| s/y Nine of Cups American Odyssey - Part III: Boston to Las Vegas Cross-country land cruising - July-August 2012 |
| Leaving New England was bittersweet. As much as we like to be on the go and as much as we were looking forward to the new adventures Odyssey Part III offered, Marcie always has a hard time saying goodbye to her sister, Lin. Once on our way, all was fine. First stop...Pennsylvania. |
| We camped at Promised Land State Park our first night out. The distances between states in the eastern US isn't far and it was an easy day's trip despite several stops. The weather was cool and dry and the nearby lake was pleasant enough though no birds were in sight when we visited the bird blind near sunset. |
| One stop en route was Grey Towers National Historic Site. Visit with us if you will. |
| This part of Pennsylvania is about coal mining. The towns are named Coaldale, Fracksville and Minersville. The main streets are tired, worn and run-down... holes left where once thriving businesses are now gone. Folks here heat with coal, too, so it permeates every part of the their lives. |
| We stopped at the Henniger Farm Covered Bridge for a morning break. We love these old covered bridges. Legend has it, a kiss shared in the middle of the bridge brings good luck to a couple. How could we resist? |
| Ferries have been crossing the mile wide, shallow Susquehanna River at Millersburg, PA since at least the early 19th century. We saw the sign...why not? It was an act of faith to drive the car across the rickety wooden ramp onto the ferry. The Millersburg Ferry is the last operating ferry on the Susquehanna River and is believed to be the last "wooden double stern-wheel paddle boat" to be operating in the United States. The Susquehana is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed, it is the US's 16th largest river. It's also the longest river non-navigable river in the continental US. |
| Scenic and romantic, numerous covered bridges still link Pennsylvania to its past. At one point, the Keystone state had at least 1,500 covered bridges, but today only 200 have stood the test of time. More covered bridges exist in Pennsylvania than in any other state - highlighting its designation as 'Covered Bridge Capital of the World.' This was a revelation to us after visiting the Bridges of Madison County, Iowa. |
| We headed from Pennsylvania to Maryland for a visit with our old cruising friends, the Grimms. They own a gentleman's estate... a lovely house, a barn, lots of acreage with gardens, horses and chickens. We love visiting ... it's easy, comfortable ... just like home. We wandered in the fields and the gardens, picking ripe veggies as we went. David and Doug collected eggs in the evening. We chatted with horses. We took pictures of swallowtail butterflies which favored the flowers in Fay's English garden. Birds sang. Hummingbirds whizzed by. It was pretty idyllic. |
| Doug has Mennonite friends in Harrisonburg, Virgiinia and after seeking permission from their elders, invited us to visit with them. What an opportunity! It was a highlight of our trip east. We cannot begin to comprehend their religion and beliefs, but we found, as always, that despite any differences, people are people. We drove through their community, avoiding their black horse-drawn buggies on the narrow country roads. We stopped at their plain white church and counted over a hundred hitching posts for tying up on Sunday mornings. These are the "plain people" as they call themselves. They are plain in dress, manner and speech, but oh so innovative, imaginative and industrious. Fay played on a child's articulated shovel. We toured a workshop and machine shop and saw their gardens. They shun modern conveniences and electronics and thus, photographs of people were not allowed. We were invited to their house for a tour and some conversation. It was all in all, a fascinating experience. They asked as many questions of us as we did of them and the exchange was outstanding. They've invited us back and this is one invitation we'll surely take advantage of in the future. |
| Doug found us another covered bridge - the Meems Bottom Bridge Mount Jackson, VA. |
| Small towns in this historic area preserve their heritage and buildings in grand style. In nearby Sharpsburg, Nutter's Ice Cream is everyone's favorite on a hot summer's night. Wasn't hard to talk us into a stop there...consider it a part of the adventure! |
| Check out our visit to the historic Manassas Battlefield in Virginia. |
| We traveled from Maryland through Virginia to Washington, DC where our oldest son, Brennan and his wife, Hannah, live. It was wonderful to spend some time with them. While they worked, we spent time exploring downtown D.C. |
| We brought back a Fijian sulu for Brennan which he was only too happy to model for us. What??? our son cooks?? Evidently, he does and it was great! |
