS had an area also that was where the original Jamestown was located.  It was surreal to walk around the old town and see what they had to endure.  Here are some pictures of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, plus a memorial obelisk:

After almost a week it is time to move on.  We are still being slammed by weird weather and a lot of humidity.

Where will we go for the 4th of July?

Assimilation

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We have now been in Marble Falls 1 week.  3 more to go.  A lot of Borg-like activity has taken place.

One of the major items we needed to do was to get Roxie established with a pain doctor in Austin.  We took care of that yesterday.  The meeting went very well and he is willing to do whatever she needs to help her out. Check box one of assimilation.

Not only does every Texas town seem to have a Dairy Queen and a Sonic but they have BBQ places.  I would eat at one every day but luckily Roxie tempers that for me.  But we still do hit them up.  One here is town was pretty good:  (Check)

Relaxing.  I guess we are supposed to do that but we haven’t seemed to do much of that yet, but Roxie did find a swing a short distance from our site.  Most Texas homes have such a swing, don’t they? (Check)

We are now experiencing some of the humidity that we have heard of.  At night it is pretty cool with the windows open and the fans blowing.  During the day it can get a bit warm but we haven’t used the AC yet (did I mention we have metered electricity?).   Supposedly some T-Storms are coming this weekend.  Texas weather – check.

At the end of January, our trailer registration expired.  I opted to not pull the trailer anywhere and let it do so.  It was almost $420 to renew.  I was able to get a single trip permit to Texas for $20.  My first priority was to get the trailer registered in the new state.  Fortunately, since we had a rental agreement with our RV park we were able to register it in our local county (Brunet) and in the local satellite office.  Very easy.  $7 inspection, about $200 in fees ($90 of which is for being a new resident and we don’t pay that next year).  In fact, it was so easy that I did the truck that same day.  The difference between California and Texas for the truck was about $500!  That is including the $90 that will go away.  Good with me.  Check.

The full assimilation will happen when we get our Driver’s Licenses.  When you have an existing out of state license, you surrender it and you don’t have to take the written test.  HOWEVER, you still need to prove who you are and your citizenship.  The papers that we need should arrive Monday as we had to have our son get them together and mail them.  Once we have them I guess we are full Borgs, I mean Texans.   Yeeeeee Haaaa!