Mid Atlantic region - ish

As I last left off, I started this next adventure in New Jersey in my endless quest for the mysterious unknown. I was able to see the skyline of Manhattan while towing an RV. Truly a once in a lifetime experience and mean ONCE.

I stayed at a farm one night in the more rural part of New Jersey. The "farm" was really not much of a farm and more of a large mansion in a Tuscany style with a pool and tennis courts in the back. I was able to stay in my RV in the front with the farm animals which allows this property to be classified as a farm for what I can only assume is tax purposes. In any event, there was no Big Foot or Jersey Devil to be found so I moved on.

Typical farm animals, llamas. Or alpacas. I am not sure of the difference nor do I actually care. 

My next spot was Delaware. Delaware was the last state (other than Alaska) that I have not slept in, so it was nice to cross it off my list. Delaware was quite lovely and outside of the city, very rural. Pretty much the same could be said for every state (including New Jersey) but what still amazes me is that after having hundreds of years of large-scale occupation, it is still pretty much the same as it was in 1500 (obviously paved roads not withstanding). It’s not like the east coast was full, so people headed west, people headed west because they wanted to see what was there or to have their own space. I totally get and respect that feeling.

Delaware can be quite pretty.

I checked out a local brewery while there. Mispillion River Brewing was awesome. One of the owners and a bartender were getting their hair cut as they have a stylist that makes house calls. Got to say, it was a good idea as it saves on rent and is really convenient for the recipient of the haircut. I was tempted to get my hair cut, but I just got it cut in August in Kentucky and no need to rush these things. Oh, beer was spot on and delicious. Bar seating and the brewery behind. Excellent time, but no Big Foot.

Lovely tasting beer and a front row seat to the brewing

My next stop was Maryland. I have not spent a night in Maryland since my eldest brother JA lived there so it had to be like 1990 or so. Frankly it’s immaterial as I was back. I knew quickly that Big Foot would not be found anywhere around here. Apparently, the state of Maryland has decided to no longer issue driver’s licenses and allows basically anyone to drive. In fact, it seems the more levelheaded and reasonable of a driver you are, the less likely you are to get issued a license. To be clear, I have been around and driven in nearly all of the states. Take the most obnoxious of those drivers and put them all in Maryland and they would be average there. You basically see a major moving violation every minute or so and that is when there is no traffic. During congested times that skyrockets. There is no way Big Foot would want to be around these drivers as it is patently unsafe, and we all know that while Big Foot enjoys a beer or cocktail it is always responsible as getting home safe and alive is the most important thing.

Nevertheless, I still persevered and checked out a number of local breweries in Washington D.C. and Virginia. Most importantly I was able to see family. My brother JC was celebrating a BIG birthday and I got to hang out with JC&M again (recall the Ireland trip). Also, both of their kids and families live there, and they have new babies that I got to see (grandnieces). S&N have a beautiful daughter, O, and K&B have an equally beautiful daughter, R. It was nice to see babies again, but I certainly am happy I am well passed those years as it is a ton of work. People think dogs are like babies. They are not. As soon as it is considered acceptable to lock a toddler in a cage for a day then they are closer to equal but still not quite. You also need to take large quantities of money and burn it at the same time. Also stop sleeping all night long.

N with O

B with R

First stop was at Dacha with JC&M and S&N+O in D.C. where there was a special on some of the beer so the pricing was not ridiculous. There was also a plethora of Alumni groups meeting so the age in the brewery trended a bit younger than most breweries which range in age from 25 to 75. I know that they were all of legal drinking age as apparently stupidity in Washington extends to the bars as even I was checked for my age despite not looking a day younger than 30 (ok, 40. Fine - 50). It is one of my pet peeves to require proof of age for people clearly older than 25. I know some will defend these rules/policies/laws and let me assure you; you are wrong, and it is stupid. 

Ok. We stopped a number of places and they sort of blurred together. This was taken at one of the breweries.

We sampled the wares at a number of establishments including Port City Brewing, Fair Winds Brewing, and Aslin Beer. 

Yet another brewery picture. Blah Blah Blah. Does anyone actually read the captions?

