Long, Long Ago

Before interstate highways, before airline transportation, before the railroad, people and goods traveled on the water. That might have been across an ocean, along the sea coast, or on rivers and canals through the countryside. And that is still true today. We have been on one ocean cruise in the Caribbean and one canal boat trip in Sweden. On this trip, we haven't been on the water but we have seen a canal barge and watched barge traffic on the mighty Mississippi River.

While parked in Utica, Illinois, we went to see the Illinois and Michigan Canal. We learned that between 1836 and 1848 immigrant workers dug the 96-mile I&M Canal by hand. It opened a waterway between the New York harbor and the Gulf of Mexico, making Chicago our country's greatest inland port. Imagine what a difference that made to people in the middle of the country with reliable transportation and easier access to goods coming from the East and Europe as well as from the Gulf of Mexico.  It also opened distant markets to goods from the center of the country. The canal closed in 1933, replaced by larger water-ways, railroads and highways.

There was a photo of 102 barges parked in the near-by LaSalle Basin, waiting to move goods on the canal. Part of the canal has been restored by volunteers and one canal boat is on display. Apparently, some days you can take canal boat rides. This is the restored "Volunteer" canal boat. We didn't take a ride but we did walk along the shady path next to the canal. The boats were pulled by mules and the locks opened and closed by human power.

We also walked along the shady trail along the canal.  I imagine that is where the mules that pulled the canal boats walked.

Our next stop was at a Corps of Engineers' campground on the west bank of the Mississippi, just south of Davenport, Iowa. We could watch barges being pushed up and down the river, full of goods. My cousin said oil, coal and grain are among the goods shipped by barge. Barge tows contain 12 to 15 barges, 3 abreast. Although called a tow, they are pushed by a boat at the rear.

Several years ago we camped by the Arkansas River and saw barge traffic there, as well.

What a Trip!

Normally, we drive about 200 miles a day and only travel every 2nd or 3rd day so we can relax and enjoy each location.  Earlier this trip we stayed 5 days in Tulsa and 5 days near St. Louis.  But in the last week we have driven 4 days in a row, covering 797 miles.  We parked in 4 states and crossed part of another.  Whew! 

There wasn't anything on our route through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio we wanted to see.  We will be back in Pennsylvania and Ohio as we return west next month.  We have checked off one item on our bucket list: we spent 2 nights in Hagerstown, Maryland .  We have now slept in 45 of the 49 continental states.  Only 4 more to go--Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

Our home is in Colorado and the Continental Divide runs through the middle of the state.  To cross it, you often have to go over a 11,000 foot or higher mountain pass.  We didn't realize there is an Eastern Continental Divide until Wednesday when we crossed the 2,670 foot divide.

When was the last time you saw an operating drive-in theater?  It has been a long time for us.  We spotted this one on our trip across Ohio.

Trail Ridge Road between Grand Lake and Estes Park, Colorado, crosses the Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain National Park.  From the top you can see into 4 states.  There are other places you feel you can see forever, like the Youghiogheny Overlook in a Pennsylvania highway rest stop.  (Does anyone have any idea how to pronounce that word?)

This is another view from the same area.

I think this view was in West Virginia.  Obviously it is early spring here.  Many of the trees hadn't leafed out.

The limestone (?) hills in West Virginia are also great.

We haven't seen dogwood trees for years.  We found this one in our Hagerstown RV park.

Where we spend our winters in Arizona people refer to it as summer camp for geezers. Maybe we now have regressed to childhood. The best option we could find to park in Hagerstown was the Jellystone Park. It really was nice--since school is still in session and we were there mid-week. It must be wonderful for families with children. They had everything from a zip line to laser tag to water parks and mini golf. 

Only 3 More Days

Finally, our weeks of waiting may be over on Tuesday. Hopefully, our new RV will be at the dealer's lot in Chanute, Kansas, and we can sign the papers, pay some, or rather a lot of money, and begin moving in. We have been so excited ever since we received the email yesterday giving us this tentative time table.

We have made good use of our time while waiting. In addition to doing genealogy research and watching the barbeque cook-off, we had the truck serviced and got our flu shots. These new trucks are great. It is no longer recommended that we change the oil every 3,000 miles and the oil life is about 7,500 miles. The truck's computer lets us know the oil life remaining and warns us when we need an oil change. Given the cost of an oil change in a diesel truck, changing the oil less often is great.

We have seen some interesting places as we moved from Indiana to Illinois and through Missouri and Kansas.

One morning we woke up to fog as the sun rose in Anderson, Indiana. We don't see fog very often in our travels.



In Illinois, we stayed at a Corps of Engineers campground on Carlyle Lake. There were lots of sailboats in the marina.



And we saw one set out across the lake.



That was also where many of the campers had strung party lights. I lightened the photo so you could see the RVs as well as the lights. All I can do is ask, "WHY?"



I think this was the dog walk in our Columbia, MO, campground. We don't have a dog, but we did enjoy the small landscaped area.



We visited Lecompton, Kansas, the first capital of the Kansas Territory. This building is Constitution Hall. In this building the first proposed constitution of Kansas was written, proposing that Kansas allow slavery when it became a state. It was approved by the people, but only because the election wasn't fair--many Missouri "ruffians" came across the state line to vote in favor of it and the anti-slavery members of the Kansas residents boycotted the balloting.



