Friday, December 17, 2010

Lake Dallas, Texas in March 2010

Picked up unit, a Via, after Jim's safety meeting. Packed. Another special night with our Revelation Bible study group. A good night's rest and on the road by 6:30 AM. Blue skies and a glorious sun rise!

Through Missouri, into the Flint Hills of Kansas. From 32 degrees on the Prairie this morning to 78 degrees! The miles seem to fly by. Our overnight stop is at the Flying J in Edmond, Oklahoma.

5:15 AM on the road with Gertrude (our Garmin) guiding us through Oklahoma City. Not so much road construction this time. A helicopter with a spotlight had been flying in circles overhead in the dark. Why??

Into Texas. Taking our exit to dealer. Washed unit. Easy, fast check-in.

On the road on the Saturn heading to Osage Beach, Missouri for a week-end of Gospel Music.

View from the windshield:
Green pastures.
Green fields of winter wheat.
White blossoms on the ornamental pear trees.
Sign: Jesus fought the battle for us at crucifixion.
Fragrance of new mown grass.
Daffodils blooming
Fruit & Veggie stands open.
Few sprinkles of rain to sunshine.

Stopped at a rest area on US-69 near Aotoka, Oklahoma for a "power nap" and discovered a roadside jewel:

Confederate Memorial Museum and Cemetery

The museum offers a unique look into the varied history of southeastern Oklahoma. From pre-historic bones, the Choctaw Trail of Tears and a stop on the Butterfield Stage Line, to homegrown talents Reba McEntire and the late Lane Frost. It is free. At certain times of the year they have reenactments. Check their website.

The quiet cemetery's ground was covered with wild flowers. Old gravestones were set under some trees on a rise between the Muddy Boggy River (formerly called the Middle Boggy River) and the Butterfield Trail. You could almost feel yourself walking along this trail in the early 1800's. The Choctaw followed this trail as they moved to Indian territory in the 1830's. By 1849 thousands of gold-seekers rushed over the trail to California.

The U.S. Government contracted with John Butterfield, in 1857, to carry the St. Louis/Memphis mail through Fort Smith to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The first Butterfield coach came through from Fort Smith, Arkansas in September 1858. Butterfield kept 100 horse-drawn Concord wagons and coaches on the trail at all times. Each carried five or six passengers, a driver, a conductor, and 500-600 lbs. of mail and baggage.

The sign advertising for the coach read as follows:
Take Butterfield's New Coach to California
2 trips per week!
St. Louis to San Francisco via Ft. Smith, boggy Creek I.T., and El Paso!
2,795 miles continuous day and night!
Fare: $200 in gold plus meals, at 75 cents ea.
Each passenger may carry 40 lb baggage---
It is recommended that each person bring:

One Sharp's rifle and a hundred cartridges; a Colts navy revolver and two pounds of balls;
a knife and sheath; a pair of thick boots and woolen pants; a half dozen pairs
of thick woolen socks; six undershirts; three woolen overshirts; a wide-awake hat;
a cheap sack coat; a soldier's overcoat; one pair of blankets in summer and two in winter;
a piece of India rubber cloth for blankets; a pair of gauntlets; a small bag of needles, pins;
a sponge, hair brush, comb, soap, etc., in an oil silk bag; two pairs of thick drawers,
and tree or four towels.

This trail was vital to settling the west, but it's impact was short lived. Service was halted by the Civil War (1861-1865). Afterward, railroads transported mail more quickly and this trail was obsolete.

The grounds currently occupied by the museum were used as a Confederate outpost during the Civil War. Soldiers camped here to guard the Butterfield Stage Road and it is possible the Battle of the Middle Boggy on February 13, 1864 was fought here.

Interesting items in the Museum:

A 5# cloth flour sack with a design ready to embroidery stamped on the back. Gay Girl phosphated, bleached flour from the Arkansas City Flour Mills Co in Arkansas City, Kansas.

A pair of clamp-on roller skates.

A sign in the 1930's kitchen:
The l930's A time of use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!

Inventor of Shopping Carts:
Sylvan Goldman, owner-operator of Standard Food Markets, one of the first chains of self-service supermarkets in Oklahoma City, noticed that shoppers would go to check-out counter as soon as their hand carried basket was full. This was not good for sales. He had assistants patrol the aisles and take the full baskets to a holding area while replacing it with an empty basket. One evening in 1937, while working late in his office, he noticed a pair of wooden folding chairs and an idea for the original shopping cart was born! By raising the seat of the folding chair and placing another seat underneath, each could hold a hand basket. Wheels could be adapted as a handle! When he tested his product the women likened the new invention to a baby carriage and had quite enough of pushing that! Men felt the carts made them look effeminate and refused to touch them. But the elderly welcomed the new invention! He hired models to push the carts and the customers realized how convenient they were. A success.

Definitely a "power nap" on steroids at this stop!

The Super 8 at McCallister, Oklahoma for the night. We found the Angel Diner beside the Happy Days Motel. (That looked like a fun place to stay, too!) The Diner had pink , black and red & white cadillacs parked in front. The parking lanes in the lot were painted pink. The food was all freshly prepared as ordered. The pizza's looked delicious. They were baked on a wooden paddle and served on a paper placemat at your table with a choice of red sauce (tomato based) or cream sauce (based on ranch dressing). Pink walls, black & white tile floor. Juke box playing 50's & 60's music. Pictures of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe along with other movie stars and antiques decorated the walls. The items on the menu were reasonably priced and specially named--Andy's Meat Loaf (very good), Barney's Beans & Cornbread, etc.

A drive in heavy rain to the Super 8 in Osage Beach, Missouri.

The Great Lake of the Ozarks Gospel Sing

Dr. Todd Forman, pastor, hosts this event each spring at The Mainstreet Music Hall at The Landing on Main Street in Osage Beach, Missouri. Check their website for details.

The motel is walking distance from the Music Hall. Choice of some good restaurants in the area including a great seafood buffet at Shoneys. An outlet mall for shopping and walking. A state park for some hiking. Fun visiting with the people sitting around you. Most of all--Great Music!!

We listened to Gold City, Perry's, Ball Brothers, Dove Brothers, Higher Power Quartet, Martins, Booth Brothers, The Lesters. Each concert is like being in a Worship Service. Each has it's own style.

Some of our favorite songs:
Martins: "Nothing Can Seperate Us From the Love of the Father" and "Nothing Takes God by Surprise"
Perry's: "Potter Knows the Clay" and "I Rest My case at the Cross"
Gold City: "Midnight Call"
Ball Brothers: "I Wouldn't Miss Heaven for the World" and "Sometimes He Calms the Storm, Other Times He Calms His Child"

We did have to deal with some rainy days this year! And a fire alarm that went off at 2 AM! A water leak into an exit sign caused a short.

Back north in sunshine humming some new tunes.

Thank-you for "traveling via the web" with us!

Prairie Schooners









Thursday, December 16, 2010

Thurmont, Maryland in March 2010

We picked up our unit at Forest City on Monday. Jim finished his paper work for his spring truck driving job making this our last delivery until July. Packed the unit and spent the evening at church as Jim taught another lesson to our Revelation Bible Study Group.

On the road early watching a beautiful sunrise, hanging tight to the steering wheel as the wind blows against the motor home. A few Illinois farmers are in the field applying fertilizer and doing field tillage preparing them for planting.

Listening to audio book, "Deception" by Randy Alcorn as we roll across Indiana. Great suspense plus opportunity to see how a Christian deals with circumstances.

Our stop for the night is at the service plaza on the toll road in Ohio. They do have excellent facilities!

Another beautiful sunrise behind the Appalachian Mountains in the distance as we cross the border into Pennsylvania. Forests cover the mountains. A streams running full over the rocky landscape. The buds on the trees give a reddish tint to contrast with the green pines. Small patches of snow still visible at the base of the trees.

Lots of road construction as we cross into Maryland. Large areas of blooming daffodils in the ditches and the yellow blossoms of the forsythia bush are welcome signs of spring for these two northerners! Driving beside the Potomac River counting off the miles to our last exit for the dealership. Past the C & O National Historic Park that we visited several years ago. The turn-off to Antietam Battlefield bring back memories of being there when our daughter spent a summer in D.C. A sign indicating the Appalachian Trail crossing.

