OK, so it’s time to hit the road again after two weeks of
playing daddy nanny to my father during which I also suffered a cold . October
is probably about the best time of year weatherwise to travel in much of the
U.S. even if the daylight hours are not as long as spring and summer. The lower
sunlight also relieves the need to grease up with slimy sunscreen if going to
be outside for an extended period of time. I’ve planned this trip out very
vaguely, giving myself plenty of options to cut it short or keep extending it
if no compelling need to head back to Joizee arises. The first stops are the
Washington DC area and Virginia, but I might well go much farther south.

Sometimes bad news is also good news. The day before I was
set to leave on my road trip my Jeep wouldn’t start. It’s parked on one side of
my parents short driveway were it bothers no one, so the time and place for it
to die were ideal. I think it’s well past time to finally euthanize it, 215K
miles, broken windshield, body damage, coolant leak, wacky electrical problems
and all. That means I get to use my dad’s car for this trip, a ten-year old
Buick Century with 45,000 miles and a handicapped license plate . I’ll blend in
perfectly with all the seniors traveling during the off-season….and if I’m in a
really bad mood or can’t find a decent parking space I can park in the
handicapped spaces without getting into trouble.

I recently discovered Hampton National Historic Site on a
list of National Park Service units and was intrigued, so I figured I’d plan a
stop on the way from NJ to DC. Hampton is just off the northern side of the
Baltimore Beltway near Towson and is of interest as the largest Georgian style
estate house in America. It was owned by six generations of the Ridgely family
since Colonial times, slaveholding plantation owners up until the Civil War and
prominent Marylanders, one of whom served a the state’s governor.

The “Big House” is an opulent mansion so big it is said both
Mount Vernon and Monticello could fit into its interior. I’ve been on a lot of historic
mansion tours in America and have to say that Hampton is probably the one that
most closely resembles the great country estates of the United Kingdom. As
impressive as other planters’ homes of Colonial times are, none quite match the
opulence of Hampton.