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Yesterday we decided to tour Arlington Cemetery, the African American Museum, and the Holocaust Museum. Heavy content for the most part.

Arlington Cemetery is 640 acres and is an “active” cemetery. Yesterday there were 24 funerals taking place. There are funerals daily except on Sundays and national holidays. Eligibility for in-ground burial at Arlington is the most stringent of all U.S. national cemeteries. The only people allowed to be buried underground are military who have served at least 20 years, and U.S. Presidents, if they choose to do so. However, most veterans who have at least 1 day of active service and an honourable discharge are eligible for above-ground interment.

The military being buried underground are ALL brought in on a military carriage with 4 soldiers on their horses and 3 other horses with no rider. Some funeral processions also had a military band leading the way. We heard a lot of gun salutes as well, so we believe they are all provided with this. It was very moving. We got a couple of pics from further away as you are not allowed to take pictures of the funeral due to privacy. (Makes sense.)

We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which has been guarded 24/7, 365 days a year since 1948!! The soldiers guarding the Tomb are from the 3rd Infantry Regiment, “The Old Guard”. Guarding the Tomb is considered one of the highest honours. Fewer than 20% of all volunteers are accepted for training and of those, only a fraction pass training to become full-fledged Tomb Guards.

Separate pics of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Guard. The Guard has a very specific march and tapping of the shoes, which was very cool.

The African American Museum was our next stop. It was by far the best museum in Washington in our opinion. There are three floors underground which we were unaware of, and these three floors were incredible. You go down to the last level and work your way slowly up to street level again (no stairs, just a gentle slope). These three floors are the history of slavery, starting at the beginning and ending present day. The above ground floors were dedicated to the accomplishments of Black Americans like Oprah and the Williams sisters.

There were also a couple of rooms where you could go in individually and record your own story. We were glad they were there, and sad that so many people were sitting waiting to go in. We hope one day we can all live without discrimination and oppression.

And now the Holocaust Museum. When you arrive to go in, you are each encouraged to grab a “card”. Each card is the picture and story of someone who lived through, or died in the Holocaust. Lori’s individual had lived, Barb’s had not.

You then get to elevators, which are metal and ominous, like going into a large furnace we suppose. When you get off, the first picture you see is frankly shocking. We could not bring ourselves to take a picture of it, it was so horrific and sad, so we took a picture of the wall that just said Holocaust. The evolution of this time in history and the voices and stories you heard throughout the museum were sobering. It was really well done and we would encourage a visit if you are inclined to learn more.

I will add that there was one more place where we did not take pictures, as we did not go in. It was a room with a waterfall. This room was for individuals who are overcome with grief & emotion, and need a place to recover. There are individuals throughout the museum to help such people to this place of peace.

BIG day for us. At the end we were drained, but so glad we experienced all that we saw. Tomorrow we do Washington at night!

Another RV challenge, but challenge accepted!

Saturday, in preparation for our day trip to Alexandria, we encountered a “loft malfunction”. There are two beds in this RV. One King in the back bedroom and one Queen loft bed above the driver/passenger “cockpit”. This loft operates electronically by pushing either an up or down button which raises and lowers the bed. On Saturday, when raising the bed for the day, the motor started struggling to the point of grinding to a halt. Then the motor no longer worked, period. Given we had a full day planned, we resigned ourselves to fixing it when we got home.

Coming home from a day in Alexandria we were too tired to “deal” with the issue, so Lori slept on the couch. Tomorrow will be a new day!

Sunday we got up and had a chat, 3 hours worth, with our great friend Elaine, took the fur babies for a walk, and bumped into fellow RVers, R&S from Minnesota, who told us about a night tour of Washington (which is now booked for Tuesday night). SO, with the day starting out with a bang, we decided we were in good shape to tackle the loft issue!

What exactly happened? Well it seems that you CANNOT make up a loft bed using a flat sheet where the foot of the bed is on the driver’s side of the RV. This is where, we now know, the motor/apparatus is to actually move and hold the bed in place safely while sleeping and driving. We had decided a few nights ago to “switch up” the way Lori was sleeping in the loft. You know, instead of turning the mattress, why not turn oneself? Seems logical, doesn’t it?

NOWHERE in the manual does it say: don’t use flat sheets, don’t have the foot of the bed on that side of the RV, watch for loose sheets, watch that nothing gets caught in the motor, ETC!

So, what happened is that we changed, for the first time, how we made the bed by switching the foot and the head of the sleeping arrangement. On day 3, which was the Alexandria morning, the flat sheet must have been loose and it, along with the fitted which got dragged in for the ride, got wrapped around the metal rod and in between the straps that maneuver the bed up and down. As this was happening, the motor was struggling. We could hear it slowing down, but of course didn’t understand why. And then………it just stopped.

Barb was talking to Jim back home and he said that it sounded like something got caught in the motor which overworked it. Which we discovered was correct when we were trying to remove the sheets for me to sleep on the couch.