A quick check-in and found a motel. The cherry blossoms were beautiful! Discovered the Family Restaurant with a buffet. Dozens of loaves of of fresh bread to choose from, at least a dozen different varieties of pie plus great main dishes and a choice of beverages all for $9.95.

A beautiful sunny day for a scenic drive thru The Catoctin Mountain Park past a fast flowing rocky bottom creek to a turn-off for the 1 mile Charcoal Trail up the mountain. This area produced charcoal to heat iron ore for smelting until coal was discovered. The charcoal was produced by heating, not burning, logs in an enclosed area. Walking the trails on the rocky slope surrounded by large hardwood trees, oak, chestnut, maples we could imagine the sound of saws and axes, the mules pulling the sleds full of logs depositing them in large stacks near the dome-shaped furnaces. Scenic view of Thurmont area from the top of the mountain trail!

Got lost going through Hagertown, but it was a 'scenic' route! One-way narrow streets, three story narrow houses close to the street, only side-walk width from street, at stops are able to look in the first floor window! Found Hwy 40 west and enjoyed some scenic vistas!

Super 8 west of Wheeling and supper at Bob Evans. Checked our travel information on the web and found that most museums were not open until May or by appointment. A good night's rest. Another beautiful, sunny, clear, 70 degree day for driving! Love the "green" grass and spring flowers!

We found Hilltop Orchids near Cloverdale, Indiana, a stop we missed on previous trips because of time.

What a treat for the eyes! Owners, Dick and Sandy Wells, welcome you to their greenhouses, offer for sale their plants, and give a tour with a "short course" on the culture of orchids. A banana plant is growing along one wall with small green bananas. Dick has been growing orchids since 1954. Many are grown from seed making unique crosses not found elsewhere. Yes, Jim purchased one for me. A stem with dozens of miniature blooms resembling the orchid corsage he had given me for my High School Senior Banquet 51 years ago! It made the trip home and bloomed for many months. Now growing on our window shelf and hopefully will bloom again!

Back to Iowa for spring on The Prairie! Garden to be planted. Truck to be driven. Grand daughter's wedding gown to be made. A "Golden" Week-end to be enjoyed!

See you along the way!

Prairie Schooners

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Syracuse, New York delivery in July 2010

Picked up a 35 ft gas Winnebago Vista with "my" colors used in the interior! (winter moss green with cherry wood)
Packed the Winnebago, finished varnishing trim, dug our garden crop of onions, moved the last appliances & furniture from the
kitchen & utility room to the living room so it would be ready for M & G Floor Coverings to put down the underlay and vinyl while we were gone.
Thank-you Lord for keeping the overnight storms to the west of us!

On the road early morning, sun is shining, everything is green, we spot a colorful hot air balloon, and wild flowers bloom profusely along the edge of t
he highway. Pink & yellow cone flowers, white queen Anne lace, lavender bee balm, black-eye Susan, tall stocks of blue chicory and spikes of purple vervain!

We wonder how many Flying J's are still Flying J's! They have merged with Pilot but one in our area was sold to Love's. The comp
any assures us that our card is good at both locations.

Over the Mississippi, into Illinois heading for Chicago. Money ready for paying tolls. Smooth trip through the city. Our first experience with an automatic "without a person" pay with ticket experience. Thankfully the machine talks!! Into Indiana. The fields of corn & beans are showing heat and drought distress. The grass is brown. Toll way service area for the night. Very hot so took our books in to the service center building enjoying the AC, ate supper and read until the sun was down and it was cool. Nice breeze across our bed.

Into Ohio. Crops are smaller. Fields of vegetables & melons. Winter wheat fields are harvested. A quick view of Lake Erie in Cleveland with sail boats on the horizon but not much of a view of the city because busy watching traffic and signs! Into the tree lined rolling landscape along North east Ohio.

Into Pennsylvania. Acres and acres of grape vines.

Into New York and more
glimpses of Lake Erie. Another overnight stay at a toll way service area. It is cloudy so motor home is cool.

Partly cloudy morning drive through light traffic with Gertrude (our Garmin) giving directions to the dealer. A view of a ridge of tree-covered mountains in the distance. The farms have large barns & silos. This is the area that was settled by the Seneca Indians. Many canals and a site of an old Erie Canal lock.

Smooth, fast delivery and in the Saturn for some sightseeing.

A rain shower kept us from walking along a canal at the Erie Canal Park. Took state Hwy 5 through the countryside. Many huge, brick, two-stor
y houses with a cupola on top. Must have been the "style" at one time in this area!

Found a "Budget Inn" in Waterloo, NY (not a lot of motels in this area). For $75 we got a room without a ph
one, an internet connection, a clock, or free breakfast! It did have an arrangement challenged bath, difficult to turn on shower, AC that worked, a TV that worked and a bed in a quiet neighborhood!! Learning to be "thankful" in all situations!

Seneca Falls

We walked along the historic Cayuga-Seneca Canal just off main street. Private yachts were tied up at the docks. They use the canal to move between lakes. Shops and restaurants line one side of the canal. Even a place to do laundry and take a shower for the boaters.

The original falls of the river were a series of raids that dropped over forty feet in the course of a mile. Early European settlers dammed the rapids to create three falls ,increasing the speed and concentrating the power of the
water. Then they dug a canal next to the river to allow boats to go around, instead of over, the falls. The improvements were made so the town would grow and prosper. A century later they were destroyed for the same reason!

In 1825 dozens of water-powered factories sprang up along the river and the canal and on the islands between the two waterways.

Prior to 1914, New York State decided to enlarge the Erie Canal system to accommodate bigger boats. This project compl
etely changed the landscape of early Seneca Falls. After damming the Seneca River, crews removed canal walls, dams and buildings on the islands. They deepened the riverbed and built new canal retaining walls. The rest of the riverbed was land-filled to provide a roadway behind Fall Street buildings. When water rushed in to fill the new canal in 1915 the old falls disappeared under the water.

Today only one original factory building still stands along
the canal, Seneca Falls Mills.

The Historical Society has filled a 23 room 1889 Queen Anne Style Mansion with furnishings, items, photo's, and documents of the history of the area which includes woman's rights (this is the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the first women's rights convention of 1848), the Civil War, and local genealogy. It offers a glimpse into the lifestyles of Seneca Falls' industrialists. No inside photography permitted but they do have a website.

On this trip I picked up Lynn Austin's book, "Though Water's Roar" from our local library to read. She writes about how four generations of women in a family fought for their beliefs. Here I am in the town where one generation of women fought for the right to be treated as equals under the laws of the nation!

Highlights of the tour:
  • Carved sunflower design in woodwork in every room and in the metal door hinges.
  • Wood floors laid in the herring bone design.
  • The Dining room table has 7 leaves for extension.
  • The kitchen had a pineapple peeler, a copper hot water heater and a coffee roaster.
  • The doors were eight feet tall.
  • Checker boards were built into the floor on the landings for the children.
  • The toy room had a built-in stage on one end.
  • A room with Goulds Pumps, one of the 300 industries along the falls, which included a toy company, one that made cast iron stoves and corn shellers.
  • An antique knitter for socks that had been used at the mill.
  • Stained glass windows. One with the children's pictures.
Finger Lakes

Hwy 89 gives a scenic drive on a tw0-lane winding country road between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes. There are 5 long lakes in this area. They do look like fingers on a hand when you look at the map!

Interesting small towns, farms, rice fields, vineyards and wineries, lake homes, tree-lined areas, many historical markers, rocky soil and a 'full service' gas station with a side road for 2 lanes of cars to wait for their turn at the pumps! Very good price for this time of year--$2.65

The guide at the museum recommended we stop at the Cayuga Lake Creamery in Interlaken, NY for ice cream. Home made ice cream sounded good, but we were there several hours before it was open--so will try it the next time we are in the area!

