More people are leaping into the RV lifestyle every year. They’re exploring national parks in comfort, but all that extra traffic makes spontaneous road trips to the parks largely a thing of the past, at least during the busy summer season. With more rigs on the road than campsites to accommodate them, RVers like me are constantly competing for a scant number of RV-friendly campsites. I learned this lesson the hard way when I arrived at Yellowstone without reservations.

Known to many as “Pele’s Grandson,” Alexander (“Alex” or “Alec”) Lancaster guided both tourists and scientists to Hawai‘i’s volcanoes for over forty years, from 1885 to 1928.

The horses of Cumberland Island look rough. They’re small, just ponies really, with dull, scruffy coats and wispy manes and tails. They seem awfully thin, no doubt malnourished with only moss and dune grasses to eat.

On a paper placemat filled with tasting notes, three special Glencairn nosing glasses stand in a line. Each is placed on the name of the spirit it contains: Noon Gun Gin, Fort George Genever and Daily Ration Rum. A bonus glass of Granite & Grain Whisky stands behind them. All are made by Compass, a new distillery on Agricola Street, a short walk from here.