JC&M along with Ozzy and Lucy checked out Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home on the Potomac. George loved dogs so they were allowed to wander the grounds and get attention from many random strangers. The house is pretty and there are some impressive features (including a key to the Bastille), plus George had an awesome office. The grounds were pretty and it is definitely worth a visit.

JC&M enjoying a beer in a non staged pose.

All things come to end as did my visit with everyone. We were able to have a nice birthday celebration for JC since he hit a MASSIVE milestone birthday. As a side note, being the youngest carries some burdens. Chief among those is to remind my older brothers that they are in fact, older.

Our next visit was Shenandoah National Park for a weeklong stay. Obviously Big Foot would not be found here as there are no breweries in the park, but there are breweries outside of the park, so I had to do my duty and explore. Elton Brewing was delightful. A perfect mix of seating options, great beer, and a fun vibe. There was no sight of Big Foot on my first visit so to be safe I had to make a second visit.

Enjoyed a beverage on the patio

I also had a beverage inside. I'll leave it to you on the quantity between my two visits but let me assure you, I was still better than those Maryland drivers.

I also checked out Brewhaha Brewing and had a really nice schwarzbier and Cave Hill Farms Brewery. This was an actual working farm and also an actual working brewery. Kind of neat. Housed in a pole barn that had old farm equipment as a sort of museum, it was an interesting place.

Brewhaha. Very small, but cool place and still managed to have multiple seating options. 

Cave Hills Farm: farm equipment and saddles in the sitting space. Really different. 

I got a chuckle out of this. 

While in the park, it seemed reasonable to take a hike on the Appalachian trail which is right nearby. I went with and without the hounds as Lucy insisted on being carried for the hike and that does get tiring. Oddly the cell signal was better on the trail likely due to being on the other side of Loft Mountain. The campsite had no electric or water, was partially shaded and in a no generator section. I was able to deploy all 4 ground based solar panels in addition to my roof panels. This was enough to keep my Jackery going to power my Starlink internet and the battery for my trailer as long as there was sun in the day.

Appalachian trail post. Thought I would include this for the haters out there.

 

Pretty view.

Some poor hiker falling off the edge of the cliff screaming for help. Alas, but at least he had good taste in beer based upon his hat.

I was able to enjoy the fall colors in the park. I have a video of the drive through the park but I am not particularly in love with the time-lapse feature of my dash cam. It looks a little nauseating based upon the playback speed. I could post it anyhow but that seems to be below the standard of excellence I show with the quality of this blog. Oh, Big Foot was still not found despite reports to the contrary. While there have been sightings of wild Big Feet, I am searching for the more sophisticated creature with a discerning taste. 

Finally, I ran into an issue with the trailer in Maryland. Apparently the slide cables (which move half of the trailer in and out to provide extra living space) had a malfunction. I was able to correct the issue and move the slide back in otherwise the trailer would be trapped in Maryland. I had a mobile RV tech check out my work and he noticed a problem with the other side of the slide where the cables were incorrectly routed and were rubbing and grinding. I noticed the noise earlier, but I have no idea what a cable slide sounds like as this was my first so I assumed it was normal. It was not. Most importantly my work was done correctly. I have decided to get this cable issue addressed when I am stationary for a longer period. I plan on spending a month at a spot in Missouri in November and should get it addressed then. Until then, I am hopeful the cables do not fail and the slide and half of my trailer doesn’t fall off while driving down the road. I am headed west again and will be going through Tennessee and onto Arkansas so you might want to avoid that area in case there is an issue.

 

Until next time,

 

Thor

Braxwood.com

Connecticut

It was an exciting and productive hunt for Big Foot in Connecticut albeit a bit rainy. In fact, it seemed to rain nearly every day, but I am sure that would be nearly impossible to believe. The fall colors started to kick in which was part of the reason for the visit, but it was far from peak color. You still have time to go.

I was joined on the hunt for Big Foot primarily with my brother J. Since the supercomputer that comes up with random letters seems to constantly come up with a J for every one of my brothers, I have decided to reprogram the system to produce a two-letter identifier for my brothers. Hopefully this reduces confusion as I unable to get the highly evolved processing unit to properly randomize with just one letter their names. Therefore, this brother after regeneration is now JM. His wife K was able to join in on a few of our explorations but alas, some people need to work and cannot spend as much time hunting Big Foot as I. Despite not finding Big Foot in Connecticut, it was a nice visit with JM&K along with my nephew, J, and his girlfriend M. 

