VIRGINIA TO KENTUCKY - Sept. 3 to Sept. 26

Our last update had us bidding farewell to Reston VA and the Mossoffs. We now are at Heartland RV Park in Campbellsville, Kentucky working at an Amazon.Com fulfillment warehouse. Our schedule hasn’t given us as much time as we expected for working on our updates and other leisure activities. Most of our off-time is consumed by catching up on our sleep, eating, and household chores. More about Amazon.Com later.

FLIGHT 93 MEMORIAL SITE

Our first destination after leaving VA was the Flight 93 National Memorial Site near Shanksville, PA. We found ourselves on another section of the Lincoln Highway; this time going through a scenic mountain area called the Laurel Highlands.

Museum at Flight 93 Memorial Site

Presently, a temporary museum is set up in the old mining shack that was used for the collection and investigation of bodies and debris evidence. Inside there are some history boards and a small display of tokens left on the fences by the first visitors. There also is a place to write your sentiments about your visit or about the 911 attack. It was moving to read the new messages as they remain strong and deeply felt even nine years after the attack. Local residents volunteer to man the site so you hear their stories as well. The crash site now covered by fill, is still under construction and from the design plans will look totally different from what we saw.

PITTSBURGH

We were delighted to find our stop in Pittsburgh, a city that we had never visited, so interesting. The city at the confluence of the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers makes a striking picture from high atop the opposing steep banks of Mount Washington where two remaining funiculars still take citizens up and down.

Coming through the Fort Pitt Tunnel from the suburbs, Pittsburgh suddenly bursts into view, surely a stunning sight at night. As we entered the city it was immediately evident that there were a multitude of bridges here (not surprisingly, almost all of them were made of steel). On the Just Ducky tour we passed some of the many old and new architecturally important buildings that cluster around the area that once was a kind of Wall Street for oil and gas investment interests. The tour guide told us that Pittsburgh had more bridges than any other city in the world, four hundred and something (can’t remember the exact number). On the river we could see the influence of Carnegie and Heinz on the signs for the major attractions lining the shore.

Carnegie Science Center and Heinz Stadium

We stopped to see the wonderful stained glass windows in the Heinz Memorial Chapel on the U of Pitt campus after having Pittsburgh’s version of a steak and cheese sandwich in Little Italy.

Courage was theme of this window

We had tried eating in the trendy historic market area known as The Strip but it was so abuzz with activity that there was not a parking space to be found, as well as lines out front of most of the restaurants. Driving through we saw all kinds of retailers, seafood and produce merchants, specialty shops and sidewalk vendors.

OHIO

Our self-guided tour of the capitol building in Columbus began in The Crypt or basement and then was mostly spent opening the warren of doors connecting the 1901 Judiciary Annex with the 1861 Statehouse trying to find the right doors leading to rooms we wished to see. When found, those rooms were locked and any openings looking in were covered up. The rotunda was being used for a wedding. We don’t have much to remember about this capitol.

Replica of the Nina in a pleasant park along the river

Our next stop was the birthplace of American aviation, Dayton, Ohio. Beginning with the Wright Brothers, the inventors of powered, heavier-than-air, human controlled flight, other aviation milestones occurred here; the first military airfield, the first emergency parachute jump and new technology tested at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
We chose to tour the National Museum of the Air Force and the John W. Berry Sr. Wright Brothers Aviation Center from the listing of aviation places one can visit in the area. We took the special tour including 4 Presidential planes plus some experimental planes, never heard of or seen by the public. Kennedy’s plane was the first to be called “Air Force One’’. The earlier planes were given names such as Roosevelt’s “Columbine” or Truman’s “Independence”.

Our next stop was in the “Norman Rockwell” little town of Grand Rapids, Ohio to visit Mike’s niece and nephew, Tim and Tracey. We were invited to park on Tracey’s ranch property. The property abuts a canal towpath along the Maumee River which we walked one morning. Donna spotted chestnuts not often found anymore. If we walked further we would have reached the landing where one can still take a boat ride through the locks as once much river traffic did. There was a whirlwind of activity with Tracey’s 3 children, Evan (8), Claire (11) and Blake (12). They had to be picked up from school, to get to and from sport games, practice and riding lessons, and to attend the first junior-high school dance. There was also Tim’s 10-month old, perpetual motion, son Cole to be tended to in the mix.

John Schaff Sr and Jr, Blake and dogs getting breakfast ready

We learned about horse care and horse business with a visit to the riding stable owned and operated by Leslie, Tim’s wife. We learned the difference between hay and straw, between a paint and a pinto. Later at Tracey’s, a newly-purchased horse arrived with a severe head cut so there was an unanticipated vet’s visit and an overnight medication vigil for Tracey. Such is the life for horse or livestock owners.

Tim has one of the best jobs in the world. He is a corporate pilot and ferries the company brass all over the country in a 2010 King Air 350. He is also responsible for seeing to the maintenance and repair of the plane. They had just completed some avionics repairs and Tim wanted to take it up for a test flight. It was a special treat for Mike to be invited to go along. Mike was amazed at how much avionics has changed since his flying days. No more little round dials. The panel is made up of several LCD displays that provide all of the data necessary to fly the plane. Tim made a couple of ILS (instrument landing system) approaches which allowed Mike to observe the panel displays and on-screen charts in action.

