For the past 3 days we have been traveling through the farmlands of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and have stopped in Grand Island, Nebraska.  Some of the land is flat, but a lot of it is rolling.  The farm houses are usually big, and the barns are bigger.  But before I say any more about that, I must tell you about our first night on this leg of our journey.  We spent that night in Wheeling, West Virginia, a beautiful city.  It is on the bank of the Ohio River, and the National Road went through there over  the longest suspension bridge in the country.  It is still in use.   It was built in the early or mid 1800’s.

The problem with Wheeling is that it is so hilly that we couldn’t find anything.  We drove into town looking for a Best Wes n that my book said was there but wasn’t.  Then we drove back east looking for a hotel, taking the wrong exit that went nowhere near any hotels.  By the time we got settled, Doug was pretty tense.  We went back and forth through this tunnel that went through the mountain to town.

In Columbus, Ohio, there was a section that was settled by Germans, and has been refurbished to look like the original brick houses built by the settlers.  Now, of course, there are many quaint shops and restaurants.

After that we discovered a place called Clifton Gorge.  We were looking for an old mill, but the gorge was an accidental gem of a place.  Here is a great picture of that:

It doesn’t look like a Colorado gorge because it is filled with trees, as you can see.  The water rushes just the same, though.  (This is in Ohio.)  There were lots of trails, but we didn’t have the time to take them.

We have been 3 days on the road now, going through Maryland,West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and are now in Bettendorf, Iowa.  Our first day was  spent in the mountains of Maryland and West Virginia, but the rain made it impossible to really appreciate things as we would like.  Every creek and river that we crossed was either high or overflowing its banks.  Here is a pictures of Castleman’s bridge that was  built in 1813 an d was part of the National Road .  (I didn’t know there was a national road.)  Anyway this was the first national road in the country and went from Cumberland, Maryland to St. Louis. The other picture shows you an example of the flooding from all the rain.

 

We are about to start “leg” 2 of our big road trip.  We brought our daughter-in-law, Laura, home to Virginia from her visit to her dad who is undergoing cancer treatments.  We didn’t make any scenic stops because the two love-birds were anxious to be back together.  (Yesterday was their 6th anniversary, and Jeff took off to a training class in Seattle!)  As we drove through northern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, the dogwoods were blooming everywhere.  Redbud trees and white dogwoods were mixed all through the thick forests.  The beautiful scenery continued through Tennessee and Virginia.  The last time we were here, spring was only noticeable by the cherry blossoms. (nothing to sneeze at)  Now everything is leafed-out and green.  Unfortunately, it turned cool and rainy for the whole visit.  Doug and Jeff painted the smoker/BarBQ pit that we had brought up from Texas (thanks to son-in-law Daryl’s wanting to get rid of it).  Then they laid some patio stones under the deck so that mud and dirt wouldn’t be tracked in while cooking was being done.  Friday was spent trying out the smoker, so we feasted that night. Today we are heading west, with the goal being granddaughter Brittany’s 12th birthday party on Saturday in Laramie, Wyoming. 

Our web “manager” Jeff has changed the look of our website.  Besides the pictures that we may put in the blog itself, we have a photo gallery that you can click on to view sets of pictures.  I have put in a few pictures of spring in Huntsville.  We are visiting with Jeff and Laura right now, so he has been setting up a few things on our new laptop.  I hope you like the view!