The Sabbatical – Page 7 – Wanderlust

It’s a jungle out here!

Life in the jungle is fun!

It was raining the whole day. When we were packing our gear in Cheraw, we folded the tent all wet stuck it together with other soaked items into the roof rack. That’s a proven technique by now. Whatever’s dry and has to stay that way rides in the car, moist and dump equipment rides on the roof. There is only one problem. The roof rack has two locks for which, we’ve lost the keys. Instead, we use a bright orange heavy duty strap. Well, at least most of the time we do…

That day we were in such a hurry to leave for our next destination that we’ve forgotten to secure the luggage on top of the car. That proved to be an excellent recipe for disaster. At 70 mph, on an interstate, in the middle of a storm, the roof rack does not want to stay closed. At some point I’ve heard a strange sound from above and a moment later I saw something in the rear view mirror. We either hit a bird, or the damn roof trunk failed. Well, obviously there are only a few birds crazy enough to challenge a tropical storm, so it must have been the later. I stopped immediately, which in such conditions means about half a minute or mile further. The roof rack was open and our tarp was ready for take-off. I checked the rest of the items and concluded that we’ve lost at least the bag with tent poles, hopefully not more.

The big question was, do I risk my life and walk back half a mile in pouring rain on a busy interstate to retrieve a bag of poles? Even if they’re still intact, I decided a $79.95 is not worth the hustle. We drove off and bought a new tent at the next Walmart. This one isn’t as nice as the one we lost, but is more or less the same size. Just more complicated to setup and fold down. Oh well…

When we eventually got to the Hunting Island State Park, the sun started to peak out from behind an overcast sky. We couldn’t wait to get to the beach, so we quickly hauled all our gear to a site about 100 yards from the parking lot. The camp site itself looks like a set from “Off the Map”. It’s South Carolina, and yet it’s a jungle. It’s nested in the middle of a forest, with pines, focuses and palm trees all around. It looked terrific.

24-Sep-2011 18:31, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 200

OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u850SW,S850SW , 5.0, 20.1mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 64

Surfer Girl

Surfer Girl24-Sep-2011 18:40, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 45.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200

Robert at work...

Robert at work...24-Sep-2011 18:37, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 200

24-Sep-2011 18:56, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 85.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200

24-Sep-2011 19:00, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200

24-Sep-2011 19:12, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200

25-Sep-2011 17:38, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 70.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 200

25-Sep-2011 17:38, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 200

24-Sep-2011 21:35, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.011 sec, ISO 800

25-Sep-2011 17:40, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 28.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200

25-Sep-2011 17:38, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 108.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 200

When we got to the beach, it was already after sunset. That obviously didn’t stop me or the kids from getting completely wet and then covered with sand. An hour after dark, we decided we’re hungry and got back to our site. Riding the bikes in complete darkness wasn’t easy, but we made it safe. Due to the rain earlier, all wood was soaking wet, which proved to be really difficult to start the camp fire. Especially with an empty lighter and wet matches. I managed to burn my finger in the process, but finally called it a success. For about ten minutes, as this is how much wood we’ve collected to fuel the fire.

While fiddling with the campfire, we’ve heard some disturbing noises from nearby bushes. Apparently we weren’t alone in this site and our animal neighbors were having a rather laud domestic dispute. Turned out we set up our camp in the middle of a raccoon territory. When we were getting acquainted with the Ocean, those little fellows already visited our kitchen tent. Missing bag of roasted peanuts gave as the clue…

With no campfire and no snacks, we decided to call it a day and retired to the tent about 10PM. That however, does not meant we got to sleep longer than usual. Apparently, it wasn’t just one family of raccoons, more like a few hordes. I had to step out from the tent to rescue our supplies. In just few trips, I hauled everything back to the car, leaving only some pots and mugs in the kitchen tent. Let me just add that this was the evening when my favorite miners lamp also decided to quit. Believe me, it’s not a pleasant experience to evacuate food in complete darkness surrounded by a bunch of hungry animals.

