Vietnam War Memorial

As we left the Abraham Lincoln Memorial we walked along the park and pass the Vietnam War Memorial, a large wall full of over 50,000 names of the brave young men and women who laid down their lives in a small country on the other side of the planet. It was sobering to see so many names and to reflect on so many families impacted by such a large sacrifice. To date 5,550 have paid this price in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps it is time to have these, who would lay down their lives for you and me, return home to their anxious families.

The Library of Congress

 The library was a beautiful building. They only would allow photos in the lobby and that's why I can't show you pictures of anything else. Oh well. Hope you enjoy them.

Washington DC

Gen. Andrew Jackson

Pulling into a KOA late that night we booked in for a couple of days and set up our 10ft x 10ft awning that a great guy had just given us at the VW rally in Bath, Maine. It was nice to have the extra space to sit the chairs in the rain, just outside the doors to our bus. Rain. Did I mention that we have been in rain and cloudy weather since we left Boston. Its been quite a while. And pour. It's what I call "Forrest Gump Rain." That's rain that comes at ya from all around. From the sides and even up from below!  Well it was some heavy rain and on the day we packed up to leave the KOA campsite we wanted to head into the city and walk about and see the sites. The rain let up. The sun came out and we had looked up a parking garage the night before... TomTom'd it and pulled into it at 7:45am. Parking the bus, we grabbed our backpacks with our laptops and headed out, excited to see the sites of this historic town. Walk... and walk... and walk. We walked our feet off!

Closed Wash. Monument

The Washington Monument was closed due to fractures from an earthquake they had here! The huge reflecting pool that sits in front of the Lincoln Memorial, (the one Jenny runs through in that Forrest Gump movie I mentioned earlier), well it was totally torn up. Ripped to shreds. It looked like downtown Beirut. I guess this is where all the Stimulus money is going. Beatifying Washington.

What was the Reflecting Pool

Anyhow we walked around the mess to go see Abe. He looked so majestic sitting up there looking down over the mess that used to be his pool. The building was truly impressive. I was glad to be there and to take the time to read all the writing on the walls of this shrine. Abraham Lincoln's words. His address after the war had ended.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

Now, I was under the impression that the Constitution was on display at the Library of Congress.  So we began the long walk back up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capital Buildings as the Library is behind them. Now the Library of Congress in a beautiful building and hosts Thomas Jefferson's personal library. You can't check out these books for a weekend read... but you can flip through them on computers as they have digitally scanned all the pages of the books and have them there on computer screens for you to read. Neat eh?

No Constitution though. And having spend numerous hours listening to the only politician that actually knows what it says and stand by those hollowed words, Ron Paul. I had to see this document and get a copy for myself. The guards kindly informed me that the sacred papers are on display at the National Archives and that this building was on the way back to our parking garage anyhow. So we made another stop. Hustling through the crowd of school children who had just showed up and were apparently being carefully examined by security we made our was to the large domed cathedral like chamber. With subdued lighting and marbled floors I took the time to notice every detail wanting to emblazon the experience into my mind. There were no photos allowed in the National Archives. Sorry.

Manchester Car Show

Car Show in Manchester

We were heading to Washington DC, and taking the side roads which we were getting accustomed to. They are quieter and I can still do about 55 on most of them down here. No big semi's barreling past either. On the way down one of these little roads we noticed a sign for a "Car Show" in a tiny town called Manchester. Why not! We turn into this one street town to see the whole street just full of cars. We pay our 10 dollar entry fee and in we go. I suspect we were the last car in... as they took us to the centre of town in the middle of the road and had us park right there... in the middle of everything. It was like the spot was saved for us!

It didn't take long for the crowds to form and Tracey, standing by her door must have told our story 40 times or more that afternoon! I thought she was going to lose her voice. I stood at the back with the big door up and the engine door up. She looked pretty with her new chrome carburetors shining back there. I was content to stand a bit back, munch on a hot dog and listen to folks comment on her. We stayed until the show was beginning to break up and then made a quick exit to keep going on our journey to the nation's capital.

Boston

Boston
It was a very busy time of year for us, workwise. Therefore, you may be disappointed to learn... we got no pictures of Boston. Besides the place was a disaster as far as roads go. You may as well had driven a tank over the roads. The same goes for Virginia Beach... but I am getting ahead of myself. One of the places we did stop in was a nature preserve and the look off was at the top of this hill. There was a tiny parking lot there and we happened to get a spot off to the side. My perfect spot for parking is at the end of a lot or right beside a handicap zone. That way it is unlikely that someone with park, at least on one side of the bus. There ws quite a few people coming up to this look off point and a crowd quickly formed around our bus as I busied myself with the work of making our lunch. Tracey did the story telling as she likes that quite a bit I think. The crowds listened intently forgetting for the time being why they came there in the first place. The wonders and beauty of nature surrounded them, but everyone was enthralled by Olive.

September 11

We drove from Bath down the coastal highway, enjoying the views of the ocean and countryside. The small quaint towns were nice enough but we didn't really stop in them to spend any time, as we did want to move onto our next destination.... Boston. I took a picture of the flag at half mast, as all were down here at that time.

VW Camping Event in Bath, Maine

Now off to our VW Show in Bath, Maine.



Bath.
We were on our way to the VW show and stopped into a small town along the highway. Bangor. He we stayed a night, got some work done and I wanted to switch out the spark plugs in favor of some real German plugs. I had left Tracey at a local Starbucks and, having ordered the plugs the day before, heading down to the auto parts store to pick them up. I pulled into the parking lot intent on doing the switch out right there in the parking lot. No trouble. Old ones out. New ones in.

Just then a orange VW pulls up beside me. Out hops a young guy named Scott. He says, "Hey are you Mark?" I look him and his bus over and reply, "Yes, who is asking?"  He pulls an envelope from his pocket and says, "My name is Scott, and I think I have some mail for you."

We share a laugh as I thank him for the envelope and explain. I had noticed while we were back in Canada... going around the Gaspe Penninsula, that my license had expired. Calling back to BC I had arranged to have a replacement license mailed out to the address of a fellow VW'er named Gary, who we had met in Nova Scotia. He actually lived in New Brunswick, and we were going to be passing by his place on our way to the USA. Well, as we got to Gary's house, he was not there and we had to keep moving, but we knew he was coming to the VW event in Bath, Maine so we figured he'd bring it with him. Well, it turned out he couldn't make it with his bus, so he gave our mail to Scott who was coming. Scott and his wife just happened to be stopping in Bangor and spotted our green bus. And there you have it.... I got my mailed delivered 6000 km from home. lol.

Bath VW Event
This was the largest assembly of VW Buses we have seen yet. There must have been 50 buses in attendance. We were peppered through the woods and had just marvelous sunny skies during the day and evenings of starry wonders to keep us up at night. We all were hosted by a campsite that gave us a remarkable rate for the weekend and the organizers cooked up a lobster and clam dinner for all of us. In the morning that we were all going to leave, a parade was organized and 50 or so VW Campers headed down the highway to a local beach to all park in a row and show off a bit. There were special draws and prizes awarded, but we didn't win anything, except the admiration of all in attendance. If it was a show n shine, I am sure we would have come away with something more then the fond memories we have now.