Taughannock Falls State Park

"The falls are formed by a rock bed creek entering the lake and surrounded by a glen with walls climbing to 400 feet (120 meters). The cataract has a drop of 215 feet (66 meters), one of the highest east of the Rocky Mountains slightly higher even (25 ft., 8 m) than Niagara (American side), but they cannot be compared because it has much smaller volume. Taughannock is interesting year round - the falls and gorge create a natural amphitheater with dense spray rising from the bottom often shrouding the lower part of the cataract in mist. The name "Taughannock" originates either from that of the Delaware Indian chief Taughannock or as the Delaware word taghkanic ("great fall in the woods")."

Because it was so dry there was not a lot of water dropping the day we stopped. The rocky bed of the river looked as if someone had cut large squares. We viewed the falls from the top.

Corning Museum of Glass

The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York is a must stop if you are in the area. Kids and teens are free. We spent over 3 hours and did not see everything! One area has exhibits of thousands of pieces of glass. One area has interactive exhibits that explain the different ways that glass is used in everyday life and how it is made from shatterproof windshields to lenses to fiber optics! Live, narrated glass demonstrations all day and the opportunity to "make your own glass!" Check their website for more information.
  • Glass was first made in 2000 B.C. in Iraq, Nigeria and Mesopatamia. It was several hundred years before it was made in other regions and parts of Asia & Egypt. Much later in China and other areas.
  • Archeologists have found clay tablets inscribed with the formula for making glass in Iraq & Turkey.
  • Glass ingots were found in shipwrecks.
  • The raw materials were melted. A furnace under ground had a dome with holes to insert heat proof bone with glass to be shaped.
  • Glass articles were used for early trading.
  • Romans used molds to make inexpensive glass dishes.
  • First Century AD new markets and a new type of furnace allowed the production of raw glass in very large amounts.
  • In 1963 a team of university students and the Corning Museum discovered a huge slab of glass at Beth She'arim, Israel. It weighed 18,000 lbs.
  • Glass was used as weights for scales for commerce. It was easy to see if the weight had been tampered with!
  • Green (my favorite color!) glass was made in central & northern Europe in the middle ages and 18th century. Some glass was mixed with potash made from ashes of trees or ferns.
  • The Germans mad "trick" glasses. They were elaborately shaped and designed to be difficult to drink from!
  • An exhibit of pieces made for the World's Fairs included a four foot high cut glass kerosene parlor lamp and a 10 foot long candelabra of cut glass!!
  • A glass maker in Germany in the late 1800's used gas torches, pincers and other hand tools to make invertebrate sea animals from jelly fish to octopus to sea anemone and plant models from orchids to holly and even glass eyes! So realistic!
  • Musical instruments including a glass flute and a glass harmonica.
  • Early window glass was blown into a large six foot cylinder. Both ends were cut out and then split open and heated to flatten.
  • Napoleon I of France awarded a prize of 12,000 francs to Nicolas Appert in 1809 for inventing a way to vacuum pack food. In 1858, John Mason perfected a way to seal jars cheaply with a zinc screw cap.
  • In 1882, a German glass chemist discovered that adding boron to glass produced a durable, heat resistant that a Corning chemist perfected in 195 to make pyrex glass cookware, nuts & bolts, x-ray tubes, lab ware, skylights & pumps.
  • Fiberglass started as an experiment making fabric for a dress. It was very uncomfortable. The fibers would break with movement and scratched! Back to the drawing board.
A Microtel Motel in Olean was our stop for the night. Appreciated the office available to guests for preparing our paper work for mailing.

Cutco Visitor Center

On our way through town we spotted the Cutco Knife Factory and Visitor Center. They do not give factory tours, but do have pictures taken inside the factory with explanation of how they make their knives and of course, a store!

It takes 15 separate pieces to fit together to make a folding pocket knife!

Ka-Bar knives are made for the military use. The name came when a hunter had used one to defend himself from an attacking bear and wrote a letter to the company running the words 'killed a bear' together looking like ka bar!

Formerly the knives were all hand made, but the factory is computerized.

We were just checking up to see if what our grandson, who sold them at one time, was telling the truth about how they were made. He did! They are quality knives with a quality price and do a quality job in the kitchen!

A short drive south to Rock City, an area of gigantic rock formations with one of the largest exposures of quartz conglomerate or pudding stone!

What is pudding stone? It is a conglomerate rock made up of a mixture of different, irregular sized grains and pebbles held together from a finer grain sand, usually quartz. It is a rock formed by sediments in the water.

The rocks in this area are supposedly to have been heaved up with a collision hundreds of millions of years ago. (We know that it probably happened during the upheavel at the time of Noah's flood, which was only a few thousands of years ago!)

We were greeted by a Burma Shave sign reading:
I sure am glad we came today,
Stupendous! Colossal! We hear folks say
A more awesome site you seldom see
Gazing at a boulder and not the green
Down below fantastic surprises for you.
From atop the rocks a magnificent view
Carved through water by God's own Hand.
You will enter a wonderland.

What a sight! The immense boulders balancing on top of each other, crevices wide enough to walk through, arches, the surfaces covered with fern, moss, lichen and what looks like shells from the ocean.

This area did not have the coal that miners had hoped, but oil was discovered. It is part of the Pennsylvania oil fields. At one time this area furnished 75% of the world's oil. Part of a "Parkersburg" drilling rig that was used up until 1962 is visible.

It is an awesome feeling to walk among the huge boulders. A great break from riding in the car.

The museum has a large assortment of rock samples and a video that shows the complete park tour if you are unable to walk the trails.

A Bon Air Hotel, pavilion and train station was operating in 1890 to bring tourist to this area.

Drove scenic routes into Pennsylvania through the mountains in and out of little rain showers then sun then clouds again. Around Cleveland back to I-80 for a motel at Streetsboro. Very hot and muggy. Tornadoes went through the area south of us. Supper at one of our favorite restaurants, Bob Evans!

Watched the movie, "Twelve Angry Men," on TCM. Interesting to see them change their minds when reason showed that what was presented as facts could have been wrong. What is presented as factual truth is not always so. God gave us a mind to use to make judgements on what we hear!!

The "home magnet" has kicked in. We take interstate across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and back to Iowa! Audio books and our music tapes help to pass the time as the scenery flies by our windshield. Making notes of places advertised along the highway that we might want to stop and investigate the next time we are past this area!

The Prairie looks good and our new floor is fabulous! A good night's rest and we can start to move appliances and furniture back as our carpenter finishes putting on the trim and resets our cupboards putting on a new counter-top! We are "thankful" for safe travels and for what has been done here while we were gone!!

See you along the way,

Prairie Schooners











Friday, November 26, 2010

Delivery to Louisville, Kentucky RV Show

A foggy morning ride to pick up 35 ft Winnebago Vista at Forest City, IA. Sand with slashes of Paprika! It would be camouflage in the desert except for the slashes! Parked it in our yard and packed it up ready to take off the next morning.

A clear dark sky with stars shining down on a dry road with wind to our back makes for a good start in the early morning. Shadows of clouds appear ahead as the eastern horizon gets lighter. A stop for coffee before crossing the Mississippi into Illinois.

View from the windshield:
  • Acres of harvested and tilled fields sit waiting for a restful covering of snow.
  • An area with stacked pieces of windmill dotting the landscape waiting for the crane crew to lift them in place.
  • A few trees with red & gold leaves highlighted by some sun shining thru the clouds.
  • Indianapolis still has miles of road construction projects!
  • Headed south nearing the Kentucky border. Acres of woods interspersed with rolling farm land.
  • Horse stables with miles of wooden fences.
  • Shades of pink, mauve, & blue appear in a clear sky as the huge orange sun sinks to the western horizon.

Thank-You, Scottsburg, IN Super Walmart for letting us park in your lot overnite.

Bookwork, catch up on correspondence, supper at Long John Silvers. Grilled taliapia with mixed veggies is excellent choice, but the shrimp special was delicious, too! Another couple delivering motor homes stopped in to share experiences!

Snug in our sleeping bag as we heard rain falling in the early morning hours.

We ate a breakfast on an English Muffin at Subway. First time for us & not impressed! Coffee was good.