When I got back to the tent, the kids were already asleep, which is a very good thing. I couldn’t force myself to slander listening to the noises outside. Raccoons were obviously quite displeased with my actions, but did not surrender hope. Maybe not very intelligent, they don’t lack perseverance. It took them all night and several repeated attempts at our empty mugs and pots to realize that the food was actually gone. On top of that, the regular sounds of a sub-tropical forest are quite different from what we are accustomed. A falling oak leaf doesn’t make much noise, but imagine a palm tree leaf. Or imagine multiple palm trees shedding their leaves all at the same time in the middle of the night. Add the squirrels running around and throwing pine cones at your tent, bats, owls, deer and God only knows what other night creatures. Supposedly the alligators live nearby too…

While I was trying to fall asleep, listening to a cacophony of noises, suddenly I heard a bear snore right next to me. Apparently , my wife was real tired and just couldn’t care less about the jungle outside…

The Prettiest Town in Dixie

How a town in the middle of nowhere turns out to be one of the most interesting stops so far.

On our trip we’re meeting some pretty interesting people. All they have some truly amazing stories to tell. Like the couple we’ve met in Virginia. They live in Massachusetts, but only during the short summer. They don’t actually have a house there, they sold it and bought an AirStream trailer. They haul it around and stay as hosts at State Parks throughout the country. Being a host means a few responsibilities, but also a free site to anchor for a month. They gave us a few tips and as a result, we’re heading towards the ocean to Hunting Island State Park.

It is a long way to get there, especially with two little monsters asking every couple minutes “Are we there yet?”. Therefore we’ve decided to break the trip into two four hour legs. At the end of the first part lies Cheraw, a charming little town in northern South Carolina. Admittedly, I didn’t know Dizzy and anything about him when I chose the place, but soon after arrival Agnieszka filled me up on jazz history. Turns out, Dizzy Gillespie is the father of american jazz music and Cheraw happens to be his hometown and a modern day Mecca for jazz enthusiasts from around the World.

Dizzy Gillespie with Nadia and Alex in Cheraw, SC

The town sits on the banks of the Pee Dee river and it’s history dates back to early seventeen hundreds. Even today, the downtown area is sprinkled with many building from before 1860.

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For lunch we’ve stopped in The River’s Edge, a downtown restaurant run by a very nice couple. The food was delicious and as usual we’ve gotten into a conversation with the owners. One thing leads to another and after the establishment closed for the day, we’ve ended up making pierogis for us all…

22-Sep-2011 00:24, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 3.8, 28.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 200

22-Sep-2011 00:24, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 4.5, 45.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 200

22-Sep-2011 00:25, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 108.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 200

22-Sep-2011 00:30, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 4.5, 70.0mm, 0.011 sec, ISO 200

22-Sep-2011 00:30, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 4.5, 55.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 200

22-Sep-2011 00:30, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 3.8, 28.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 200

22-Sep-2011 00:31, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 3.8, 28.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 200

22-Sep-2011 01:06, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 3.8, 28.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 200

22-Sep-2011 02:11, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 3.8, 28.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 200

Life in the woods

Our life in the woods and how busy your life can be when you have no regular job.

I’m sitting at a local library in Westlake Corner, VA. It’s books time for Nadia, play time for Alex and shopping for Agnieszka. I have a few minutes and a decent Wi-Fi connection for this short update. We’ve been living in this beautiful Smith Mountain Lake State Park for almost a week now. The temperature has been in the mid ’80 and there’s only been a few other campers beside us. That gave us the opportunity to participate in all the programs the park has to offer. We’ve been hiking and running in the woods, we’ve been watching bats and owls, learning to use a compass and cook in a campfire, playing ball on a beach, swimming, canoeing, boating and even knee boarding. We’ve been busy playing, but we didn’t forget about school. We did most of the lessons in Discovery Center, where Nadia was crunching Math and practicing English and Polish. We’ve been reading The Story of the World and other books rented from local library. Nadia even started her own journal!