JM and I visited a series of likely Big Foot hangouts throughout the southern New England region. I would say greater Hartford, but we even extended our search one day to Massachusetts. To be fair, these are all small states, and a two-hour drive would put you in southern New Hampshire. I know this as we made a side quest to look at alternative Big Foot hunting equipment for me but more on that later.

This will end up being a photo dump and some discussion of each establishment as far as I recall. It turns out Big Foot hunting is thirsty work and I tend to forget where I’ve been on a given day – especially when it never stops raining. I try to utilize my credit card receipts to remind me, but JM&K often treated which was awesome and yet exposes a disturbing lack of preparedness on my part for this blog. It is almost like I sit down with an adult beverage and just start writing as a stream of consciousness.

In any event, here we go and in a semi random order.

JM at Urban Lodge Brewing Company in the basement. Tasty but it did rain this day.

I have chosen to not include a picture of one of the places we went. Let me just say a few words and you can draw your own conclusions. Hooker. I had two and was quite satisfied. JM paid and was impressed with my stamina. And it did rain that day so one could say it was moist.

Connecticut Valley Brewing. Actually quite delicious and seriously overpriced. Since it was raining, we didn't have much choice.

2nd Bridge Brewing Company. This was a really cool place and it would be an awesome hangout. Lower level of an old mill and it felt very comfortable. Beer was excellent but no Big Foot. And yes, it rained that day.

East Hartford Brewing. Awesome beer. Seriously drinkable and I got some to go. They had a clever event for dogs where the dogs would do some paining without getting messy. I can share details if one is interested. It was raining so hard that the flooding make it impossible to enter through the normal door and we had to go through a side door. 

Paddle Creek Beer Company. Not the best of neighborhoods but really good beer. A home brewer that grew to run a part time brewery. These kinds of places are amongst my favorites as I admire the passion and dedication. 

We planned on another night that didn't happen to have rain to go to Hops On the Hill with JM&K. Unfortunately it was packed and we knew Big Foot detests crowds so we went to Elicit Brewing. As luck would have it there was a fundraiser for youth soccer that night and it was packed. Since there was no Big Foot at least we could have something to drink and a bite to eat. It was a big beer hall and packed with people but overall not a bad place. I would generally not hang out there with those large crowds but at least I know parents will drink to support their children. 

JM&K also took me to Willimantic Brewing Company. Good food and good beer. A bit of a drive from Hartford, but that doesn't mean much. Speaking of a drive, I mentioned JM and I went to New Hampshire. On the way back we stopped at the Tap Brewing Company. If you should ever find yourself in Massachusetts, I would recommend checking this place out. Great food and awesome beer.

On the last few days we prepped the pool for closing for the season since the rain finally relented. We headed one more time to Hops on the Hill. Turns out the parking was packed again but we braved it anyhow and it was great. Beer was awesome and there was enough space to spread outside (since the monsoon was finally over) and we were able to find some seats.

Good beer but again really expensive. I mean $9 for a pint is ridiculous since that same pint is only $6 elsewhere. Of course since the beer was good and the place was packed, who cares.

As I previously mentioned, I went with JM to look at Big Foot hunting equipment. I am looking at alternatives like a truck camper and JM&K are exploring getting into Big Foot hunting and would need equipment too. They have more space needs than I which is not surprising since they have a larger dog (Rosie) than both of mine combined and then doubled. No decisions have been made and won’t likely be made until I decide on procuring a base of operations. That was my original plan, but I got distracted along the way. Once I decide on if I need a base of operations, and where that base would be located, then I could decide on what changes need to be made to my Big Foot hunting equipment if any.

More adventures await as I head to New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland for my next installment. I am actually in New Jersey as I write this and I never thought I would be towing a camper and able to see the skyline of Manhattan at the same time. Or was it I never thought it would be a good idea? In any event, I am still alive and hunting.

Until next time,

Thor

braxwood.com