Fourth Cliff 2015

     Fourth Cliff is a 56 acre recreation area administered by Hanscom AFB.  It's a wonderful spot with tall bluffs with clear day views of both Boston and Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod.  Erosion of the bluffs was pretty severe last winter, and there is a new fence about 12 feet back from the old one.

     The old concrete slab that you see was previously used to mount six inch guns used for the defense of the Boston Harbor in WWII.

     The grown over mound with a visible blast door behind the bus was the camouflaged bunker that housed troops, supplies and ammunition.  Note that I had to pull exaggeratedly close to the front of the site to get my rear wheels up high enough that the leveling system could handle it.

     The old reinforced concrete observation tower still stands.  The first federal use of the property was in 1880 when it became a life-saving station.  After WWI it became a Navy radio-navigation station.  During WWII it was a potent Coast Artillery site.  It became an Air Force Field Station in 1948.  At that point it became an antenna range for the noteworthy MIT/Harvard Radiation Laboratory (the famous "Rad Lab").  Shortly thereafter it sprouted the huge ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) test antennas which verified the capability to have limited communications with submerged submarines a half a world away.

     In recent years the historic little hilltop has hosted many thousands of military families as a vacation site and recreation area.  We'll be here until the 15th.  I haven't gotten up early enough to capture a sunrise, but looking shore ward there are some nice sunsets.

55th West Point Reunion

   From Thursday to Sunday we have been dry camping in the parking lot of the Sheraton/Mahwah, NJ.  It's a big complex mix of commercial offices on floors 2-12 and hotel accommodations above that.  It was chosen for it's proximity to West Point and it's being adjacent to I-287.

     We checked in and confirmed our parking permission with the hotel.  

     Then we found a quiet place to park.  We would be making extensive use of the generator, and this was a perfect spot.  It did mean a half mile walk to the hotel, but we managed with some discomfort.  Friday morning was a bus trip to West Point for facility tours, lunch at Ike Hall and briefings from the Supe, the Comm, the Dean, and the AD.  One of the new facilities is the USMA Prep School.

Then there were some more self-guided tours. 

     The statue is Eisenhower with the Supe's house in the background.

      Here we see the three couples from H-2 and one of the widows who was able to attend.

Friday night was the dinner dance.  Company H-2 did not have enough folks to occupy a whole table, but we did bring our own tablecloth.  The back story behind the tablecloth is worth the telling.  On Valentine's day of 1960 there was a special dinner at the Bergman's.  He was an eye sugeon whose daughter, Jitske, was engaged to one of the H-2 cadets.  The table was set for a dozen: candelabra, linen tablecloth, silver, wine, etc.  Somehow, a bottle of wine was spilled.  Jitske and her mother agreed to write off the tablecloth.  Everyone present autographed the tablecloth.  In subsequent reunions the tablecloth collected more and more signatures.  Jitske embroidered the signatures, so that they wouldn't be lost with fading.  Over the years, many H-2 signatures appeared.  Durelle cross-stitched over many of them.  Now the tablecloth is a wonderful source of many memories.

         The "graffiti" and wine stains are original.  There was no more wine spilled on it this year.  You get less rambunctious as you approach our ages.  By the way, the DJ announced that the first dance was reserved for those who had been married more than fifty years.  The dance floor couldn't  hold them all!

         Saturday was the Alumni Review.  After painful review, I decided to join  the "walking wounded" and join the class after they had marched on.  The next two pictures are courtesy of John and Jackie Fare, Maine camping buddies with whom we shared the day.

     That's me headin' out.  I found a spot in the rear rank and observed what my legs thought was an interminable parade.  Below is a picture of the class of '60 in the bleachers.  The collective contributions of that group are hard to measure.

     After the parade was lunch in the cadet dining hall.  The Fare's live just north of West Point, so we invited them to join us for the parade and lunch in Washington Hall.  Jackie's gift made Durelle's birthday.

    

     Above is a small section of the 120 foot wide mural at one end of the dining hall.  Later there was a memorial service for our fallen classmates in the cadet chapel.

     

     It was a grueling weekend for those not well equipped for walking, but we are already talking about our 60th.

Finally Northbound

     Well, we got away on schedule...almost.

     Here's the bus all hooked up and ready to roll.  As you can imagine, it takes the cooperation of our neighbors and the Homeowners Association.  Northbound on I-95 is something we have done innumerable times before.  This time our first day had a very pleasant diversion from the usual interstate/cruise control day.
     Over the past several months I have been working with a widow (whom I had never met) of a classmate to jointly create a Memorial Article for her husband to be published in the upcoming issue of Taps.  There were innumerable back and forths until we decided we were both happy with the write up, and it was time to go to press.  She lives in Fayetteville, so we agreed to meet for lunch at the local Cracker Barrel.  Of course, it was a two hour lunch that really wasn't long enough.  We'll have to get together again... perhaps southbound in the Fall.  The lady's name is Lyn Whitehead.  Here's a picture.

     We stopped for the night at a convenient KOA in Enfield, NC.  I sat down to hook up the computer for the first time on the road this year.  I thought that I had organized all the cords and non-cords to resume normal operation.  Everything seemed to work except the mouse.  Having discovered from son, Mark, that only one dongle supported both the wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, the next possibility was mouse batteries.  Given the complete new organization, coupled with the fact that the mouse worked fine yesterday, batteries seemed an unlikely solution.  Guess what?  It was the batteries.  So you get to see a blog tonight after all.  
     If my count is correct, this is blog number 600.  I hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have.