11-Sep-2011 00:12, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 45.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 200

11-Sep-2011 00:03, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 400

11-Sep-2011 00:12, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 400

12-Sep-2011 19:04, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 75.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 200

12-Sep-2011 19:06, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 300.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 200

12-Sep-2011 21:16, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.8, 300.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200

12-Sep-2011 19:40, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 300.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400

12-Sep-2011 19:08, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 300.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 400

12-Sep-2011 21:16, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 200

13-Sep-2011 22:34, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.167 sec, ISO 800

13-Sep-2011 22:38, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 135.0mm, 0.167 sec, ISO 800

14-Sep-2011 16:29, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 800

14-Sep-2011 01:02, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 3.8, 28.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 400

USA, Smith Mountain Lake, VA - Widok z parku na jezioro (Fot. Robert Bajan)

USA, Smith Mountain Lake, VA - Widok z parku na jezioro (Fot. Robert Bajan)13-Sep-2011 22:48, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 11.0, 28.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200

14-Sep-2011 19:51, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u850SW,S850SW , 4.0, 6.7mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 64

USA, Smith Mountain Lake, VA - Widok z parku na jezioro (Fot. Robert Bajan)

USA, Smith Mountain Lake, VA - Widok z parku na jezioro (Fot. Robert Bajan)14-Sep-2011 16:42, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 28.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 200

USA, Smith Mountain Lake, VA - Pień drzewa wyrzeżbiony przez Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker (Fot. Robert Bajan)

USA, Smith Mountain Lake, VA - Pień drzewa wyrzeżbiony przez Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker (Fot. Robert Bajan)14-Sep-2011 17:06, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 70.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800

15-Sep-2011 15:53, OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. u850SW,S850SW , 3.5, 6.7mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 64

With our busy schedule, the consequence of sleeping longer and walking slower is simply that… the days became much shorter. Living this simple, frugal life is so exciting, that it is hard to believe how fast time passes by.

Knee Boarding on Smith Mountain Lake

Fun time on the lake including a free lesson in knee boarding for Agnieszka and Nadia.

Last week we’ve met some interesting people in the Smith Mountain Lake State Park. Since there were only a few people in the park, we’ve been bumping into a couple from North Carolina throughout the week. As it turned out they also home school their kids and enjoy spending time at the park after season. The last day of their stay, they invited us for a pontoon boat ride on the lake. Nadia and Alex had a lot of fun! Even though there was rain in the forecast, the sky was only overcast and the temperature was still in the high 70’s. Perfect conditions for a… Knee Board Ride!
Agnieszka on the lake…

…and Nadia doing so much better:

Smith Mountain Lake

Four states in two days – a story of an epic storm, flooding and search for a better weather.

It rained all evening, all night and the whole morning on our departure from Altoona. When it eventually stopped, we’ve arrived in Cumberland, Maryland. This sudden dryness in the air has tricked us into changing our plans. We were headed to Big Bend State Park in West Virginia, but decided to stay in Rocky Gap near town. A terrible mistake…

The first night was dry, although thick clouds covered the sky at all times. The wood in the park was to wet to get a proper fire going. We ended up watching a movie on my laptop in the car. The next day was still fairly dry and we’ve tried a little bike ride around the lake. Unfortunately, the trail was just a bit too difficult for Nadia (Alex didn’t complain, sitting on a one wheel attachment carried behind my bicycle). The good thing is we decided to turn around and return to our camp just before the rain. We watched couple of movies in the car that night…

Setting up tent in a community park. — Alex's preferred mode of transportation

It poured all night and the next morning. There were no signs of relief any time soon. We packed our stuff in the midst of an epic storm. We were all soaking wet, but ready to go. The destination didn’t matter – anywhere dry and sunny would do. I turned the key, but instead of the familiar engine rumble there was nothing – just some strange clicking of the electric system. I guess two nights of watching movies eventually dried the battery. The timing could be better! Fortunately a ranger came to our rescue and jump started the engine. We were on the road before noon.

We stopped at Martin’s, a local equivalent of Wegmans (a New York chain of upscale grocery stores). Although not as sophisticated, it offered enough products in the organic alley to satisfy the Captain and a decent internet connection to fine tune our trip. Looking at the Doppler radar, I knew the only way was south. Cumberland was at the very edge of the storm, and had we pursued our original destination we would have been fine. Lesson learned. Our next target was Douthat State Park in Virginia.