Filled unit with last few gallons of gas need to get us to the Kentucky Fair Expo Center in Louisville about 35 miles ahead. Drove through rain, checked in, Hi’s & hugs to friends we only see “along the way,” phone calls for release number, check atlas for direction and on the road west.

Through the windshield as we drive in the haze & rain across southern Indiana:

  • Not good for sightseeing so staying with I-64.
  • Rocky precipices are visible thru the leafless trees in the Hoosier National Forest. Green pines, rust-red & brown grasses and some late clinging leaves. Low tree covered mountains on the horizon as we curve though the valleys.
  • Rain stops, but still cloudy
  • Past an open pit coal mine
  • Into an area of large farms with fields of green winter wheat interspersed with acres of harvested fields on the large farms as we near the Illinois border.
  • Driving across the Wabash River into Illinois and north on state road #127
  • Acres of flat farmland. Large farms with long driveways leading to their farm buildings and farm names on large signs by the road.
  • Through small towns. Each with its own "character." Greenville, Illinois has an interesting historic section with many shops in old buildings, a museum and a neat park just west of town.
  • Some blue sky between the clouds allows the sun’s rays to shine on the tall dry grass and harvested corn stalks making them appear to glow like gold!

A good night's rest at a Motel 6 on the edge of Springfield. A map of the city and the Lincoln sites was available for us to do some planning. Tomorrow we will be driving on the Lincoln Heritage Trail into Springfield, Illinois to check out some of the historical sites.

Walking tour:

  • Arriving early to the museum we took off walking around the Old State Capitol past the Surveyors Museum, which was hosting a IPTV program after opening. Past old buildings with curved fronts, an area with information about the shops that were in the area when Lincoln was in the state house.
  • The Donner Party started in Springfield.
  • The Pottawatomie Indians went through Springfield on their relocation march from Indiana to Kansas.
  • Dentistry in this era consisted of pulling the loose teeth that people tended to have. False teeth were made from ivory, metal and wood!
  • Mary Todd Lincoln was the daughter of a Kentucky aristocrat. Lincoln was the son of an illiterate Kentucky farmer. Mary was ambitious for her husband and assertive in giving him advice on proper clothes, social behavior, and political decisions. (In that time women were considered responsible for the guardianship of the family morality & Christian conduct!)
  • In 1854 after Douglas, senator from IL, pushed the Kansas-Nebraska petition thru US congress which would overturn the 1826 MO compromise line Lincoln feared the spread of slavery to western territories. He gave a 3 hour speech at the Old State Capitol! (Later we learned that when he was 19 years old he and a friend took a cargo of meat, flour & etc down the Mississippi to New Orleans. He observed the slave market. It made an indelible impression!)
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum

An impressive building. What a contrast with a log cabin standing under trees on one side and the tall pillars of the White House on the other side.

There are two holographic and special effects theaters that make his life and times come alive.

Inside the log cabin a wax figure of young Abe is sitting by the crackling fire at night with his dog at his feet snoring!

As a lawyer Lincoln and his partner Herndon argued 380 cases in 17 years before the State Supreme Court. He was very lenient with disciplining his children. Tad & Willie would visit his office and play ball with the papers, scatter ashes, climb on the furniture, etc while Abe worked.

A display in memory of reporter, Tim Russert, lets you witness the 1860 Presidential Election as though it was happening today, complete with television news coverage and campaign commercials! There were 4 candidates. Lincoln was campaigning for the preservation of the union and the constitution. He actually only campaigned in the North. Douglas campaigned for popular sovereignty. Breckinridge campaigned for states rights and John Bell campaigned for peaceful compromise! Lincoln won the election with 40% of the popular vote, but 180 votes from the electoral college.

After the election 7 southern states immediately left the union. Lincoln appointed men to his cabinet that had been his political foes. It was an interesting mix of backgrounds.

In his inaugural address he stated that he would not fire the first shot in the upcoming war between the states. The South obliged by firing on Ft. Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861. (There is a display showing all of the communications between him and his cabinet members leading up to the first shot. He really tried to not have a war.)

He and Mary were criticized from all sides, personal and political, during his presidency. The executive mansion furnishings were broken and tarnished with wear when the Lincoln's moved in. Mary worked to refurbish it, receiving criticism for even doing this.

One of his stovepipe hats made from felted beaver fur is on display. The supporting band on the inside is slightly stretched because he stored letters and notes inside his hat!


They had both had a lot of grief in their lives, including the death of 2 sons. Willie died in the White House from typhoid fever while 500 guests dined and danced at a celebration of the redecorating of the White House. The Lincolns had spent $1,000 of their own money for the party.

One display shows the Civil War in 4 minutes highlighting each battle in succession and the total number of casualties. The north had 80,000 more casualties.

Lincoln would go to the telegraph office daily to receive current information on the war from the front. While he was there he wrote the Gettysburg Address. He was not even the "main" speaker at the dedication of the cemetery. It was a famous orator, Edward Everett, who spoke for two hours before Lincoln took the stage. Lincoln was asked to say only "a few appropriate remarks" and the organizers did not even know if he would show up!

His funeral train took 15 days to travel from Washington, DC to Springfield. More people viewed him dead that saw him alive.

We spent over 4 hours just in the museum! The displays using realistic wax figures are awesome. The information presented is easy to read & understand. It would take more than a day to see all of the historical buildings in this city!

There was a gentlemen at the parking garage paying for his parking, who graciously explained how to operate the kiosk. I think we had a big question mark look on our faces as we approached!

Headed Home:

Took state highways up to Macomb, IL going through the town of Havana, which has a water tower that was built the same year as the Eiffel Tower. It is the 4th oldest water tower in Illinois still in use. Looks like a tall brick tower with a metal silo on top.

We shared our Motel and restaurant in Macomb with deer hunters! And probably some UNI fans because they played the next day at Western Illinois University.

First experience with a gyro at the local restaurant. Very good.

Crossed the Mississippi River at Keokuk and drove the Great River Road through Ft. Madison. Over to Hwy #218 and the avenue of the saints and home.

Thank you for traveling with us!
Prairie Schooners








Monday, November 8, 2010

Red Deer, Alberta, Canada delivery in August

Difficult start:
All ready to go at 8 AM when made call to see if we could have the unit to Red Deer. It's a "go!"
20 miles down the road and car is making a very-loud-not-good noise! A local mechanic graciously checked out the exhaust system and fixed it. On the road again.
At pick-up had to wait for some paper work before taking off with unit.
Because all Minnesota license plates were in
use, we had to drive a 2 lane state highway to the South Dakota border instead of Interstate--time consuming!
Even with all the delays we did enjoy a partly cloudy pretty day driving through the green Iowa flat farmland into the rolling hills near the IA/SD border and the Big Sioux River. Then instantly we were in Cowboy Country!!

On the road
again after a good night's sleep in Mitchell, South Dakota. Thank-you Walmart for letting us park on your lot.

View through the windshield as we listened to the audio book about the building of the Panama Canal, "Path between the Countries" by David McCullogh, our favorite history author:

Very green except wheat stubble left after harvesting.
Fields of corn, sunflowers, sorghum, hay & pasture.
Stacks of large round bales dot the
countryside.
Grain elevators & ra
nch buildings can be seen in the distance.
Many, many signs advertising all the places you can stop and see "stuff" or eat or sleep or play--including an 1880 town used as a set for the movie "Dances with Wolves" & Wall Drug!
The edge of the Badlands is visible from I-90 and the landscape becomes sandy grassland pasture.
The edge of the Black Hills covered with pine trees are also visible. In the distance they do, indeed, look like "Black Hills."


Into Wyoming on hwy
#212 shortcut with miles of grass pasture, stacks of bales, cattle & antelope grazing together, occasional ranches are visible or a drive to a ranch marked with a sign made of metal cutouts and long trains in the distance!
Mountain time zone.

Checked with our office at the border and
all papers are in order.

