DAY 25 We were in Tiffin, Ohio this morning. We left Bartlett, IL yesterday noon after a nice visit with Maggie, Jerry and Stewart in the morning over coffee and pastries, and drove across Indiana on a route we had never taken before - State Route 14 - which was mostly straight as a pin, lightly traveled, and very rural. Then we came through Van Wert, OH for supper at Balyeats Restaurant, a Roadfood place we've eaten at before. It was a little disappointing this time but Ellen loved her mashed potatoes.
LATER We drove from Tiffin to Geneva, NY today - over 500 miles. We were on I-76 and I-80 for a while but then came through the Allegheny National Forest on SR 66 to Kane, PA and up to Olean and I-86, then up from Bath, NY to Penn Yan (where I lived in the 1960s) where we ate and then to Geneva. It was blowing snow so we decided to settle in. We hope to get home Saturday afternoon.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Nebraska and Iowa
DAY 23: We got off from Sidney, NE, at about 9:30am. I spent some time blogging and Ellen wanted to do cards. Unfortunately, we’ll soon lose an hour, when we enter the Central Time Zone, so it will be 10:30am effectively. We have 580 miles to go! But if we can average 55mph, including pit stops, we could be in Marshalltown by 10pm tonight. That will be a long day, but not unheard us for us. We are on Route U.S. 30 toward Ogallala. Right now it is an open road, surface is good. Virtually no traffic. We’re listening to a Mozart symphony and rolling along at 60+ mph.
Later: It’s now 1:35 CST, we’ve been on the road three hours and have traveled about 150 miles. But with the time change, our average is only 37mph or so. However, that should gradually improve. At the moment we are on U.S. 83 north of North Platte, NE. We’re about to take 92 east across central NE and eventually will rejoin U.S. 30. We’re doing this because U.S. 30 (and I-80) dip south and then come north again, so we are taking the more direct route. We are coming up into a belt of heavier snow that fell over the weekend. The road still is wet and slushy in places. We just passed a snow plow that was cleaning up the edges. I hope this is a good idea! It may slow us down. Oh dear!
We stopped in North Platte at a Casey’s General Store for tea and donut. I just had lunch out of our basket in the car- cheese, bread and P&J sandwich. Ellen had a quesadilla left over from our Mexican meal last night and split that between us.
Later. It’s now 5:30pm. We’ve come across 92 and, indeed, it was often snowy and slushy, and we lost time. On top of that, we somehow missed the intersection with Route 30 – we were both distracted for a moment – and went 15 minutes out of the way. So now we’re in Columbus, NE. We are about five hours from our motel in Marshalltown, IA, at best. So it will be a long day’s drive!
Much Later: OMG we got into our motel at 11:30p.m. We made a major mistake north of Omaha, NE and got inadvertantly caught up in the loop around Omaha, and went way out of our way. We drove 622 miles – 13 hours on the road, plus one for the time change. But we ended up getting a decent night's sleep.
DAY 24: We left Marshalltown at about 8:30a.m., and decided to go via my old home town, Anamosa, Iowa, where I went to high school. My mother is buried there, and the town hasn’t changed all that much since the 1950s. It has grown, but the downtown looks much the same. My high school building is now a Middle School, but it’s still there. The church where my dad was pastor has an addition, but the front looks the same. The parsonage where we lived is now the church parish hall, but it looks much the same.
PARSONAGE IN THE 1950s
AND TODAY
And most amazingly, the woman who was choir director when I was in high school, 1946-50, Betty Remley, is still living – she is 94 years old, and “doing great.” In fact she retired from her role as choir director only a few years ago! We had a lovely visit with her. Here is a photo of Betty and Ellen:
BETTY REMLEY AND ELLEN IN ANAMOSA, IOWA
Now we are at my brother's place again. Ellen has gone to the Encore showing of the Live from the Met HD The Enchanted Island. I stayed home with Stewart to look at some family photos his daughter discovered in the basement back at his house. Quite an amazing trove! Here are two finds - both taken in 1910. One is of my mother, Olga Winter, arriving at Ellis Island on the Grosser Kurfurst out of Bremen, Germany, on Sept 26, 1910. She is the 9-year old girl above the word "NEW" at the bottom of the photo.
MY MOTHER ARRIVES IN NEW YORK CITY, 1910
Here is the Grosser Kurfurst:
GROSSER KURFURST
The other photo is of my father's family. He is 14 years old, second from the right.
BARNEY CROCKETT WITH HIS FAMILY, 1910, PROBABLY IN PINE GROVE, ALABAMA
One of the miracles of my existence is that this little German immigrant girl who in 1910 was headed for Canton, Ohio and this boy in Alabama managed to find each other, fall in love and get married!