Within an hour we were out of the influence of Lee, a tropical storm bullying entire North East. The route followed highway 220 in the winding roads of West Virginia. The afternoon unfold to be dry and sunny, just as we wanted it. It was late afternoon, when we finally got to the park. To our horror, there were no camp sites available. Yes, it’s past Labor Day, but with such beautiful weather, the park was still cramped with outdoors enthusiasts.

We’ve decided to spend another night at a hotel, but we still had an important mission to accomplish before that. After all, we’ve left Rocky Gap in the middle of a storm and all our camping gear was still soaking wet locked out in the roof rack. We stopped in Lexington and pulled out all our equipment at a local community park. An old lady with a poodle was looking suspiciously when I started putting up the tent and Agnieszka pulled out the stove and started cooking. I was sure she would call the cops…

Setting up tent in a community park. — Setting up tent in a community park

Family picture. — Franklin crossing the road got everyone's excited.

Apparently she didn’t, as an hour later all our stuff was semi-dry and we weren’t hungry anymore. It was almost eight, so time to find a hotel room for the night. We pulled at Best Western parking lot and… opened up the laptop and booked a room through hotwire.com. Five minutes later, we’ve arrived at a local Days Inn. The kids were delighted, when they saw a swimming pool from our hotel room window. Unfortunately, the season ended and despite the temperature in mid-80’s (25 C), the facility was already closed. To save the day, I picked up a nearby camping in Smith Mountain Lake State Park, making sure there are camp sites available and that the swimming beach is still open.

The road to the park goes through the Blue Ridge Parkway and quite frankly I was very happy we didn’t set off for the trip in an RV (i.e. Recreational Vehicle or a camper), as I’m sure I wouldn’t make the tight curves. The scenery was picture perfect, the sky cloudless, our morale finally started to build up after this unfortunate start of our journey.

Setting up tent in a community park. — Hot air balloons raising beyond the trees

When we arrived at the park, we were very pleasantly surprised by modern facilities, abundance of activities for kids, and complete lack of mosquitos! We have the whole park almost entirely to ourselves, and we’ll stay here for another week. I hope this will finally give us a chance to re-pack and charge our batteries after two months of partying with Friends and Family.

I’ll keep you posted.

We Hit the Road!

A short update on our whereabouts in the last few weeks.

I’m sitting in an empty hotel room writing this short update. The rest of the crew is at breakfast, I’m enjoying just the morning coffee. We are in Altoona, Pennsylvania. No, there is no particular reason to be here, other than the weather. We got caught in a center of a really large and slow moving storm. That gives me a chance for a quick update on our whereabouts.

After we returned from the small trip around Europe, we stayed the rest of the time in Silesia. The only trip we’ve made was to Lubliniec, a small town north from Chorzów, to visit our friends spending the summer there. We returned to Livonia on August 29th. The flights were all on time and everything was rather smooth, except for Nadia’s stomach problems. The poor thing got bitten by a tick in Austria and a week later developed some strange rush around that spot. We visited a doctor in Poland, who prescribed her antibiotics. Shortly after she began taking them, she started complaining about stomach aches. At the same time she was vomiting quite frequently, which is really no fun, especially when you’re in a plane and you need to use a paper bag during landing. When we eventually got to Toronto, Wiesiek was already waiting to give us a lift to Livonia. Once we arrived, Małgosia and Sławek took a very good care about us for another three days. Thanks all of you guys a million! Without you, we wouldn’t be able to make it this far.

On September 1st 2011, after two days of packing and repacking and reshuffling our belongings between the car and the storage unit we were ready for take off. The first stop was Buckaloons Campground near Warren, Pennsylvania. We stayed there for five days and got bitten by mosquitoes and other insects living in that woods. We were all itching and smelling like DEET, but certainly enjoyed the time together with our friends.