Into Montana. Oops! driving through some road construction with loose gravel over tar. No de
tour. Dealer cleaned off motor home and Jim had a Saturn with tar to clean when we got home.
Sunny, very warm with 99 degree temperature, but no humidity under the big blue sky of Montana today.
Large black shadow of the Rocky
Mountains in the distance as backdrop.
Middle of wheat harvest season.
Combines in fields. Trucks headed to the elevators.
Straw bales lined up like soldiers in formation or stacked in long high piles with a fence around.

Red wheat has a deep red brown color. White wheat is more golden.
One elevator had a huge pile of wheat stacked on the ground.
More metal cut-out signs with interesting na
mes mounted on tall poles to show ranch entrances.
You can see where the river flows by the green trees, shrubs & fields growing along its banks in contrast to the brown grass of acres of pasture.

Life lesson: Deep roots into God's life giving water in His Word will result in recognizable growth even in our dry world culture!!

Very windy and we are driving into it!
Lots of bugs hitting our windshield!

Into Canada: Border crossing went smoothly and l
earned the hard way that we needed to stop at every inspection station even with papers in order.
Mind is calculating kilometers into miles on the road and liters into gallons at the gas stations. We are paying $3.43/gal for gas!

Very hazy almost like a fog with only about 3 miles visibility. Some light rain.
Through car wash, to dealer, check in went smoothly.
Found a Super 8. Relaxed, caught up with book-work, & went for a walk.
We found out that British Columbia was having a series of wildfires. Smoke from the blazes was picked up by high winds an
d driven east into Alberta. Enough to prompt an air-quality warning for the week-end. This also resulted in very poor visibility for sight-seeing. After our walk around the near-by mall we were experiencing itchy eyes and scratchy throat.

Plans changed--no sightseeing in the Canadian Mtns because of fires so headed south back to the US. Because this was prime vacation time we booked a motel for the night with the points we had accumulated in previous trips giving us time for sight-seeing.

The sun is shining through the haze as we near the border. W
e can see the tall peaks of the Rocky Mountains of the park ahead. The tallest have patches of snow shining white in the sun.

While we waited in line to cross the border we ate 2 apples. Okay to bring them across the border in our stomach, but not in the ice chest!! But did have to pay a "commercial fee" because we delivered a motor home into Canada.

Babb, Mt-- A cafe beside the Sinclair station and across the street a locally owned motel. The Babb Cafe served an excellent thick & juicy Swiss Mushroom Burger with a fresh leaf lettuce mixture, tomato, dill pickle & onion on the side. Cole slaw with a creamy
garlic dressing & potato salad seasoned with dill pickles.
Herbs were growing in a window box.

The newspaper clippings on the bulletin board told stories of the winter of 1947 when the town was completely isolated from Dec 16 until Jan 20 due to a blizzard dumping 10 ft of snow in the area. The people had plenty of food, but the fuel for oil furnaces and cook stoves was getting low!


Glacier National Park

We entered at St. Mary and drove the "Going-to-the-Sun" road past two large lakes. Unlike rivers, glaciers erode wide-bottomed, steep-sided, and u-shaped valleys. Deep glacial lakes fill in the bottom
s of the larger glacial valleys.

The clear blue sky was reflected in the lake. A beautiful sunny day. Wildflowers including purple asters, red cardinal flower and deep pink fire weed bloomed along the edges of the ro
ad. Huge sharp mountain peaks in all directions. Magnificent! Awesome!

A walking trail through the forest took us back to the Barring Falls. It was eerie walking through an area where the pines had died from a disease. The branches were black and curled downward with no needles. A walk across the tree branch bridge offered us a view of the falls!
Since this was prime vacation time the park was full of cars and people. We could not stop at the visitor centers because the parking lots were full. If we were doing it again at this time of the year we would seriously consider paying to ride on the white shuttle bus or one of the red buses with open tops. They take you into the visitor center and drop you off regardless of how full the parking lot is!

Also, this is prime road construction time and there is only one road so traffic stops and waits sometimes up to a half hour. This does give one time to really "see" the area.

We drove past areas with sliver threads of water meandering down the slopes from the melting glaciers to the valley floor, a weeping wall!

We could see hikers following trails on the sides of the mountains. The hikers were stopped on one tra
il by mountain goats.

A great day's drive.

Travel Lodge in Kalispell, MT for the evening.
Made a reservation for Super 8 in Livingston, MT putting us just outside Yellowstone tomorrow.

Montana scenery

Headed South and kept passing fruit & vegetable stands that advertised "sweet cherries" for sale. Stopped at one that had an orchard behind it. Bought a quart size bag of them! They are huge compared to what we have back home in the super market. We call them bing cherries! Sweet & juicy! We asked about huckleberries, which are also advertised. They are like blueberries only more tart and at this time of the year we could only purchase them as jelly or jam.

A new sign along the road--"cell phone pullout 1/4 mile." It would be very dangerous to be driving the mountain curves, which require both hands and talking on cell phone!


The highway takes us arou
nd Flathead Lake. Blue with mountain peaks surrounding and dotted with white sail boats today.

Past the National Bison Range. We see more buffalo through our kitchen window than we saw driving past here (-:!

Grant-Kohrs Ranch

The Grant-Kohrs Ranch in Deer Lodge, MT preserves the strongest symbols of the American West. Wide open spaces, the hard-working cowboy, his spirited cow pony and vast herds of cattle. It is free. You can walk around the grounds and at certain times a guide will take you through the house.
  • Conrad Kohrs was born in Germany in 1835, left home at 15, sailed the world as a cabin boy, searched for gold in California & Canada & in 1862 this part of the Idaho Territory that would become southwest Montana. He made his fortune not by panning gold but by raising cattle. He arrived in the territory with only the clothes on his back and his bedroll. He had learned the rudiments of the butchering trade from relatives in New York & Iowa. He worked as a butchers assistant and soon owned his own shops in many gold camps. Johnny Grant sold him cattle to supply his shops and in 1866 sold his ranch to Kohrs.
  • In the 1890's Kohrs' cattle grazed on more than ten million acres of public land in four states and two provinces. In time he purchased 30,000 acres for his home ranch.
  • The Cattle Barons were a new breed of entrepreneur that had to adapt to the problems of harsh weather, disease, rustling, economic fluctuations, homesteaders and the barb wire fence!
  • Their dining room table extended with 13 leaves for entertaining.
  • In one room was a bed that folded up into the wall because the cowboy that lived with them would not make his bed in the mornings and Augusta Kohrs insisted on a neat home.
  • He provided a heated room with a wall of windows for Agusta to grow plants and flowers.
  • Augusta, his wife, and Kohrs were childhood acquaintances in Germany. They dated for about three weeks before they married in Iowa in 1868. (Wonder what he told her about the frontier he was taking her to??) She preserved her heritage and as the family prospered she acquired fine pieces of furniture and art balancing the cultures of the Old World and the New.
  • A fold-up cabinet desk with two wings hinged on a center shaft. About 4 ft x 4 ft x 4 ft when closed and locked was interesting.
  • Because they sold meat, he preferred the Hereford from Europe rather than longhorns. The longhorns do trail long distances but have less meat and could not stand the winter. He built a railroad spur in order to ship his meat type cattle east to the stockyards in Chicago.
  • They had hot and cold running water in the house. A large tin tub insert in a wooden box.
  • It would take three wheelbarrows of coal a day to keep the water from freezing in the 1800's.
  • The kitchen stove had a huge hood to keep the heat collected and vented out. It also had a couple of small pull-down shelves mounted on the back of the stove for warming food.
  • A barn with antique buggys and carts used by the family that included a buggy station wagon used by the family on vacations.
There are some interactive exhibits that the children will enjoy and a chuck wagon with a cook that serves coffee and stories about trail rides!

Back to I-90, past the Pintler Scenic route that we had driven a couple years earlier. You can see the Anacanda copper mining tower from the interstate.

As we wind through the valley the sun is like a giant spot light making "glory" rays between clouds then spotlighting mountain slopes or our valley between the area of hazy blue-grey rain showers. Thank-you Lord for our personal theater production!!

Supper at a super Chinese restaurant in Livingston, bookwork, but no internet connection. We can hear the wind howling outside. A reminder of 2 years ago when we drove through the Bozeman pass in the winter winds.

