Paxico, KS partly cloudy, strong winds mileage 3954 left at 10:30 Drove across small country farm roads to pick up the Trails at St. Mary’s. Was the site of a Catholic Mission established by Jesuits in 1848 to convert the Potawatomi Indians and became a stopping point for the travelers on the Trails. It now has become both a college and a large Jesuit seminary. Definitely a Catholic town judging from all the statues of Mary in the yards of the residents. Unable to find the sites we had expected to find in the town, so we stopped to ask men who were loading food at a free food distribution center, where the monuments were. They insisted that we take some free food even though we said, “ no we didn’t need any”. They said ... read more

April 25, 2011 We started our day hopeful that the Frontier Trails Library would have a complete copy of our great-great (?) aunt’s diary of her family’s passage from Iowa to California in 1852 along the Oregon Trail and perhaps some more on Capt. Mock (our great uncle’s) travels to California in 1849. We had delayed our travels almost 2 days because of Easter weekend and the town of Independence’s special celebration day on Thursday. We met the librarian shortly after 9:00 and he had a copy of “A Journal of Traveling” by Amanda M. Matthews, which was 28 pages long and nothing more on Capt. Mock. Here is the first entry from Amanda’s diary: “April the 18th, 1852: This day left brother Simpsons’ in company with brothers’ Ruben and Warren Matthews’ and their families for ... read more

Happy Easter to All! We are sitting at a laundry mat washing our clothes as I write this.--Sending from a McDs a day later. Wednesday April 13, 2011 with weather clear and 82 degrees in Clarkston, Georgia. Mileage started at 1811.4. We left home at about 4:30 pm and after dropping off library books in Lilburn, headed up Interstate 85 toward Christina and Paul’s home in Columbia, MD. As we left home, we kept trying to figure out if there were any Alaskan songs—we couldn’t think of any so, started making some up. We arrived in Traveler’s Rest, SC at about 7:30 and spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot with several other campers and a couple of 18 wheelers. We decided the price was right for the space and 24-hour security. Real pretty sunset. ... read more

MOSCOW Sunday September 12th At the meeting one day with Polina for all in group 8, she discussed the optional tours available for Moscow, for an additional, we thought rather spendy fee, of course. Valerie and I had decided that besides the tours included in the cruise, we could do much of Moscow on our own using the subway system and then linking up with the bus tour to get back to the ship. If necessary, we felt we would just take a taxi as there was no shuttle to and from town to the metro system like there was in St. Pete. The bus tour that morning took us along the New Maiden Convent walls with it’s many church domes and then a tour of Red Square. We started the tour on the outside of ... read more

Friday, September 10th--Myshkin and Uglich MYSHKIN Legend has it that a prince of some sort/some place fell asleep in the woods bordering the steep banks of the Volga River. A mouse ran across his face and woke him up just in time to see a poisonous snake. In gratitude for saving his life, he decreed that a chapel be built on that spot and that started the town. Mysh in Russian means mouse—so literally Mouse town. This is played up by town people from the minute we docked with people in mouse costumes greeting us with songs and dances on the pier to the tiny pottery and other mouse shaped souvenirs. Walking by stalls selling souvenirs, apples, dried fish, mushrooms and other items, we followed Polina and the assigned local guide, up a cobblestone street to ... read more