As you can see, after the capital was moved, the building was used for other purposes over the years before it was preserved as a historical building.

This is the historic one-room Lanesfield School in Kansas. This is the second school built here. The first was built in 1866 and this building was constructed nearby in 1903. Before either of these structures was built, the first school opened in the house belonging to John's great-great grandfather, William Gans.



School children, especially 4th graders, visit the school on field trips. Cursive writing and penmanship are no longer taught most places. When the students visit the school, one of the activities is penmanship. The young man conducting the classes said it is the children's favorite activity. Here are the ink bottles they use. When did you last write with a fountain pen or quill pen?



One day we stopped in a large mall in Kansas City. It has probably been six months since we were in a mall. What a change from small town and Walmart shopping. We even saw this carousel there.

Random Thoughts While Driving Across the Country

Western Kansas is flat and boring.

Eastern Kansas and further east is flat, but not boring. Trees make all the difference.
Colorado and Arizona and New Mexico are very dry. Most of the lakes are man-made reservoirs. Further east, there is a lot more water. There are small, natural lakes and ponds everywhere.

When the country is flat, rivers sometimes are smooth as glass. They look like calm lakes.

Campgrounds in the west are different than those to the east. There aren’t many people in the west and they often drive long distances to a campground. They don’t return every weekend to the same spot. We don’t see seasonal campsite rentals. People who go the same place every time in the West tend to own a cabin and spend their time there, not in a campground. Campgrounds in the Midwest tend to be seasonal communities. People may rent a spot and leave their RV there all summer. And the campgrounds have lots of activities for both adults and children. It looks like campers live close by. Unless the campground is right off the Interstate, out-of-state campers are unusual.

When you drive all day on the interstate, you jockey back and forth with the same vehicles. You pass them, they pass you. One day, we saw the same people in 2 or 3 of rest areas we stopped in. We recognized each other and said “Hi.”

We would never be successful over-the-road truckers. Driving every day gets really tiring. Even if the drive is only 150 to 250 miles, it becomes the focus of the whole day. There is nothing else but hook up, drive, set up camp, go get fuel, cook dinner, sleep. Get up, pack lunch, start all over again. We went 1400 miles, driving 5 out of 6 days, to get to Indiana to see our new trailer. It was a grind, we felt pressured every day. We made the return trip while staying 2 to 4 or more days at each campground. A much better way to travel.

We stayed in a Corps of Engineers park on Carlyle Lake in Illinois. It was full for the weekend. Many campers had strings of lights outlining their site, others had them hanging from the awning. One tree trunk was actually wrapped with flashing lights! You can’t stay there more than 14 days. And I don’t understand it, even if you are in a spot for months. Doesn’t anyone appreciate a dark sky where you can see the stars?

Where are all those trucks going? And what are they carrying. As we whiz down the road, there are so many questions. What is growing in that field? Corn, we recognize. Wheat we would know. And sorghum, at least when it is near harvest, we know. But so many other things are grown and we have no idea. Every field should be labeled, just light streets have signs

Day after Day

Monday, we got up, ate breakfast, put everything away, hooked the truck to the RV, and drove to Oakley, Kansas. There, we unhitched the truck from the trailer, set up the RV, relaxed for a bit, I cooked dinner, we read blogs and checked email, and went to sleep.

Tuesday, we got up, ate breakfast, put everything away, hooked the truck to the RV, and drove to Topeka, Kansas. There, we unhitched the truck from the trailer, set up the RV, relaxed for a bit, I cooked dinner, we read blogs and checked email, and went to sleep.

Wednesday, we got up, ate breakfast, put everything away, hooked the truck to the RV, and drove to Fulton, Missouri. There, we unhitched the truck from the trailer, set up the RV, relaxed for a bit, I cooked dinner, we read blogs and checked email, then went to sleep.

Today, we got up, ate breakfast, put everything away, hooked the truck to the RV, and drove to Effingham, Illinois. Here, we unhitched the truck from the trailer and set up the RV. Then, something new, we drove to a Chevy dealer and had the Diesel Exhaust Fluid filled, then drove to Walmart to shop for groceries. Then we relaxed, I cooked dinner, we read blogs and checked email. It was cool enough I could walk around the RV park. Now it is time to go to sleep.

Tomorrow will be more of the same. We will get up, eat breakfast, put everything away, hook the truck to the RV, and drive to Anderson, Indiana.

Have you ever heard of Effingham, Illinois? We hadn't. It is at the intersection of I-70 and I-57. I-70, originally the National Road, built entirely with federal government funds between 1811 and about 1830, opened the newly acquired lands of the Louisiana Purchase from the east to the Mississippi River. It eventually became US 40 and now I-70. The most prominent landmark in Effingham is this 198-foot cross.

We are going east on I-70, headed toward Indianapolis. Today, we discovered that the folks at Rand McNally who made our RV GPS don't know how to spell. Look at this:

The computer-generated voice must just sound out letters. We learned we are headed toward "eye-dianopolis." We drove on IL 32, pronounced "eye-el 32." In Colorado, we drive on CO-9, "see-oh 9." We have to learn how to interpret what we hear. We can't wait to get to Arizona and find out how the voice pronounced Ajo. Our previous GPS changed back and forth between "ah-joe" and "ah-ho."