Yellowstone National Park
This is the picture that you always see and think of when you hear the word Yellowstone National Park--Old Faithful!

Yes, we waited on the benches and visited with the people around us, listened to a rancher speak about it and the animals in the area and then we saw it in person!!!

Walked through the Old Faithful Lodge and it's awesome carpentry! The huge rock fire place, the banisters and railings crafted from natural shaped logs, and the massive size of everything.

In the ranger station we learned that this whole area is the cone of a volcano. Since Jan 1, 2000 they had had thousands of small earthquakes. None could be felt. If they would have happened at one time it would only be a 4 on the Richter scale.

Beehive geyser near old faithful spouts intermittently also.

We were warned by many signs to stay on the board walk because of the fragility of the surface around the geysers. But a huge buffalo that evidently cannot read was walking up beside Old Faithful just as it finished spouting!

We entered the park through the original entrance on the North near Gardiner driving under the rock arch.

Mammoth Hot Springs is a small village with motels, visitor center, shops, Historic Fort Yellowstone and a herd of elk that grazed on the lawns!

The fragrance of sulfur is in the air, steam is visible, the multicolored Hot Spring terraces loom up before us. Signs tell us that the colors are due to microorganisms in the hot water, but when it is done flowing it turns white. It is dangerous to walk on the surface because the acid will eat through the sole of your shoes and the earth crust will break without warning. We walked the boardwalk path. It gets changed as the flow changes.

As we drove through this area of the park we would see steam coming up from holes in the ground along the edge of the road. It sounds like a percolating coffee pot!

Saw a herd of mule deer and a herd of buffalo.

Drove a 6 mile one-way one-lane gravel road through the Blacktail Plateau. Wild flowers and green grass.

Stopped at Tower Falls to walk out on the observation deck to see the falls. Lots of tourists!

Many acres showing previous burns. Dead trees either standing or laying on the side of the mountains with new growth starting.

Lodge pole pines have branches and green needles only at the top of the tree with a bare trunk. Resemble a forest of Christmas trees on top of telephone poles!) Their pine cone is glued shut and needs fire to melt and dislodge the seeds for new growth. Fire is good for that purpose!

Grand Teton National Park

Driving south on Hwy 89 headed to Jackson Hole and our room at the Super 8 we had a magnificent view of the Grand Teton Mountains.

Into the Park the mountains with rugged peaks sprinkled with snow towered above the blue Jackson Lake.

It was the end of the day so did not take time to cruise any of the roads leading into the mountains.

This was a fitting ending to a great day discovering yet another part of God's creation.


Headed Home:

View from the windshield:
  • Beautiful sunrise as we drive in 30 degree temps watching the sun highlight rocky, pine covered peaks.
  • Through Hoback Canyon we watch fog rising from the lake surface.
  • Acres of grassland with mountains in background, ranch & beef country, herds of antelope grazing, stacks of bales surrounded by a "tall" fence in the middle of the hay fields.
  • Past South Pass, a National Historic Landmark. a major feature of the Oregon trail traveled by western immigrants during the 1850's.
  • Many, many Cruise America rental RV's are on the highway this summer.
  • Into Nebraska. Interesting shaped bluffs form a background to acres of farmland and pastures. Brilliant yellow fields of sunflowers accent the gold wheat and green corn & hay.

A good night's sleep in Ogalala, the Cowboy capital!
Back across the Missouri River and into Iowa.
The Prairie does look good!

Thanks for traveling with us via the web!
See you along the way!

Prairie Schooners














Thursday, November 4, 2010

Draper, Utah Delivery in September 2010

We picked up a Navion Itasca motor home at Forest City, bringing it to the Prairie to be packed for an early take off the next morning. It has a Mercedes Benz diesel getting 12 to 13 mpg on a Sprinter chassis with a compact & attractive interior.

Our foggy, cool drive to pick it up turned into a hot muggy, sunny afternoon of packing.

Early AM, Tuesday, we headed south & west avoiding bridge reconstruction thru rain and lightening.

Daylight on I-80 west through rolling hills covered with golden brown crops waiting for harvest with occasional green pastures for contrast.

We discovered that Pilot Travel Centers and Flying J Travel Centers are one company and points are interchangeable. No more cash discount on gas, but the points for purchases will apply to meals and other purchases from their store.

Drove thru fog and rain for several hours on Wednesday heading west. Passing fields of corn, soybeans, sugar beets, & sunflowers; pastures with cattle; irrigation rigs; and long trains.

Into Wyoming under a sunny blue sky with fluffy white clouds.

Views thru the windshield:

Cattle grazing around oil wells scattered over the rolling pastures. Tall white windmills lined up along the ridges. Refineries, storage tanks, oil wells, power plants, tall poles carrying electrical wires, & communication towers scattered over the landscape. The tall peaks of the Rocky Mtns with splashes of white snow provide a backdrop. The leaves on the aspen trees are turning gold making a brilliant accent to the brown grass and green pines along the water ways in the valleys. New wooden snow fences are lined up in formation like soldiers waiting for the battle to start. Signs giving warnings about the dates of the closings of certain rest stops. Areas with prairie dog mounds. Herds of antelope grazing.

The rolling hills turn into pine covered mtns and rocky cliffs. Each curve in the road provides a different vista of the country. The fluffy white clouds turn into dark clouds and drop rain and strong winds. “Strong Wind next 5 miles” sign is frequent for the rest of the day. Over the Continental Divide. Past a large area that had recently been burned. We could still smell the acrid odor of smoke & ashes.

Thank-you, Walmart, for allowing us to stay overnight on your parking lot!

Good Eats: Wendy’s Apple Pecan Chicken Salad. ½ of a salad is generous and just right with a baked potato for a meal. The salad also contains cranberries and blue cheese chunks and is served with a Pomegranate Vinaigrette Dressing. The Spicy Chicken Caesar was not so good.

D-day: We living in mountain time, but our bodies are programed for central time, so up early and driving under a full moon. Know we are missing some beautiful scenery. The moonlight highlights mountain peaks as we climb and curve through the valley but also will miss some of the morning commuter traffic near Salt Lake City.

Our printed directions contained street names, but the streets are actually numbered. Thanks to "Gertrude," our Garmin, we found the car wash & dealer. Fast check-in.

Scenic Drive (Our First Fall Colors of the Season!)

In the Saturn and headed south on I-15 out of Salt Lake City to SR 89 for a scenic drive. Utah is definitely using our “stimulus money” for road construction! They even have a sign to let us know that we are paying for it! The mountains in the background are covered with shrubs with red leaves.

Thru the windshield:

Lots of mountain wilderness with occasional small homes until the valley widened. More small and large ranches. Interesting businesses: Ranch Rental for small or large groups. Commercial Pheasant Hunting.

Lunch at the Home Plate Café. We parked our little Saturn between the local four-wheel drive pick-ups with deer antlers on their dash! Enjoyed a good, but not outstanding meal while listening to the conversations of the local people

Two lane Highway #31 curves thru the canyon with spires of green fir and spruce trees and neon yellow/orange of aspens.

Our first fall colors of the year! What a treat! Not only did God create trees for our use, for our protection, but also for our enjoyment year around!

Signs seen: “Snow plows operating both directions in your lane”

“Frequent Deer Crossing”

“Cattle Grazing” because this is open range.

We did see a flock of sheep walking up the middle of the road and around the curve was a sheep herders trailer parked under the trees in the pasture. It looked like a wagon on wheels with a curved roof. His horse was tethered to the side of it.

Many trails for ATV’s and hiking.

Streams and lakes for fishing.

Wasatch Plateu: Transition between Colorado Plateau on the east and the Basin & Range province to the west. At the timberline.

Mammoth bones discovered in August 1988 when digging a dam to control the flow of water thru the mtns. An area museum has the bones. The mammoth probably died in Noah's flood?

We drove past several lakes formed by dikes. The water level is very low. They have had very little rain in Sept. this year. One lake covers an abandoned coal mining town from the l870’s. A vein of coal was discovered and coke huts were constructed to burn impurities from the coal making it burn with a higher heat to use for making steel. Coal mining is still taking place in other areas of the valley. It is used for the power plants.