02-Sep-2011 15:54, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 28.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 200

02-Sep-2011 15:59, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 28.0mm, 0.011 sec, ISO 400

02-Sep-2011 17:15, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 200.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200

USA, Warren, PA - Najlepsi kumple (Fot. Robert Bajan)

USA, Warren, PA - Najlepsi kumple (Fot. Robert Bajan)05-Sep-2011 19:08, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 108.0mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 800

06-Sep-2011 19:50, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 70.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 800

USA, Warren, PA - Wtedy jeszcze nie wiedzieliśmy o pijawkach (Fot. Robert Bajan)

USA, Warren, PA - Wtedy jeszcze nie wiedzieliśmy o pijawkach (Fot. Robert Bajan)02-Sep-2011 17:10, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 28.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 200

02-Sep-2011 17:16, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 200.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 200

02-Sep-2011 17:14, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 85.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200

02-Sep-2011 16:55, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 200.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800

Yesterday we turned south and headed towards Seven Points campground on Raystown Lake. Unfortunately, the weather got really bad here. The slow moving front seems to be looming above Altoona and State College. Instead of waiting for the weather to clear off, we’ve decided to move on. After spending a night in a dry hotel room and sleeping in a comfy bed, we’re about to leave Pennsylvania and enter West Virginia. I’m yet to find an exact destination, but thanks to a free internet access in the room, that should not be a problem. We still have an hour until checkout.

Opava and vinicity

Looking for ancestors in small villages in the Czech Republic.

Apparently some of my ancestors in the XVIII century migrated from small villages around Opava to Chorzów. I’ve designed the European trip to be able make a short pause in Hlucin, Ludgierovice, Kozmice and Dolny Benesov. In fact, most of the pictures below were taken in Donly Benesov, where we’ve visited couple of cemeteries looking for familiar sounding names. Unfortunately, the institutions were only about 100 or 150 years old and we didn’t find anything of interest. On the other hand we didn’t really come prepared.

16-Aug-2011 06:01, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 28.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200

16-Aug-2011 05:56, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 28.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200

16-Aug-2011 06:02, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 28.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200

16-Aug-2011 06:07, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 28.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 200

16-Aug-2011 06:08, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 28.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 200

16-Aug-2011 06:13, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 135.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200

16-Aug-2011 06:15, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 28.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200

16-Aug-2011 06:26, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 28.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400

16-Aug-2011 06:30, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 85.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800

16-Aug-2011 07:39, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 28.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200

16-Aug-2011 08:13, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 45.0mm, 0.011 sec, ISO 200

16-Aug-2011 08:15, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 9.5, 28.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 200

Vienna

On our way from Gmunden to the Czech republic, we’ve stopped for a couple of hours in Vienna.

After leaving my Uncle’s house in Gmunden, we headed East. It was raining in the morning, so we weren’t sure about making a stop anywhere. Fortunately, the bad weather was slow moving from the West to the East. Apparently, on the Autobahn we got couple of hours ahead of the storm. When we got to Vienna, the weather was picture perfect. After an hour or so the clouds cough up with us and we were forced to quickly evacuate from this lively, beautiful city.

Europa Kreuz

A second trip in the mountains, this time much higher and… much more comfortable (despite terrible weather at first).

After reaching the top of the Grünberg couple of days ago, we’ve decided that we’re all ready for something more than the mere 1,004 meters (3,294 ft) above the sea level. Our next target: Alberfeldkogel and the Europa Kreuz at 1709 meters (5,607 ft). The cross on top of the hill is 5 meters high and build from blocks symbolizing all European Union member countries.

Well, I don’t want to chat, we’ve conquered the first 1,585 meters in a cable car…

Agrarium

A day at the farm.

Due to several Family members recommendations, we’ve spent a day at an Agrarium. I’m not sure if that’s a real word, but it clearly defines what it actually was: a farm made for city kids for quick profits. Our kids were born and raised in the country, so the attractions were really not as exotic as the price tag promised, but in the end we all had a real good time. More over, we’ve picked up about four or five kilograms (9 to 10 pounds) of apples and pears, which at least partially offset the extremely high priced entry to this overrated country side “lunapark”.