Big Cat

     Well, we're getting ready to head north.  The dining room table is covered with "stuff" that we have to find room for somewhere.  Tomorrow we go grocery shopping.  The loading begins.  I went over to check on the bus today, and hooked up the Jeep in order to fix the trailer lighting connections.  The new inverter is working just fine.  It ought to for $2.9K!  We'll pick the bus up Friday and park it in the driveway to begin loading.  This week has been a long list of doctor's appointments as we juggle our travel with the "two per year" routine visit limit  While I have been looking forward to the trip to have some blog material, this evening some blog material wandered into the back yard.

     This is NOT one of the neighbor's house cats.  I never saw one of the frequently-spotted cougars when we were in Colorado, but I have seen a Canadian lynx in the wild while fly fishing with my father between the 1st and 2nd Connecticut Lakes.  I'm 99% sure this is a bobcat.

     Durelle spotted him, and I grabbed the camera.  Neither of us have eyes good enough to make a real determination unaided.  My only hope was that the telephoto and the computer enhancement would permit a good identification.  I think you'll agree that this is not somebody's pet.  He surely saw me come out, but he did not spook and head into the bushes.  AND he looks pretty well fed.

     There is nothing for scale, but I feel sure that he is a foot and a half high.  He(?) is a handsome thing without an apparent enemy in the world.

     We are fortunate to have an assortment of critters in our back yard.  Here's one more picture to prove the point.

     Soon this will once more be a travel blog.

Alligator Fence

     Signs of Spring.  The alligators are coming out, it's Easter and Durelle has started packing by loading up the dining room table.  As you know the Pecks are enjoying the use of our bus until next Sunday when they'll have to haul their well-warmed bones back up to Maine.  So that they would not go to Subway for Easter, we asked them to join us.

     It was a  simple dinner of a ham off the Treager grill, Durelle's mother's potato salad, and a butternut squash.  We'll be eating ham for a while.
     There are a lot of "critters in our backyard, but when the weather warms up you can count on the alligators showing up.  The first picture was taken before I could get to the fence to take his picture. 

     This is why we have a fenced in backyard for Baxter.  As I approached the fence he scrambled into the water.  He came back out of the water a few minutes later, and Durelle was able to take another picture over the fence.

     He's not a huge fellow, but he is about eight feet long.

     In a couple of weeks or so we'll be pulling up stakes and heading north.  Therefore the beginning of the collection of "stuff" to be loaded into the bus is starting to materialize on the dining room table.  I sure hope that it is also warming up in Maine.

Change of Pace

     The whole theme of this blog is our travels.  When we are not traveling, I try to find some photo ops of other things that we are doing.  Sometimes it is a stretch.  Today's will not be about us, but it will be about a couple of topics that may interest many of you...barbecue and grandkids.  Our Maine camping group is fortunate to have among us the nationally ranked barbecuing team of Tim and Wendy Boucher.  What you may not know is that they have been providing advice to a pair of newbie barbecuers; our granddaughter, Melissa and her husband Illia Zotos.  The advice is strictly by email because the Zotoses (Zoti?) live in Sydney, Australia.
     Australia does a lot of backyard grilling.  "Throw another shrimp on the barbie, mate."  Lately, however, there has been an increased interest in the barbecue competitions following the rules and formats of American (KCBS) barbecue.  After burning a few ribs in practice Melissa and Illia took their show on the road to the Blues BBQ Festival at the town green in Port Macquarie, NSW, AU.

     These were their entry, and they took first place in the ribs category and 13th overall out of fifty competing teams.

     

     You know, she doesn't look like she's been standing over a hot smoker all afternoon!  Congratulations to you both...there are a lot of folks who share your pride in your achievement.

Estelle Anderson

     Estelle is a wonderful lady who has been connected to our family for 76 years.  When Durelle's mother and father were  bringing her home from the hospital in 1938, Estelle was the teenager next door who actually carried Durelle into the house.  She was a faithful babysitter and friend as Durelle grew up.  Being a renowned cook, Estelle made our wedding cake, AND fifty years later she made a replica for our 50th anniversary.

     This spring (?) she and her two daughters, Peggy and Karen, rented a seaside place in Pawleys Island.  Today we drove up for a visit and lunch.  The house is a wonderful, sprawling place with a nice boardwalk out to the ocean.  It could stand a little facelift, but it is on the market for a million bucks.  Location, location, location.  It would be easy to spend the winter months there.

      
     This view is looking northward up the beach.  As Durelle and Estelle walked out the boardwalk to the landing at the beach, I snapped a number of candids.  I will show you three.

     By the way, Estelle is 92!  For lunch we made a return visit to Bistro 217, and we were not disappointed.
     So here we revert to a food blog.

     This is Durelle's club sandwich.

This is Estelle's Philly Cheesesteak.

     This is Karen's BLT.

 Peggy had an extensive salad topped with a pecan-encrusted piece of trigger fish.

     Finally there is my Pad Thai with lots of cilantro.

     We went back to the beach house for hot fudge sundaes with homemade fudge.

                                    Does it get any better than this?