Spruce Beetle is killing trees. The Forest service is removing the dead and dying trees to encourage aspen growth. Aspens are a natural fire resistant tree.

Out of the canyon and into the wide valley surrounded by rock mountains. It looks like the inside of a super gigantic gravel pit! Small ranches & farms with grazing livestock, hay, wheat & clover fields where irrigation is available.

Took the Interstate to Salina to find a motel for the night. $3.14/gal for gas. One of the highest prices on the trip.

Hwy 24 east is an excellent road taking us past a gypsum plant, rocky mountain peaks, drilling rig for natural gas, oil wells & equipment & pipes are scattered along the valley along with ranches.

In the Fish Lake National Forest the yellow blossoms on the creosote bush mingle with the soft greens of the sage, the shades of brown grasses and splashes of neon yellow aspens in the high peaks in the distance! This area was known as Grass Valley when Brigham Young and the Mormon settlers arrived. Such contrast.

Driving along the top of a mountain we can see a patchwork of fields with ranch buildings resembling toys set in the corner of each area! All irrigation systems are running in the valley! We stopped at a local gas station convenience store for a cup of coffee. It also sold fishing poles, lures & horse bridles! The owner said that it had been very wet this spring. The second cutting of hay was a foot tall before the bales from first cutting could be removed.

Along the valley near Bicknell, Utah we found the Nielsen Grist Mill built in 1893. The water was channeled from the Fremont river and dropped 27 ft into the mill wheel. They ground grains into flour, gemade (could not find out what that was), bran and shorts(?). A farmer received a sack of flour for 3 bags of wheat. The sacks were sewn by hand. They could not grow hard red wheatin this area. It makes the best flour so eventually trucked in the four rather than wheat and closed the mill. All the equipment is in usable condition now.

Capitol Reef National Park

What is the Capitol Reef? It is a giant buckle in the earth's crust that stretches across south-central Utah. It is called a waterpocket fold, forced upwards probably during Noah's flood, which has eroded into colorful cliffs, massive domes, soaring spires, twisting canyons and graceful arches. The basalt rock, which makes up most of the ocean's floor weathers to a reddish or greenish tint. In this area it is mostly reddish.

The Fremont River flows through the area creating some grass land and large trees. We saw two huge cottonwood trees.

The early Morman settlers planted orchards which still produce cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, apples and plums as well as almonds and walnuts. You are welcome to stroll into any of the unlocked orchards and pick and eat for free or pick and take for a fee.

Are the petroglyphs left by the early Fremont Culture from 700 to 1250 the first Facebook profiles or the first blog or first "tweet"?

Awesome formations and canyons.

Headed home

It was time to head home. Back to I-70 east, 80+ temp, clear blue skies with only a few small white fluffy clouds lined up in formation over the distant mountain peaks.

Interesting signs: "Eagles on Highway"

At some of the exits: "No Services" "Ranch Exit"

Facts about Utah:

State emblem is the beehive which symbolizes industry and the pioneer virtues of thrift and perseverance.

State insect is the honey bee.

State tree is the blue spruce.

State Mineral is Copper. Kennecott's Bingham Canyon mine in Utah is the world's largest open-pit copper mine.

State Bird: California Seagull. It saved settlers by eating crickets destroying their crops in 1848.

The people of Salt Lake City consume more Jell-O per capita than any other city in the Untied States.

The federal government owns 65% of Utah's land, including 5 national parks, 7 national monuments, 2 national recreation areas and 6 national forests

Personally, I had always considered Utah as desert country, but was amazed to see all the mountains, canyons and irrigated farm land.

We chose Hwy 50 through south western Colorado. Good road curving through the Rocky Mountains with ranches in the valleys. The leaves on the bushes are shades of pink, red to purple & green with occasional neon yellow gold aspens. Velvet covered mountains with gold jewels! A nice farewell before we enter the brown fields being harvested in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.

Life lesson: Notice the mileage signs along the Interstate. They are located every so many miles to keep you informed of what is ahead. They always list the closest town and then a city far in the distance. My "mileage signs" are in God's word. Reading daily to let me know where I am in my spiritual life, strength and guidance for the day, focus for now. But also what is ahead in the future, the promise of what He has provided through faith in Jesus shed blood. Eternal Life with Him! Thank-you, Lord!

Thank-you for traveling with us!

Prairie Schooners






Thursday, October 21, 2010

Branchville, New Jersey

A 37 ft gas powered Winnebago "Vista" needed to be delivered to Branchville, NJ. Heading east watching the sun rise in a clear sky. The fall fields are harvested or being harvested. Some color is showing on the leaves of the trees and the last of the wild flowers are still blooming in the ditches as we head towards Chicago.

An easy drive thru the “windy city” and our stop at an Ohio travel plaza on the toll road. “Thumbs up” to Ohio for their clean, spacious, safe and well placed plazas. This one even had a separate place for RV’s with electrical hook-ups!

A long day of driving through clouds and rain. Even without sun the leaves are colorful as we roll through the rolling “hills” of eastern Ohio and into the mountains of northern Pennsylvania.

Too late to get the unit checked in at the dealership so checked the back of our atlas for a Super Walmart in East Stroudsburg near the Ohio border. Oops—Jim had to thread this 37 ft elephant through the narrow streets, asked a pedestrian about directions and were headed the right direction. A security guard gave us permission to park for the night and assured us that it was an easy short drive to get back on the Interstate right down the road. (In the mountains you often get on and off the Interstate at different exits.) A good walk around the area and supper at Friendly’s. They serve good food and good ice cream at a reasonable price plus open early in the morning with a delicious breakfast menu.

“D” day for us! Thanks to “Gertrude” our Garmin we turned around the right curves to get back on I-80. Partly cloudy to keep the rising sun from our eyes. Thank-you, Lord!

Off the interstate onto Hwy 94 winding through the New Jersey countryside and small towns with the porches on the houses about a car length from the highway. Through tree-lined areas alternating with scenic vistas of the mountains and valleys. Numerous Roadside markets for fruits and vegetables showing an abundance of pumpkins and beautiful mums.

A pleasant surprise at the dealer! They had a Gulf Stream pull type camper named “Prairie Schooner” on the lot. The first we had seen and of course, the salesman was sure we needed to purchase this namesake!!

Scenic Route #519

Back in the Saturn and headed north on a scenic route #519 winding through the tree lined countryside with small neat farms with brilliant colored mums blooming in their yards and more small towns. The houses are mostly small colorfully painted cottages or large rectangle shaped with a chimney on each end and windows placed perpendicular in a straight line.

Past the historical Lusscroft farm. Between 1914 and 1930 a Montclair stockbroker invested a fortune to make a farm with 1000 acres into a model dairy farm. In 1931 he donated it to the state of New Jersey for Ag Research.

Past the Space Farm Zoo and Museum near Sussex. Looks like a fun place to spend the day. You can check their website for more information if you are in the area.

Sterling Hill Mine

Following the signs we found the Sterling Hill Mine and Museum in Ogdensburg. We were greeted with a large collection of old mining equipment arranged in front of the face of a huge rock mountain with a covered conveyor extending from the top to several large bins built over a railroad track. (We later found out that the crushed ore was lifted from the bottom of the mine conveyed to the holding bins and loaded into rail cars. It was shipped to Palmerton, PA where the supply of coal was available to smelt the ore. It takes 5 Ton of coal to smelt 1 Ton of zinc ore.)

Also on site is the Ellis Astronomy Center with an observatory. Also an area called the Fossil Discovery Center. We explored the Geo Tech Center as part of the mine tour.

The parking lot was filled with school buses. They do tours for school children in the morning--up to 200 a day--and do one 2 hour tour at 1:00 PM for adults & families.

Yes, we really walked through the mine wearing our jackets because it is 56 degrees year around. It closed in 1986 ending all underground mining in New Jersey. It is now both a National Historic Site and a Mines, Metal and Men site, a trail of historic sites telling the story of mining and industrial activity that started in this New Jersey area hundreds of years ago. Our guide was a geologist.

