Home Sweet Home

Chasing the sunset Thursday evening

On the road again Oct. 22 at 7:30 am heading home.  Yesterday we chased the sunset across Ohio.  Since our next destination was home we drove till we got to the Travel America Center at Stony Ridge, south of Toledo.  Slept great but it got chilly!  Temperature 38 in the morning.  We got home at 11:15 am.  280 miles for a grand total of 3065 for our 26 day trip.  (Earlier I said we did 2740...wrong at that time.  I transposed numbers.)  That's the miles on our RV, hundreds more to add because we went on tours where we didn't drive.

We had a MOST wonderful trip.  We learned so much history about our country, marveled over the different landscapes, different style of homes, local foods and more.  We enjoyed spending time with family and friends and from our past and making new friends.  Yes, a few bumps in the along the way but eager to go again.


On the road again Oct. 23 to Sun Prairie, WI for a Baby Shower for our niece, Brittany.  Can you guess, Kathy is a big Badger fan.  We went in our sedan, not the Roadtrek.  It rides so differently.  Back home 7 pm on Saturday.  Time to get ready for three college girlfriends visiting.

Brittany. Grandma Lucy and soon to be Grandma Kathy

Falling Water and Kentuck Knob

On the road again Oct. 21 to visit two homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Ohiopyle, PA area.  Wow, it was worth all the hills, valleys, mountains, the long and winding roads we traveled yesterday.

Kentuck Knob was our first stop. The home was built in the 1950's. Some of the materials used are flagstone, sandstone, cypress, cork flooring and a copper roof. There are 58 corners to the home. Glass for the windows and wood for shelves, cabints, etc. were cut to fit into the stone. It is amazing. We also toured the grounds. Lord Peter Palumbo of England is the current owner. Many of the sculptures are British or Irish. We got to stand in a red English telephone booth. (There were three!) There is a portion of the Berlin Wall. Remarkable place to visit.

Kentuck Knob, Ohiopyle, PA

House is built into the countryside

English phone booth

Portion of the Berlin Wall

Falling Waters was built for the Kaufmanns from Pittsburg as a summer home. They liked the outdoors. The first thing you see as you enter a room is the outdoors. The design of the home was unique for the 1930's. A cantilevered portion of the home is above a mountain stream and waterfall. At the end of the tour we were told there are 110 steps in the home and guest house. We were tired but had to walk to the "viewing spot" to take our photos. But sorry we can't post any. "In purchasing the tickets one agrees not to post any photos of the Falling Waters."

Kentuck Knob is one of his favorites. After touring Falling Waters Phil thinks he likes Kentuck Knob more than Falling Waters.

Heading toward home!!!! Phil is enjoying driving again. It's his first driving since his bout with vertigo Oct. 11. Traveled 296 miles today, stayed the night at Travel America by I-80/90. 20.5 mpg....the mountains!

Leaving Washington DC

Breakfast before we go our separate ways.

Wonderful people we traveled with for 6 days.

 On the road again Wednesday Oct. 20 after breakfast with the 41 RV'ers who were in our Escapee's Washington DC tour. We sadly bid farewell to everyone. We had a great "taste" of DC (so much more to see) and will miss rushing off to the bus stop and spending the days with some great people.

Some of the rigs. Our small rig is tucked in there.

Mountains, hills and valleys

At least this mountain was cut out.

Countryside

We headed out to Ohiopyle PA but, oops the check engine light came on so we made a slight detour to a dealer in Waynesboro PA. We were treated very professionally at the dealership, Buchanan Auto Park. The problem was an air temp sensor, the repair did not take long and everything was covered under warranty -YEA!!!

Camping at Scarlet Knob Campgrounds near Ohiopyle, PA. Arrived 5:45 pm 231 miles, 22.05 mpg. Mileage will be less for our next fill up. We have been traveling the mountains of MD and PA. We crossed the Eastern Continental Divide. The highest elevation we drove was 2810 feet. We missed going into West Virginia by 14 miles. Beautiful to see the scenery, the trees are colorful and the sun was shining bringing the colors alive. Also neat to see the valleys and faraway towns and farms. We are enjoying seeing our spectacular country.