INDIANA

We then headed to Goshen, Indiana where we would meet up with the Brennemans to attend the 50th Escapee Escapade. The first get-together or escapade of Escapees took place in 1979 in Bakersfield, CA with Kay and Joe Peterson at the helm offering advice and support for those interested in full-time RVing.

Donna with Joe and Kay Peterson

The Petersons and the Escapee Club have been greatly responsible for the respect and acknowledgement that full-timing now has as an admirable life style by the RV industry and public alike. We ourselves have learned and been helped by this RV club and its members. So many people we meet are fascinated when we tell them about this lifestyle. Most say they would love to do it themselves but this lifestyle is not for everybody. Mike’s usual advice to those contemplating life on the road consists of two essential preconditions - you have to be able to fix things in the RV yourself, and you have to get along with your spouse. Of course, there are many other considerations but those are essential.

It was a beautiful time of year to be in this area. The Amish/Mennonite farms seen in the countryside gave a sense of well-being and orderliness. The flower gardens, barns, quilts, horse buggies, produce and baked-goods stands and even laundry out drying on lines are the magnets that attract lots of visitors here and to other Amish conclaves.

Staying one night in the local Wal-Mart parking lot we got to see the Amish carriages and carts more closely. Wal-Mart has provided a barn in their parking lot with water and shelter for the horses, plus shovels and barrels for the horses’ droppings. The carriages symbolize Amish values of separation, simplicity, tradition and community. A speaker from the Menno-Hof Center in Shipshewanna told us the interesting history of the Anabaptists and the differences between the Amish and Mennonites.

As we had some time to spare before we were due at Amazon.Com we decided to try camping at Lake Patoka. Carmen, our GPS voice, took us there by a narrow, winding, desolate county road. From there we took some car trips. On one of the hottest days ever, we went to visit Santa Claus; that is Santa Claus, Indiana. The holiday décor throughout the town looked a bit bedraggled as we did in the heat.

The museum offered the story that back in 1856 when the town was founded, the founders wanted to have the name Santa Ana but was refused as it already had been taken. Therefore, they opted for something close, Santa Claus. There was a scrapbook someone had made with post marks from all the places they had visited with holiday names. How many can you name?

Another day found us at the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial near Gentryville. The park tells how Abe‘s boyhood here, from the age 7 to 21, made him into the man he became.

Washington Panel "The Years of Command"

On the memorial building are 5 sculptured panels that depict the steps in Lincoln’s life that brought him from a cabin to the White House and 9 inscriptions illustrating some of Lincoln’s beliefs. A beautiful cabinet stood amid the other crude furnishings inside the farm cabin. The docent said that Tom Lincoln made a decent income from making furniture for others and that probably the inside of the Lincoln home was much more refined than the way it was being depicted.

Tom Lincoln’s Farm

On the way back from viewing the grand Ohio River we passed the Saint Meinrad Archabbey. The church, sited atop a hill, looked very impressive so we stopped to have a look.

The primary work of the Abbey is the education of future leaders of the Catholic Church. The other works at Saint Meinrad are the retail operations of the Abby Press and Abby Caskets. The church was constructed by the monks and townspeople using the sandstone quarried on the property. The quality of the stone work, art and stained glass were a surprise find in such a remote place. The monks’ work must bring in much revenue.

Crossing the Ohio from Indiana into Kentucky

KENTUCKY

Our next destination was Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. As we approached the entrance on another 100 degree day, we were treated to some of the natural air-conditioning coming out from the cave. We took the Historical Tour which ended in a spiral staircase going up 155 steps with an elevation change of 300’. Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave in the world with 325 miles of mapped passageways and is one of the oldest tourist destinations in the U.S. Like Carlsbad Caverns, early exploration of the caves was done by young men eager for adventure, unmindful of danger, and equipped with primitive self-made ladders and lighting. We enjoyed Carlsbad Caverns much more because the enormous rooms and decorations make it seem like you are visiting a fairy-world. Also, the ways in and out are much easier for us seasoned citizens.
The friendly new owners of the Singing Hills RV Park, Beth and Eldon Brown, gave us a recommendation for a lunch stop in Glascow which was on our route to Campbellsville. Beth is writing a children’s book about the animal critters that live in the park, 6 geese, a cat and a lizard. If her book is as entertaining as her conversation, it should be a success. Before lunch at A Little Taste of Texas, we roamed the 30,000 square feet of artifacts that tell the story of the people and events that makeup the “Barrens” at the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center. When commenting on the derogatory name of Barren, we got two explanations of why the county and area are so named. In 1784 the name was applied on an early map of Kentucky denoting this South Central Kentucky area as a vast treeless, grass-covered prairie with little water. The other view was that no one could come up with a name that depicted something about this area, so they simply said it was barren. Long-time residents have been interviewed for some interesting oral history exhibits. They also have contributed possessions that are used in the exhibits that include a 40’s kitchen, a one-room schoolhouse and a log cabin.

Rural Kitchens before electricity was readily available