The ore mined in this district was primarily for zinc but there are over 360 other minerals found in this district, a world record. Zincite, a zinc oxide, and franklinite, a zinc iron oxide are not mined anywhere else outside this district. Willemite, a zinc silicate, also mined here is found only in limited quantities scattered around the globe. Besides the richness of the ore, 85 of the local minerals fluoresce, more than any other single place on Earth. It was beautiful to have the UV lights turned on and see the bright colors in what looked before like ordinary stones! These minerals also fluoresce, or glow, when heated.

A display of all the uses for fluorescent minerals showed that it is used in our paper money and in our postage stamps. Machines using UV light can easily identify and sort both items. It is also used in some states drivers licenses and on credit cards as an anti-counterfeiting measure.

What is zinc used for? Die casting of parts for automobiles and appliances, household tools, internal parts on telephones & office machines, for galvanizing steel to prevent rust, as a white paint pigment, as a heat dispenser in rubber, as a fire retardant & preservation of wood, in infra red lasers, dyes, model rocket propellant, vitamin & mineral supplements, cosmetics, sun block, diaper rash protection, toothpaste, shampoo, and zinc alloys like brass, nickel and solder.

Want a new idea for your mudroom? Each miner had a basket connected to a chain and pully. At nite after work they would put their boots in the basket & hang their coats on hangers under the basket. Pull them up to the ceiling so they could hang up in the warm air and dry during the night.

What a difference in mining tools and equipment from the early days to now. From a candle in a holder on their head to battery operated focused lights on a helmet and water cooled drills that prevent dust causing lung problems were just a few.

Interesting points from our tour:
Zinc ore is very heavy like granite which is different from coal. Coal is mined and brought to the top at each level, but zinc ore is dropped, using gravity, to the last level in the mine and crushed before bringing it up and out.

There were 27 levels in this mine when it was working. We only walked the main level, the bottom levels are filled with water, which had to be pumped out continually when it was being worked.

Only electric motors were used inside the mine for safety.

The big closed wooden box containing the first aid equipment had 2 regular light bulbs on continually inside. They gave off enough heat to keep the supplies dry and warm and ready for use.

They used a bell system with each level having a code to let the man running the lift know where you wanted to go. The code was printed by each lift.

The mine had a "grizzly" at each level. Since zinc was so heavy the large rocks needed to be chipped down to size to prevent problems at the crusher below. A large iron grate was fitted across the top of the hole. The holes in the grate were large enough for a man to fall through so the miner on the grate had straps and chains that would prevent him from falling into the crusher as he walked back & forth with an iron rod breaking the rocks to a size that would fall through.

They have "rock bolts" that act just like our plaster board bolts. They are 3 ft long and are drilled into rock with an end that flays out. That will hold a portion of rock together. You will see them along the highways where cuts have been made in mountains.

This mine produced over eleven million ton of zinc ore. In a 1974 article in the museum it stated that every month they shipped out 19,000 tons of ore and employed 200 people.

Thinking about the fact that God created even the minerals in the rocks and gave men the ability to get them out and use them.

Interesting facts learned about New Jersey

The Mars Candy factory in Hacketstown does not give public tours, but just standing in the parking lot you can smell the fragrance of chocolate!

No left turns is the law in the cities. They have a place at each corner to do a U-turn off the right side of the highway. This way no one is holding up traffic trying to turn.

Gas stations were full-service. Someone was there to pump the gas for you.

Signs stating that someone was running for the office of Surrogate. What is the office?

In New Jersey, the person who passes on the validity of a will, gives the executor proof of his authority to administer the estate and sees to it that the executor handles the estate properly, is called the Surrogate. Each county has a Surrogate's Court and the Surrogate is the Judge of that Court. He or she is elected for a term of five years, pursuant to the Constitution of New Jersey, by the people of the county in which he or she has jurisdiction. The word "Surrogate" means "one who speaks for another."

Hesitate at a traffic light and the driver behind you will "honk!"

Towns have very narrow streets. Many are one-way.

They have their state divided into boroughs.

Pennsylvania Wilds

Heading west we took a side road through Hickory Run State park in the Ponoco Mountains. A tree lined winding road with several 12% grades. Brilliant reds and golds of the leaves literally shone in the sunlight. Mountain Pecan coffee at a local convenience store was delicious. Many campgrounds and hiking trails. Back on the interstate and seeing in the sunlight what we drove through in rain on the way out. Beautiful! Thanking the Lord for His creation and the opportunity to enjoy it!


Rutherford Hayes Presidential Center

We left Interstate 80 driving south on Hwy 6 to Fremont, Ohio to visit the home of President Rutherford B. Hayes. A tall black iron fence surrounds the 25 acres of park-like grounds. Each side has a gate from the White House with a presidential seal. People come from the community to walk every day.

The museum is free, but a fee is charged to tour their home. There is a lot of restoration being done on the inside to bring it back the same as when the President and family lived there. It was built during the Civil War with 4 fireplaces for heat. Today there are 15 fire places for heat with 10 chimneys! It has been added to several times since and been home to several generations of the family who have made decorating changes. 5 layers of white paint was removed in one room to uncover the butternut trim!

A gas well was discovered on their farm and piped in to the house for use in lighting and cooking.

Rutherford and Lucy had 8 children, 7 sons and l daughter. 3 of their sons died very young.

The museum has collections of guns, swords and memorabilia from the sons who served in the Philippines and the Boxer Rebellion in China as well as gifts given to the President.

New information learned about President Hayes:

He was the first President to take the oath of office inside the White House. First to have a telephone and typewriter in the White House. Started the tradition of the "Easter Egg Roll" for children at the White House.

He was the first President to travel to the West Coast of the US during his term in office. He and his wife, Lucy and 7 others traveled by train, stagecoach, buggy, army ambulance, steamer, ferry boat, tug, yacht, and ocean vessel from September through October. The cost of this trip was $575.40!

President Hayes walked 6 miles a day. He built the veranda of his home the length needed for walking during inclement weather. 33 times around made 1 mile and visitors were invited to walk with him!

He had a collection of 10,000 books often getting up at 3 AM to read.

He built his home with 4 floors. In the center you can look up and see the 4 stairs to the top. The last floor is a walk-way that allowed him to open windows in the summer for heat to escape and in winter Lucy kept her plants on the sills.

He collected canes. The 51 canes will be on display when the restoration is finished.

His father died when he was 2 months old. An uncle, a successful businessman, helped his mother raise him and his sister.

He served in the Civil War, was elected to Congress, served as governor of Ohio for 2 terms, then retired to his 125 acre farm. Was elected for a third term as governor then chosen as the Republican Party's candidate for President in 1876.

Because there were 20 disputed electoral votes a special congressional commission decided the outcome of the election. Because of this controversy he took the oath of office without ceremony on Saturday, March 3, 1877 in the Red Room of the White House.

He showed honesty and fairness during his term as President, giving a renewed respect for the office, but did not accept a second term.

His best known quotation is "He serves his party best who serves his country best."

Highway #6 and home

Time to head west and home. We chose to stay on Hwy 6 which runs parallel to the Interstate. Flat farmland, combines busy harvesting, tractors doing tillage and small towns with a backdrop of magnificent color in the leaves under a sun and blue sky!

A stay at a little motel in Kendalville, OH. Supper at a local restaurant, Ranch House. Good food, served well in a pleasant atmosphere. Next morning we stopped at the Charger House, a local restaurant in Ligionier, IN for breakfast. Trucker sized servings of good food.

It is always interesting to walk into a small town restaurant as we travel. People look us over and try to figure out who we are!

Enjoyed a beautiful sunrise as we drove past Amish Acres in Nappanee, IN. A large motel, a Round Barn theater, guided tours and shops all make for a fun stop sometime. Check out their website for more information.

Into Illinois and found a radio station with Worship Hymns to supplement our tapes of Gospel Music as we drive on a Sunday morning.

Through Chicago, across the Mississippi River into Iowa and back on the Prairie! Thanking the Lord for a fun, safe adventure and for our "home" on the Prairie!

Thank-you for traveling with us via the words in this blog!

Prairie Schooners