I have been quite a procrastenator about concluding my thoughts about our road trip in May.  (Of course, it took me months to put my 572 pictures in our photo gallery.)  We went almost coast-to-coast, as you can see by the map that Doug posted below this.  We stayed in very nice hotels, nice hotels, average hotels, and one that I can't call any better than mediocre.  We ate regional foods, learned a lot of history, crossed a lot of rivers.  We went through areas that we had expected to be blah and discovered rich history and beauty off the interstates.  We also discovered that you can't find IHOP's everywhere!  That was a bummer!  We followed the Oregon Trail in some places and realized the difficulties faced by the early settlers of the Pacific Northwest.  We also found out that May is just a little early to explore that area of the country.  Roads were not open all the way at Mount Rainier or Glacier National Park.  That didn't stop us from see magnificent sights, though.  All I can say is that we live in a wonderful country, and we have been blessed to be able to see so much of it.

If this is the first time for you to visit our site, scroll down to Road Trip--1 to see a few thoughts I published as we drove.  If you are interested in seeing some of our pictures, click on Photo Gallery at the right, then click on Travel, then on Road Trip.  You will see that I have broken up our trip into stages, so you can look at only the area that might interest you.  I also have posted our trip to Puerto Rico earlier in the year.

Our day in Nebraska (we could cross it in one day) was quite miserable because of a cold wind.  I had forgotten to pack jackets for this trip, not even my hooded sweat shirt.  I had bought a cute sweater/jacket at Cracker Barrel when we were driving through the south (where there were Cracker Barrels every few miles, it seemed), but this cold wind was miserable.  The sun was shining, but the wind was biting.  However, the wind didn’t stop us from enjoying the scenery.  The farmland of Nebraska was rolling, as in Iowa, and we followed the Platte River through the state.  Where the Platte divided into two rivers, the South Platte and North Platte, we took a northern “detour” to visit a two key spots on the Oregon trail.  One was a piece of rock called Chimney Rock that stuck up 400 feet into the air.  As you can imagine, it was an easily recognized landmark.

The other spot was just a little further west where the trail left the North Platte River and went through a pass called Scott’s Bluff.  We were able to drive up to the summit of this ridge where we could see in both directions.  There was a trail that went up to the summit, but it would have been out of our league even if the wind was not blowing so hard.  But it was an awesome sight to think that all those pioneers braved the dangers and the unknown to settle west.

This is the “bluff” and the trail went to the left of it.

It was a short trip from here to Mandy’s in Laramie, and we have enjoyed being with her and Mark and seeing our growing grandchildren.  We leave tomorrow for the next leg of our trip to Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

After leaving the Mississippi River to travel across Iowa, we expected to see boring corn fields.  We discovered something unusual in Eastern Iowa.  It was a community of villages that started as a religious community.  It is formally called the Amana Colonies.  They were a religious group called Inspirationalists that started in Germany in 1714.  They are not Amish or Mennonite; they didn’t have anything against modern conveniences.  They believed that the Holy Spirit was able to speak to people and give words of “prophecy”.  (Imagine that!)  After much persecution they left Germany for America.  They started first near Buffalo, New York, then later purchased 26,000 acres of land in Iowa.   They practiced truly communal living, “having all things in common” until 1932.  Now it is a big tourist spot with Bed and Breakfasts, a RV park, and many quaint houses and shops.  But the descendants of these people still live there.

There were more hills in Iowa than I expected with fields as far as we could see.

The farmlands continued into Nebraska, where we found a Danish community.  They brought a windmill all the way from Denmark, as well as a Viking house.  Have you ever seen a Viking house?  Well, here is one:

In Illinois and Indiana spring has really come.  We saw so many beautiful blooming trees, many apparently planted by the highway department!  The farms were large, but nothing had been planted yet, strange to us since it seemed like it should have been done by now.  We saw many large farmhouses and larger barns.  They are much bigger and a different shape than in Texas.  We were still seeing the rivers in the area  looking near flood stage, and even the Mississippi was high. 

We spent the night on the banks of the Mississippi in a town called Bettendorf, Iowa.  There were 4 cities there, merging together, so the area was known as the Quad Cities.  There were a lot things to see that we certainly had not known about.  We went to the John Deere Pavilion; apparently the world headquarters of John Deere is here in Moline, IL.  John Deere started as a blacksmith and invented a steel plow that worked better in the prairie area.  From there to now, quite  something.  Several of the huge farm machines were displayed in the Pavilion. 

In the middle of the Mississippi was an island called Arsenal Island because the government has stored  arsenals there during wars.  There was also a big army base there, as well as a National Cemetery.  There were thousands of graves. 

There was also a confederate cemetery on the island.

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. 

We took a weekend in Lafayette a couple of weeks back.  We did not realize that it happened to be the last weekend of Mardi Gras celebrations.  We also did not realize that every town in southern Louisiana celebrated.  There had been a parade almost every day for the week or so before.  That weekend at least 5 parades took place.  To see the traffic and the full restaurants, you wouldn't think that a recession was going on at all.  We visited a few places of historic value.  One was the mansion of Alexandre Mouton, the founder of Lafayette.  I always enjoy going to old historic houses.  It is a fun way to learn history.  We went to a place called Vermillion Ville.  This was on the banks of the Vermillion River, and they had moved old houses of historic residents there.  And, of course, we had all the Cajun food we could hold.  One interesting thing about Lafayette was the many, very old oak trees there.  The lady at the Mouton house told us it was against the law to cut them down.  Here is a picture of a 500-year-old oak by St. John's Church (built on the ground where the first Catholic church in Lafayette was built):

We also drove by a Lake where we saw a sign that said:  Danger! Aggressive alligators nesting.  Do not walk on the levee!"  Well, we did intend to get near ANY alligators, much less aggressive ones.  But as we drove on the levee, we saw this house:

I guess the occupant didn't want to have those aggressive alligators crawling into his bedroom window.

Before we went on that cruise, we spent the night in Galveston.  It was eerie to see the change.  Many things on the seawall looked fine, but all of the piers that used to stick out in the water are heavily damaged.  There are still many debris piles and some boats stuck on land.  We drove down the road where most of the newer beach houses were.  Many looked undamaged from the outside, but the  "view" didn't look right.  The dunes that used to block the beach from the residences are gone.  Older houses are greatly damaged.  When we drove off the seawall to where actual residents live, things looked really bad.  Work was still being done with debris still in front of their houses, as I mentioned before.

Here you see an example of one of the houses that seems virtually un-repairable.

And here is a grounded boat.

We just went on a short trip to Abilene (TX).  Our 2-night stay at the Elegante Suites, as well as tickets to Abilene attractions, was paid for by a AAA contest.  We didn't think Abilene would be very exciting, but getting away is always nice.  There was no interstate highway to get us there directly, so we took off on state and farm highways.  It was a very nice drive--certainly little traffic in our way.  As it turns out, Abilene has some nice historical attractions.  One is called Buffalo Gap--a small town on the site of a gap that buffalo traveled in pioneer days.  There was an old courthouse, built in 1880, as well as other old buildings and cabins.  This is a picture of the old courthouse.

There is another historical attraction called Frontier Texas.  It chronicles the history of the area using holographs, sounds, and images that make the history come alive.  Children would be very impressed.  We also visited a museum honoring the 12th Armored Division that fought in World War II and were prepared at a large army camp in Abilene called Fort Barkley.  Who knew that Abilene had anything besides 3 Christian Colleges!