| Hannah & Brennan found the tin man behind their old house in North Carolina and he's been traveling with them ever since. Not sure if that makes him a grand-tin or not, but we figured he was part of the family now. We visited Hannah's parents in Charlottesville, VA and went to a Sunday polo match at the King's Family Winery. The game was great, but it was so hot, the only respite was heading to the tasting rooms. |
| We reluctantly left Brennan, Hannah and Washington, DC and headed to Shenandoah National Park entering the park through the pretty little town of Front Royal. |
| Buck dancing and flat footing are traditional Appalachian solo dances. Both buck and flatfoot dancers dance in a small area of their own, even though there can be several people dancing at once. They bring their own dance floor ... a piece of plywood. No one worries about dancing the same as everyone else. They all dance to the rhythm of the music in their own way. |
| A friend in Boston had told us about Foamhenge in Natural Bridge, Virginia...a full-scale replica of Stonehenge, but in styrofoam. It wasn't far off our route. Couldn't miss this. According to Wikipedia, the structure was created by Mark Cline of Enchanted Castle Studio in 2004, with the pieces in astronomically correct positions. Cline has described Foamhenge as his greatest achievement. It was pretty cool in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere. |
| A few unusual sights caught our attention along the way. Like a turkey vulture in a field spreading his wings to dry much the same way as a cormorant does. And then, of course, the herd of ostrich made us do a double-take. |
| We stopped at a Visitor Center along the Blue Ridge Parkway and found a tiny 2-color brochure advertising the Old Time Fiddler's Convention in Galax and before you know it...we were in Galax, in the heart of Appalachia and old time mountain music. |
| The little town of Galax, Virginia was alive and bubbling with excitement. A street fair was going on in town as we walked to the park for the competition. We stopped in Barr's Fiddle Shop along the way to see what was on offer. It was a beautiful evening, music wafting on the light breeze. The atmosphere was carnival-like with a midway set up for buying food...all things deep-fried were available from pickles, hush puppies and green beans to Oreos. This evening's competition included fiddlers, dobros and mandolins. Autoharp, dulcimer, guitar and banjo players competed other nights along with Old Time Bands and Bluegrass Bands. Folk singing and dancing rounded out the agenda. |
| We only had one night to spend, but oh what a night. From left, a dobro (resonator guitar) player competes. A man does flat foot dancing in time to the music. The best part of the entire evening, however, was an unassociated group of musicians who just started jamming in the middle of the parking lot. Fiddles, mandolins, banjos, guitars, bass all joined in for a spontaneous explosion of wonderful bluegrass and old time mountain music. Musicians wandered in and then left, replaced by others who picked up the tune without a hitch. People danced and clapped and sang. For nearly two hours, we stood, watched and listened. This was country music at the heart of the country. |
| From Virginia, we moved on to Tennessee and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The road to Gatlinburg, TN, gateway to the park, was quite the surprise. Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg were so commercial, it was hard to figure that we were in Tennessee at all. From Hollywood to Dollywood, the place was crazy. |
| Away from the madding crowd, boiled peanuts, pork rinds and 'maters (tomatoes) were offered at the local farm stands. The weather was hot and humid. We passed through Nashville where billboards proclaimed "Learn the Music Business" in big bold letters. We followed back country roads to little towns like Trenton and then finally, we headed west to Memphis. We couldn't pass through without a visit to Graceland, but the $30-70 prices on the tour tix seemed a bit extravagant. We learned we could visit the memorial garden at the Graceland Mansion for free each morning between 7:30-8:30. Above from left, the Nashville skyline as we whizzed through; Elvis memorabilia; the Graceland Mansion; Elvis' grave. |
| The gates opened promptly at 0730 and we were there with lots of others. Many carried flowers or more elaborate tributes to the king. The wall outside the mansion is covered with inscriptions from Elvis fans. |
| If there is any way to capitalize on a man's death, I'm sure it's been employed by the Elvis folks. From the Heartbreak Hotel, to his planes, his home, his private life and his family, it's all here and for a mere $70 you can probably see it all. |
