Life In the Slow Lane

We’re doing the “Great Circle Route” to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Our first stop was to Darien CT for a few nights to visit with “the world’s cutest grandson”™, then onwards to Morristown NJ to visit my mother. Highlight of the visit was a surprisingly good Korean BBQ in Morris Plains. What a relief in the suburban desert of boring eateries. Woodam Korean BBQ https://woodamnj.smartonlineorder.com/ Peggy and Barbara at Korean BBQ. Note the gas BBQ in the center of the table We headed up to Lakeville in the NW corner of Connecticut to attend my 50th high school reunion. (Really? It doesn’t seem THAT long ago …) A classmate was also camping in the parking lot with us. One of the pressing issues facing the school was cell phones. Effective the Monday after our reunion, new rules banned cell phones in classroom buildings and the dining hall. They want the kids to interact face to face, not text to each other while eating. Bravo! Fifteen years after the iPhone was invented -- a good move...

Pulling into Baxter State Park in northern Maine, the ranger looks a little horrified. “Do you have reservations?” in a polite tone that sounded like she was sure we didn’t. Unspoken was “OMG, that’s HUGE!!!” Traveling in the South, the most common comment on our trailer was “cute”. A few campgrounds refused to let us make reservations, since our 21 feet was too small. (Camp sites are charged by the site, not per foot, so it shouldn’t make any difference what size we were). “Did you make reservations on-line?” the ranger asked. “Yes,” I replied. “But did you talk to somebody in the office?” Again, “Yes.” Her eyes got ever bigger, "Are you sure?" “We have to measure your trailer.” Pizza maestro Tony, fresh off Criehaven, had his even smaller trailer behind us. “And his, too.” The ranger station had measuring sticks for height and width. We were both OK, she confirmed our paper reservation slip. Yes, paper : there is zero connectivity up north, so the park insists you bring a p...

We enjoy Ukrainian borsch with deruny (potato pancakes). Notice the little Ukrainian flag. Much of the Internet claims borsch (without a “t”) was invented in Ukraine and became popular in all the Slavic countries, including Russia. There appear to be at least 1000 recipes, with the only common element being beets, with sour cream on top. Hot/cold, beef/pork/vegetarian, and choose from garlic | onions | tomatoes | potatoes | cabbage | carrots | dill | etc. My recipe claimed to be truly Ukrainian, but who knows?   The last time I had borsch was when my daughter Anna, who had just came back from a semester abroad in Russia about 15 years ago, cooked it for us. Yumm. I am so glad to be back in my home kitchen, which I think is somewhat larger than the entire Boma trailer. Chicken Kyiv is on the menu in a few days. We “celebrated” the sinking of the flagship Moscow. Ukraine claims the ship was hit by their missiles;   USA military confirms the ship was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune ...

With all new tires, we headed to Greensboro, the site of the first Woolworth sit-ins against segregation in public accommodations.    On February 1, 1960 Four African-American students from NC A&T College  sat at the lunch counter, each ordering a coffee and a donut. They were refused service and refused to leave until closing (5:30). The next day 60 more students joined them, then there were hundreds. The students were polite and non-violent; hecklers pulled their hair and threatened them. Several whites were arrested. The protests continued until July, when the local Woolworth manager relented, mostly because the store was losing money and so his salary had been cut. News to me was that this segregation was not due to Jim Crow laws, but "merely" local racism. The local store manager could, and did, change the rule, without needing authorization from any government, and probably not even corporate . Woolworth did not change the policy company-wide: Jackson Mississi...

 All the snow is gone! Besides the weather, we had some adventures. We went off to drive, without Boma, the "Devil's Triangle", a 44 mile scenic drive in the steep hills. We decided to take a short cut, actually a scenic detour, before we got there. It started out as a well-graded two lane gravel road. About 10 miles in it degraded to a less well-graded, one lane road. Beautiful scenery. No problem. The puddles in the road got more serious, so I would get out to test their depth. Always less than six inches, no problem.  A tree had fallen across the road, so I broke off some branches to make it easier to pass. No problem. A convoy of serious ATVs, all encased in mud, with winches, shovels, etc. passed by on a nearby trail. They waved and looked at us a little funny.  Another few miles, and we are almost back to the paved road of the Devil's Triangle. The "road", now a rough trail, dropped off steeply. It had been paved decades ago, so hunks of asphalt were b...

Got out the winter coats for four inches of snow. Tonight is supposed to be even colder, down to 12˚; it's already 14.9˚.  We are in Rocky Top in eastern Tennessee, next to the town of Clinton. The town song: Rocky Top  by the Osbourne Brothers. It is one of the ten official songs of Tennessee. In a weird twist, the town was named for the song, in 2014. Welcome to Clinton TN This mural graces downtown. The leftmost picture is the Norris Dam, the first Tennessee Valley Authority project, and location of our campground and snow. The rightmost panel commemorates their desegregation issue in 1956.  The Clinton High School became the first integrated high school in the South . This happened the year before the Little Rock (1957)  Little Rock Nine . Clinton (population 4,000 then) was about 90% White and 10% Black Following the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education decision and a subsequent case in Tennessee, the school board integrated the high school. Twelve African Ameri...

These crossed railroad tracks were probably the most significant do-or-die location during the Civil War But first, Yet Another Trivial Accomplishment! We ascended the highest point in Mississippi, Mount Woodall,  803 feet, woo hoo!  Mississippi is 47th highest. On a barely-researched whim we stopped at Corinth, Mississippi. Corinth's military importance was because two major railroads, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, running east-west across the whole Confederacy, and the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, the only north-south line, crossed there. These railroads were essential for Confederate army supply lines.   War stories are usually big on valiant actions, heroes and sometimes cowards, and medals of honor. Traditional wars depended on killing the enemy one by one, up close and personal, with a sword, spear, bayonet, musket or arrow. Death tolls were usually low. The Civil War was the first "modern" war. New long distance weapons, such as rifles and rifled cannons s...