Visit Memorials

On the road again Tuesday Oct. 19 by motor coach to the WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and the Smithsonian (American History).  The WWII Memorial was humbling. What was astounding to see was the Freedom Wall.  There were 4048 gold stars, each star representing 100 men killed, thus 404,800 deaths.  Thus far there is no WWI Memorial.

Memorial honors the 16 million who served in the
Armed Forces of the U.S. during World War II.

The Freedom Wall has 4,048 gold stars,
each representing 100 Americans who died in the war.

Vietnam Wall
Phil found the name of his friend.

At the Vietnam Memorial Phil found the name of one of his college fraternity brothers, Jim Fickler, he was killed when his plane was shot down. All of the memorials were moving.

Vietnam Women's Memorial

Korean Memorial Wall

At the Korean Memorial there were stainless steel statues of 19 servicemen, 15 Army, 3 Marine and 1 Navy corpsman. The polished marble wall next to the soldiers reflected the 19 soldiers, thus making 38 soldiers, symbolic of the 38th parallel. On the wall were 2500 pictures of actual service men who participated In the conflict - there is also one dog on the wall.

Do you have one of these?
On display at Smithsonian Museum

Phil had a gray Buick like this in the 60's.
Photo taken at Smithsonian Museum

Sunset as we start our Dinner Cruise

Washington Monument was so captivating.

Mt. Vernon and Arlington Cemetery

Mount Vernon

On the road again Oct.18 to Mt Vernon, the home of George Washington. The tour guides were so informative, another educational day. We toured the home, walked the fields, saw where George and Martha Washington were buried and watched a film about the founding of our country. A trip through Alexandria was enlightening. Amazing to learn at Colonial time it showed you were rich if the exterior of your home was colorful or the walls inside were colorful. Mt Vernon has intense green walls in the formal dining room.

They didn't have bricks to build a house so used
pine boards to look like bricks.

The Necessity 

Colorful houses in Alexandria, VA

Arlington Memorial Amphitheater

Ceremonies are held at the Amphitheater on
Memorial and Veteran's Days

Changing of the Guard at the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier occurs every hour.

Kennedy's grave and the Eternal Flame

We saw the Changing of the Guard at the Arlington Cemetery. Very impressive and stately. Visits at John F. Kennedy's grave, the Eternal Flame, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Audie Murphy's grave were extremely touching. It was amazing to see so many graves. There are 25 to 30 burials at this Cemetery six days a week.

Immaculate Conception Basilica & DC at night

Immaculate Conception Basilica

On the road again Sunday Oct. 17 by bus and railway to the Immaculate Conception Basilica for 10:30 Mass. We struck up a conversation with the couple on the bus. She went to Maine East High School. Ellie's brother-in-law went there one of the years she was there. He was working radar at the Nike Base in Arlington Heights, suburb next to us. They also lived for 4 years at Lake Somerset, IL and we have friends who lived there at that time. They guided us to our first railway. On the second railway we talked to a Redskins fan. She enjoyed last Sunday's game because they beat the Packers. She helped us make our transfer to the next railway. Small world and helpful people.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2818600-basilica_of_the_national_shrine_of_the_immaculate_conception_district_of_columbia-i

The building in incredible both inside and out. The Main Altar has tall columns surrounding it. There is a HUGE majestic painting of Jesus on the wall behind and above the altar. The domes above the ceiling are painted with various scenes from the Bible. There are so many small Shrines and Sacred Artworks on the Main Floor. The Mass was prayerful with hundreds participating. The Lower Floor has even more shrines and a Crypt Chapel. Walking into one after another Shrine it was awe inspiring and often took one's breath away. There are 97 different Shrines listed in the brochure. After lunch (by the painting of the Last Supper) we thought it best to head back to the campgrounds.

The main altar

Jefferson Memorial

Iwo Jima Memorial

So impressive to see the Washington Monument

Korean Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

The White House 

The narrated tour of DC at night was spectacular. We made stops at the White House, Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Vietnam, Korean and Iwo Jima Memorials. Every where we drove we could see the Washington Monument. It was so impressive. It seemed every corner we turned, there it was again. We also often saw the Capitol. Our tour guide filled us with stories of the many buildings we passed in the three hour tour. Highly recommend it to any one.