| From Memphis, TN, it was a quick hop over the Mississippi River and we were in Arkansas. We took advantage of fresh farm stands and ate lots of juicy, just-picked peaches and plums. Trumpet creepers and Savannah mallow (shown above) grew wild in the ditches along the roadsides. On Arkansas's western state border, we stopped at Fort Smith National Historic Site for a few hours. |
| Time became an issue. We had received word that David's Aunt Edna had died and within a few days we would take David's mum from Las Vegas to her sister's memorial service in California. We determined the daily mileage required to get back to Vegas and allowed ourselves stops when the daily mileage requirement was met or when we just couldn't resist...e.g. Route 66 Americana. |
| Across the Arkansas River and we were in O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A. Marcie was singing show tunes immediately. Oklahoma Territory was originally the depository for all the displaced Indian tribes that the government moved at its druthers. Appropriately, the Visitor's Welcome Center had teepee-like picnic areas. |
| An Oklahoma sunrise portended a hot, hot day. The sky was afire. |
| We spent a night in Henryetta. The movie Footloose was supposedly based on this little Oklahoma town where dancing was illegal. In actuality, the no-dancing law is still on the books, we're told. God knows what dancing might lead to. |
| Only oil well pumps break up the flatness of the prairie. At right, a restored iconic Route 66 Conoco gas station sits in the middle of Shamrock, TX. Check out our travels on Route 66. |
| We crossed the border into the Lone Star State ... Texas. We were in the panhandle headed west towards Amarillo and beyond, still on US 40/66. This area of Texas is flat, flat, flat prairie lands. Cattle and oil for miles. |
| A flintknapping demonstration at Alibates Flint Quarries. |
| ...and then we were in New Mexico ... Land of Enchantment, we're told. It is, without a doubt, a beautiful state. |
| New Mexico vistas are breathtaking especially at sunrise and sunset. Sunlight and clouds play with the rich colors of the mesas and buttes. The winds seems to blow all the time...can you tell which way the wind usually blows? The Spanish call these arboles banderas (tree flags). US 40 runs parallel to Rte 66, the highway a stone's throw away from the 2-lane "Mother Road"beside it. The number of billboard advertisements along this stretch is incredible ... definitely eyesores. |
| Williams is Gateway to the Grand Canyon, named after mountain man and local legend, Bill Williams. |
| Having bought a car that was not considered economical nor green, we were very pleased when we determined that our MPG was pretty outstanding. |
| A golden field of flowers viewed from the highway as we left Flagstaff. |
| Roadside blooms in NM included Apache plume and silverleaf nightshade. |
| We followed the parallel route of US40 and Rte 60 across the state and got our kicks on 66 for sure. We picked up our Arizona "passport". See more on Roadside Route 66. |
| Crossing the Arizona border, you're hit with more touristy stuff and souvenir opps. Like a chance to have 1/2 pound free petrified wood. |
| This stretch of the highway winds right through the center of Petrified Forest National Park. We had stopped here in 2010 when we came through so didn't stop again, but the petrified wood shop was pretty bizarre. |
| Holbrook had a handsome County Courthouse and Jail which was now a Visitor's Center and museum. |
| Long, curving highway winding its way through dun-colored hills. Endless scrub and sagebrush punctuated by an occasional joshua tree and dust devils. This is western Arizona. |
There's lots more to see on Route 66. Take a look. |
| We drove through lots of little towns whose only claim to fame was their location along Route 66. Each town did their best to capitalize on the Mother Road's reputation. Iconic signs and buildings had been preserved and restored. 1940-50-60's cars dotted the parking lots and red Corvettes were plentiful. This is also Navajo Nation land and they, too, took advantage of their location to entice tourists to stop. |
| And then, we saw the shores of Lake Mead, we crossed the Colorado River at Hoover Dam and we were back in Las Vegas. 15,113 miles in 4 months and we were back to "GO". |
| But wait, there's more. We still need to bring Becky to California to say goodbye to Aunt Edna. It's an Addendum to the American Odyssey...even farewells can entail a little adventure. Will you come along? |
| Reflections on our American Odyssey 2012: Amazing, outstanding, terrific, left us wanting more; gave us so many ideas of parts of the country we want to explore more fully or explore for the first time. So much to do, so many places to see, so little time. |