Now – HOW to fix? Before we even get there, we do want to point out to all of you, if you were not already aware, that we ARE BRILLIANT!

We first looked at how bad the carnage was in the mechanism. We determined that we could not unwrap the sheets ourselves, that we needed the bed to roll down and in turn “unroll” the sheets from the mechanics. Of course that meant we needed to get the motor working again.

Step 1: check fuse box for the fuse specific to the loft bed. Checked and there is one and it was blown.

Step 2: check to make sure we have 2 of the correct fuses, in case we blow another one. Checked and we had 2 extra.

Step 3: change fuse. Done.

Step 4: test if this worked by quickly hitting the down button on the motor to see if it would turn and it did!

Step 5: with Lori holding the sheets up to allow for no slack, and Barb maneuvering the controls, SLOWLY lower the bed.

Step 6: once comfortable that this approach is working, move the bed all the way down and RELEASE THE SHEETS!

END RESULT???? See pics below: the problem, the progress, the sheets released, and – problem solved!

We don’t know where to start, as the city of Washington DC is just incredible!!! There is SO much to see! These three days had us touring around with Barb’s friends Lesley Poole, Joanne Magna, & Sandie Parker, all from Ontario. We did the Hop On Hop Off, which frankly is a must-do in any city. Then we toured the memorials, which were amazing. We all had our favourites. We toured the Spy Museum which was eye opening to say the least. We were lucky enough to do the King Tut immersive tour at the National Geographic Museum. One of the days we met up for lunch across the Potomac River in Virginia at The Wharf in Alexandria where the ladies stayed. In Alexandria we toured the Torpedo Art Collective and walked down some historic streets, getting a great picture of the skinniest home in the U.S. We had such a wonderful time!

We got up bright and early and hopped on the bus this morning from our Cherry Hill Park campsite into Washington to catch the subway. The fact that the bus comes into the RV park is amazing! There was a nice young lady on the bus that helped us get off at the right stop. In fact our stop was her stop, go figure.

We then got on the subway line. People watching is fascinating and we will mention one man (who may have been on drugs but who are we to judge) who happened to drop a piece of mail on the floor of the subway car we were on. We mention this as it comes up again in this story.

We got off at our stop and headed off. We wanted to first go into the Air and Space Museum but it was a timed entry so we got tickets for 1pm. Having some time on our hands, we got a warm pretzel and headed off to the American Indian Museum. It was interesting as it showed the Indian from many perspectives and from all around the world. Canada was well represented. It took us a couple of hours to go through but well worth it.

Next we went to the Air and Space Museum, which is free and is the most visited museum in Washington. It was OK, and frankly we were a little let down with all the hype only to find out that more than half the museum was under construction so we couldn’t see it. Explains why it only took us an hour to complete vs the 3 hours suggested. We did see a couple of movies in the planetarium that were good, so not all was lost. Below are some pics

We then made it back to the Metro bus stop using a different entrance to the subway, which was frankly WAY easier to get to our train. Train arrived and we hopped on. It was quite crowded, much different from mid-morning. Once the train thinned out, Lori noticed a piece of mail on the floor. We were on the exact same train car, sitting just one row behind where we had sat earlier in the day. What are the odds!!!

We then got on the bus, after a long wait at the stop, and who gets on in front of us?? The young woman who helped us in the morning. Again, what are the odds??

Tomorrow is the Museum of Natural History and maybe the White House! Wonder what additional coincidences we will encounter.

Well you can do a lot of play on words with Sheetz! In this case it is a large gas station franchise and currently our favourite.

The roofs which cover the gas pumps are nicely elevated, important when driving a rig that is tall. Each gas station has over 50 spots for cars, at least. It also has a restaurant inside with ”made to order” items. Hamburgers/wraps/sandwiches/hot/cold, you name it. In fact, the menu to build your wrap is so extensive it is a little overwhelming, but well worth it! Sheetz gas stations were the largest we’d ever come across.

Gas prices?? We are currently paying $3.99 a gallon which equates to $1.13 Canadian per litre. We are experiencing $1.00 – $1.10 on average per litre down here which is fabulous considering what we pay back home. Toronto is currently $1.90 per litre. Even with the exchange we are coming out on top. Our initial shock in June 2022 of paying $800 for two fill-ups on the same day in Ontario is behind us. Our fear of “did we do the wrong thing purchasing this RV” is also very much behind us as even these first few weeks of travel has been ever so rewarding. RV Life is once again fabulous!

Gettysburg was a little out of our way heading to Washington, but what a GREAT choice. We took 2 hours to go through the museum which was laid out perfectly for a history lesson. We now have a better understanding of the impact the Civil War had on American politics. The evolution of the 13th amendment continues even today. This perspective will help as we visit Washington over the next 10 days and travel further south.

