Day 54- We headed out from the Cabelas that morning, continuing on through New Hampshire, Vermont, into Massachusetts, and then eventually over to New York. As we entered New York that evening we watched the thunder storms as they went off all around us (but not too close!) until we settled into a big fancy rest stop for the night.
Early in the morning (really still the middle of the night) I awoke to hear a light rapping / tapping on the Ohana. When I looked outside a car had pulled up extremely close up next to us. It was strange because we really had parked away from everyone in the middle of a huge empty parking lot. A girl was standing there with her car door against our rearview mirror. If you have read recently, I might be a little defensive of those due to what had happened at Niagra Falls. I think I startled her a bit when I rolled down the passenger window right next to her and politely asked her to not put her vehicle against ours in any way. She just glared at me, but one of her traveling companions smiled, moved the door away, and waved me well. Needless to say though, they jetted out right away after that.
Before heading out on the morning of Day 55- we added Massachusetts and New York to our USA magnet.
Heading on further South, we passed on through Pennsylvania towards our goal of Maryland. A very good friend of Laura’s owns a home on the Delmarva Peninsula in the town of Mardela Springs. That night before we arrived at our destination, we purchased the cheapest gas we had seen yet at $4.13! Now here for the next few days we planned to spend doing some much needed Ohana maintenance as well as some down time, but this chapter of the story I will let Miss Laura tell. 😉💖
Day 56- We arrived, at night, deep in the country side in Maryland. The sounds of the crickets was a cacophony of noise in my ears while I was on the phone with Ms. Boone, who was in a time zone 4 hours earlier. You see, at every other stop along our way, we have gotten to give hugs and handshakes when we arrive at our friends homes. In this case though, we would get to share this family home with the only occupants that were still there, The Ancestors.
As I said, we arrived at night in the dark, down a country lane in a small town. Ms. Boone, on the other end of the phone is walking me through how to open the chain, to allow the Ohana in the driveway, “Just go all the way to the house” she said. Well, through the trees we went, knowing that we would be putting some GACO on the scratches that the low hanging branches made on the pods. 😬
Again; it was dark, the crickets where outrageously loud, and we have been listening to Stephan King for most of this trip. Ms. Boone knows this home like the back of her hand, so she is talking me through where light switches are, which doors to open, and to make sure I let the Ancestors know that I mean no harm. I turn on lights, say my hellos, and then go to the upper story of the house. Here where the dark bedrooms lay. 😨 Here where centuries old furniture has been kept in pristine condition. 😰 Here were the beds, that Ms. Boone is telling me, where the white child would sleep, and the slave child’s bed would be pulled out from underneath for them to sleep. 😱 I was glad that Geoff was there when I saw the sweet little doll laying on another bed. 😩
Ms. Boone wondered why we didn’t sleep inside the house. 😳
But really, the light of day, the old home had museum like quality furniture that I sat on, admired and cherished. The add on porch was the perfect sunny, and cool place for Geoff and I to get some work done.
Day 57, While Geoff was working on the blog, I called Ms. Boone, and she walked with me in my ears while she ‘showed’ me around this quintessential New England town. Later I took Geoff on the tour.
Her family has been a part of this community for longer than I could remember, and my good friends has many stories to tell. We walked down to the tidal river, where she used to take the boat as far as she could in a day. I followed her directions to the little cemetery (glad it was in the day light), and past School Street, where the two room school house had once stood. All this being said, I not only felt closer to Ms. Boone, but also finally felt that I had gotten to be a part of all these so cute historic towns that we have been driving by.
After I took Geoff on a similar walking tour, it was time for us to do some chores. First things first, we got permission to cut down some of the branches that were so pesky on our trip into the home. Also, the Ohana got a much needed bath, and with the heat that was on the rise outside I was happy to be playing in the water. We couldn’t believe the difference- I had no idea she was that dirty.
Also, the deep, soft cushions on our bed needed some mending. This one is the one right above Geoff’s head while he is driving. It was drooping enough to almost drive him crazy. Anyway, the table in the dining room was the perfect place to get some sewing done.
One last chore was to pull up the sagging seem on the outside of the passenger side door. First Geoff slit open the bubble, and then squirted some silicone in the area and then we pressed it up on itself with a board we found. So far so good!
It was a fabulous visit. After we said our goodbyes to the Ancestors, we let Ms. Boone know that she could lock the door behind us. And thank you so much for sharing so much.
Day 58- It seemed we were all ready to get back on the road. The following morning I had coordinating picking up my super good friend Tom Sims from the airport in Baltimore. We figured we would spend a good part of this day driving and find a location closer to the airport so we could be up and ready to get Tom in the morning.
Before we headed out I noticed the rear passenger running light was out, so I quickly fixed up the wiring before hitting the road. Along the way we quested to find a dump and fill location, I stopped at a tire shop and they let me do a tire pressure / lug nut check, and get in a workout and shower along our way. That evening we settled in at a Cracker Barrel for the night before crossing the huge bridge into Baltimore in the morning.
When we settled in under the stars that evening we noticed that The Big Dipper had grown much closer to the horizon line than we were used to. We also added Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland to our magnet.
Bright and early on the morning of Day 59- we were readying ourselves for cruising into Baltimore. We noticed this huge beautiful butterfly in the bushes next to the Ohana before we left.
We navigated to the city and ended up having to do a few laps around the airport to figure out how to pick up Tom. Once we had him, the drive was relatively short to get us to our destination. I had scored us a sweet parking spot right on the harbor for the next four days. The reason Tom had flown to Baltimore to meet us and the reason we were here was a huge deal: Reggae Rise Up.
Reggae Rise Up was a 3 day festival Laura and I were suuuuper excited about. It was 3 days of some of the biggest names in Reggae- and music that I had literally spent years listening to and had helped shape a massive portion of the soundtrack to my life. If you’re interested in the set list- feel free to pause the slideshow on the last shot to see the bands that were going to play.
But- that was the big plans for the next 3 days, today I had another mini mission I was excited about. A few years ago, through Facebook, I had discovered a very unknown band I super enjoy; Troll Tribe. Since I knew we would be driving around the country, I had been keeping an eye on the Troll Tribe page to see where they might be playing. As we had drawn closer I realized we were going to be right by where Troll Tribe would be playing in Annapolis! So needless to say, this was my quest for the evening; because they would be playing that same night we arrived at our parking spot.
Before taking off to battle our way through Baltimore’s public transit system, I put on our club, gas pedal lock, and security camera for the first time on our trip thus far.
Once we managed to figure out the insanity of the bus system, the bus ride was crazy! Baltimore bus drivers are on a schedule, and not hell or high water will stop them. There was a lot of white knuckle moments as we made our hour plus trip down to Annapolis.
In Annapolis we killed some time waiting for the Troll Tribe show. Laura checked out a vintage clothing store, we played at a bar / arcade combo, and we snagged up some Thai Food as we awaited for opening time.
What a fun evening it was! At such a massive Reggae event, I got to go see one of my favorite little start up bands that was beginning to carve their way into the picture.
I had a great time singing along and hanging out with the guys between sets!
After the show was over we braved our way through the madness of Baltimore’s bus system again, but this time with the city night scene in full flare. That night, pretty late, we wandered our way back to the Ohana.
Super jazzed up for the show tomorrow I forced myself to get some sleep- and awoke the next morning to the most beautiful sunrise over the harbor. I couldn’t help but share it with you all as the final pic for this blog, but as far the story that will have to wait until next time folks!
Geoff Murphy 8/11/2022