Our Second Big Road Trip West

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THE BASICS

We've already been on the road for two weeks, and they have been full. Oddly, we keep having trouble getting online, so this will be more loquacious than even my usual. Apologies...

As we drove across New York state, we learned about the Erie Canal construction and operation. Visited friends near Ithaca, and then in State College PA. Explored railroad history in Altoona and visited the Horseshoe Curve. No exploring near Pittsburgh; it was too danged hot! Instead, gabbed with a cousin of Linda's for three days.

In hilly Belmont County, Ohio, explored the birthplaces of Linda's paternal grandparents. On through Amish/Mennonite country; saw lots and lots of buggies and bonnets. Spent a couple of nights near a lake in southern Michigan, and we are headed next to visit another of Linda's cousins, in northwest Indiana, and if it is cool enough, spend some time in Chicago.

THE FLUFF

There was a lot of road and bridge reconstruction in southern Vermont, a result of the huge floods they had last summer thanks to Irene. Boy, is it ever hilly and curvy there! I hadn't noticed when I was in cars on previous trips, but in a 35' RV with a car behind, I noticed. And tried to control my frequent panics.

John was eager to learn about the Erie Canal so we attempted to find the locks near Troy NY where the canal connects to the Hudson River. We sort of did. Our best canal education occurred near Utica in a recreated "village" which isn't in the best condition, but has excellent text and photos, and later that day at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse. What a wonderful achievement the canal was; a major engineering undertaking which people of the time met head-on, and it established New York City as the premier city because it was the outlet for products all the way from the Great Lakes. And it opened the frontier, which in those days meant Ohio, because it was way easier to travel on a boat than over those mountains in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

We thoroughly enjoyed a visit to old friends (whoops, "long term" friends; since none of us are old yet) near Ithaca. They drove us around Cornell, which has a very diverse collection of architectural styles, and all the buildings are so huge. On we went to wine tastings at two different vineyards; grapes like to grow along the Finger Lakes. The next morning, we spent a couple of hours at the Corning Glass Museum - we had been skeptical when Jon and Lynn said we could spend two days there, but found out that one could. Gorgeous, fascinating.

And thence to State College. Approaching from the north, all you see is the enormous Beaver Stadium, which now seems so besmirched (as I type, the Penn State Board of Trustees is responding to the Freeh Report released today). We stayed again with friends here. They drove us into town, and after dinner, Linda set off onto the campus to try to locate the dorm she lived in for her freshman year of college, a usually-boys' dorm where someone kept goldfish in the urinals in our bathrooms. She had a general sense that it was in the southwest corner of the campus; the dorm name suddenly surfaced in her memory; and soon there was Thompson Hall. After some more walking, we went to the Creamery, a prime memory for anyone who has ever been near that university. Well, the building is all new and shiny (and boring) but the ice cream is still spectacularly rich and tasty.

Next day, on to Altoona and the Pennsy Railroaders Museum, honoring the heyday of that city when they built steam engines at a rapid pace. Another excellent museum, although Linda wishes she had not watched the video about train wrecks... Again, amazing engineering and machining feats in an age of "why not?" and bright progress. We also visited Horseshoe Curve which is dramatically perched on a mountainside and really does curve fully. We saw several trains chug by, lots of freight but only one passenger train in each direction daily.

We struggled with directions that day, both on maps and our goofy GPS, but finally arrived in a state park for the night, safe from a thunderstorm and grateful again to have a roof rather than a tent over our heads.

Next to Level Green, which is an outrageous misnomer because there probably aren't ten level feet in that burg. Really, for the next three days, we mostly sat in Linda's cousin's family room, enjoying the air conditioning which valiantly overcame the 100 degree temperatures outside. And gabbed. Cousin Pattie is, to understate it, a fanatic knitter/yarn buyer, and Linda has a huge supply now of dark, wool yarn to make hats for the Afghan children. Pattie's daughter and her lovely dog Fiona, a Labrador, were also visiting and that added to the fun.

We tore ourselves away on Saturday, July 7, and proceeded through the Pittsburgh area, a slice of West Virginia, more ups and downs and curves, into Ohio. Belmont County is across the Ohio River from Wheeling WV. We found a nice campground near an interstate and on Sunday, John patiently endured Linda's ancestor explorations. First we went to Armstrong's Mills, where Grandma Bess, nee Armstrong, spent her youth. The town is not very lively these days, although it did have a good past. The hills made it easy to imagine why Grandma, who became an MD, made house calls on horseback. Energy is a big topic in that county: there is drilling for natural gas - you see license plates from Texas, Oklahoma, etc. and rentals are hard to find. At the same time, there is interest in coal mining. And, incidentally, there are electric company employees working seven days a week as a result of the big storm a week ago that knocked out power.

Next to Harrison County, north of Belmont, and to New Athens, where Grandpa Bert came from. It's another not very lively town. Its most interesting feature is the Franklin Museum (not open that day) which was Franklin College. The college was very prominent in abolitionist history and turned out many leaders,eight U.S. senators, for example. (One of our ancestors was president of the college for some years.) The terrain here was somewhat more rolling, not quite as jagged as south of there, and there is still plenty of corn in large fields.

It was a tiring day, as Linda attempted to juggle guidebooks, pamphlets, maps, and the genealogy book her aunt had made, in order to get a sense of where her family came from. This area was still pretty much "frontier", but people carved out fine lives for themselves.

The next day was more restful, driving north and then west through Amish/Mennonite lands (and tourist villages). Lovely rolling hills, dotted with corn fields. Buggies, beards, bonnets, evidence of hard but cheerful labor. And a six-layer slice of carrot cake to share during our morning coffee break! But as we got into Indiana, the fields were more parched and we all must hope that it rains here soon.

The last couple of days have just been spent resting up, trying to stay cool, near a lake in southern Michigan.

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Comments

[Thora]

I have been thinking of you in the last few days and wondering how you are doing? We have not been enjoying the excessive heat but are having a good summer. All of the grandkids were here last friday for a group picture. That was like herding cats! Thanks to modern technology I hope the photographer can move enough heads to come up with a good picture. Hve fun and let us know your plans for your return trip east. I still have a few puzzles here, including the Sistine Chapel lovingly given to me by my darling Rachael. We'll see about that. Love, Thora