Well it was Lori’s birthday and we celebrated by doing some shopping at an Amish market called Bird in the Hand Farmers Market, then off to dinner at Agape Cafe & Grille, which was a dry restaurant. Yes folks, you heard that right, no wine or alcohol of any kind. LOL. Food was great and rich as we had burnt ends, BBQ ribs, a burger with pulled pork, and sides of mac and cheese and sweet potato fries. There was one pickle, which was the extent of the veggies, so we split it. We carried home over 5 pounds of leftovers, which is apparently lasting more than 1 day.

October 29th is Gettysburg and then on to Washington DC !

We are staying at a great RV park (Flory’s) in Ronks Pennsylvania, right in the middle of an Amish village. We wake up to the clopping of the horses as they pull the Amish buggies (closed carriages) down the road.

One of the coolest things we did was a Scoot Coupe guided tour of 19th century covered bridges in Pennsylvania Dutch country! We took turns driving this little car and we loved it. Top speed 30mph and there is no reverse, so you need to park strategically. It was very fun on the sideroads yet somewhat intimidating on the few major roads we had to travel on. At one point there was a semi-transport coming up behind us and we were somewhat terrified as we saw it in our side mirror. Fortunately our turn-off was up ahead so around the corner we went never looking back!

The countryside was beautiful with the fall colours. We also stopped at a couple of covered bridges and an Amish home to look at the barn, horses and the buggies used by the family. The lady of the house also served us Meadow Lemonade and homemade blueberry donut holes. Both delish!!

The town of Hershey was founded by none other than Milton S. Hershey. Milton Hershey had a very limited formal education, leaving school after the fourth grade due to frequent family moves, but he gained crucial practical knowledge through apprenticeships, most significantly with confectioner Joseph Toyer, learning the art of candy-making which formed the foundation of his chocolate empire. Interestingly, Hershey pioneered the manufacture of caramel, using fresh milk. While Hershey went bankrupt twice, he made a legacy not just making chocolate, but by building a town. The first Hershey bars were sold in 1900 and were so popular he was able to build a company town which was called Hershey Pennsylvania. He was a philanthropist and built a boarding school for local orphans, which still exists and as of 2016 was able to accommodate 2,000 students. In WWII he developed a bar for troops that was non-melting, again something to ”give back”. In 1918 Hershey transferred the majority of his assets, including control of his company, to the Milton Hershey School Trust fund, to benefit education and advancement in science. Milton Hershey placed the quality of his product and the well-being of his workers ahead of profits. He believed that providing better living conditions for his workers would result in better workers, and he was right! He built the town around the company and today it stands proud and quite beautiful in Pennsylvania. It truly is the sweetest place on earth.

In Hershey they have the Hershey Museum, Gardens, Theatre, teaching Medical Centre, Cemetery, and School to name a few things Milton Hershey built in his lifetime and beyond. Mars, the confectionery company, wanted to purchase Hershey and the Governor of Pennsylvania stopped it, wanting to keep the Hershey company a Pennsylvanian treasure.

We toured the museum and a bit of the town. There is a HUGE sense of pride in all those who work and live here. The street lamps are Hershey Kisses. The chocolate in the museum (some of which we had never heard of), we think are sold at cost. After we left we looked some items up on Amazon U.S. and there is a significant difference in price. We should have bought more! Here are a few pics of our first tour.

We are calling today, October 24th, Day 1 of the U.S. trip, but in fact we haven’t left Burlington yet. Today we were finalizing the last minute items required to get ready. Sanitizing the fresh water tank (that is a process!), Costco, cleaning the RV inside and out, Costco, repacking the storage compartments underneath, and Costco.

We also decided to do a little sightseeing, which is why we are calling this Day 1. About a kilometre from Barb’s home is a museum called Ireland House. All these years we thought it had to do with the country, when in fact it had to do with one of the first settlers of the area back in the 1800s, Joseph Ireland (DUH). Ireland House was built on Oakridge Farm between 1835-1837.

Joseph Ireland emigrated to Canada in 1819 from Bowes, Yorkshire England in 1819 at the age of 27 and he petitioned for the land at Oakridge Farm. Joseph’s descendants occupied Ireland House until 1985.

In 1987 the City of Burlington purchased the property from the estate of Lucie Marie Ireland Bush and established the museum, restoring the homestead to illustrate three distinct time periods that represent the generations of Irelands who lived in the house: 1850s, 1890s, 1920s. It felt like we were going through the Downton Abbey years all over again…..although Downton was filmed in later decades. Interestingly, 90% of the furnishings in the Ireland House are original and the light in the front hallway was the first electric light on Guelph Line, which is one of the main north-south roads in Burlington.

While the pictures below don’t do the home justice, it was a reminder of not just simpler times (and harder), but that there are historical riches in our neighbourhoods we should all take the time to visit, to learn what and who was here before us.