Later: It’s now 1:35 CST, we’ve been on the road three hours and have traveled about 150 miles. But with the time change, our average is only 37mph or so. However, that should gradually improve. At the moment we are on U.S. 83 north of North Platte, NE. We’re about to take 92 east across central NE and eventually will rejoin U.S. 30. We’re doing this because U.S. 30 (and I-80) dip south and then come north again, so we are taking the more direct route. We are coming up into a belt of heavier snow that fell over the weekend. The road still is wet and slushy in places. We just passed a snow plow that was cleaning up the edges. I hope this is a good idea! It may slow us down. Oh dear!
We stopped in North Platte at a Casey’s General Store for tea and donut. I just had lunch out of our basket in the car- cheese, bread and P&J sandwich. Ellen had a quesadilla left over from our Mexican meal last night and split that between us.
Later. It’s now 5:30pm. We’ve come across 92 and, indeed, it was often snowy and slushy, and we lost time. On top of that, we somehow missed the intersection with Route 30 – we were both distracted for a moment – and went 15 minutes out of the way. So now we’re in Columbus, NE. We are about five hours from our motel in Marshalltown, IA, at best. So it will be a long day’s drive!
Much Later: OMG we got into our motel at 11:30p.m. We made a major mistake north of Omaha, NE and got inadvertantly caught up in the loop around Omaha, and went way out of our way. We drove 622 miles – 13 hours on the road, plus one for the time change. But we ended up getting a decent night's sleep.
DAY 24: We left Marshalltown at about 8:30a.m., and decided to go via my old home town, Anamosa, Iowa, where I went to high school. My mother is buried there, and the town hasn’t changed all that much since the 1950s. It has grown, but the downtown looks much the same. My high school building is now a Middle School, but it’s still there. The church where my dad was pastor has an addition, but the front looks the same. The parsonage where we lived is now the church parish hall, but it looks much the same.
PARSONAGE IN THE 1950s
AND TODAY
And most amazingly, the woman who was choir director when I was in high school, 1946-50, Betty Remley, is still living – she is 94 years old, and “doing great.” In fact she retired from her role as choir director only a few years ago! We had a lovely visit with her. Here is a photo of Betty and Ellen:
BETTY REMLEY AND ELLEN IN ANAMOSA, IOWA
Now we are at my brother's place again. Ellen has gone to the Encore showing of the Live from the Met HD The Enchanted Island. I stayed home with Stewart to look at some family photos his daughter discovered in the basement back at his house. Quite an amazing trove! Here are two finds - both taken in 1910. One is of my mother, Olga Winter, arriving at Ellis Island on the Grosser Kurfurst out of Bremen, Germany, on Sept 26, 1910. She is the 9-year old girl above the word "NEW" at the bottom of the photo.
MY MOTHER ARRIVES IN NEW YORK CITY, 1910
Here is the Grosser Kurfurst:
The other photo is of my father's family. He is 14 years old, second from the right.
BARNEY CROCKETT WITH HIS FAMILY, 1910, PROBABLY IN PINE GROVE, ALABAMA
One of the miracles of my existence is that this little German immigrant girl who in 1910 was headed for Canton, Ohio and this boy in Alabama managed to find each other, fall in love and get married!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Homeward Bound
DAY 22: It’s Monday, Feb. 6th and we’re headed home. We said our goodbyes early - Paul had to go to work in Jackson and Jenny and Max had to leave for his day-care and her work. It's always sad to leave. But it was a good visit. The Super Bowl yesterday was a disappointment for Patriots fans, but it was an interesting game, and Ellen's snacks were spectacular, as usual.
We got off just a little before 9am and we’re now headed south on Route 89 to Kemmerer, WY. I'm composing in the car and will upload to the blog at the motel tonight. Much of the day will be on I-80 over to Cheyenne. We’ve hit dense ground fog on WY 89, but now it is bright sun. The trees are encased in hoar frost, and it is beautiful. But the sections of ground fog are slowing us down. I hope this burns off soon.
Later: We’re on the leg between Kemmerer and I-80, it’s almost noon. The ground fog is over and done with. We’ve been on the road 3 hours and have come 162 miles; We did stop at a Maverick convenience store in Kemmerer to get gas and a snack of coffee, poppy-seed muffin and carrot cake and I had a much-needed pit stop. But even with the stop we’re averaging over 50 mph which is good. Kemmerer is the home of the original JC Penney store, and the JC Penney house. We didn’t stop. The other attraction we passed was Fossil Butte N.M., which would probably be interesting. There is also a fossil state park.
I’ve been warming up my voice and am about to work on Brahms'Liebeslieder Waltzer (which I did for about an hour or so). The Chorale is performing them in April, so I need to keep them fresh.
Later still. It’s now 12:58pm, and we’re past Rock Springs, WY, and we’ve come 215 miles in 4 hours = average 54mph. It is a bright sunny day, and the temp is up to 30 degrees. It was -8 when we left, so it’s warmed up 38 degrees! The road is utterly clear, the sun is beating in warmly on my side- so much so that I had to put up a blanket to block it.
Yet Later: It’s 3:08pm, we’ve put Rawlins well behind us and are well toward Laramie. It’s 4052 on the odometer, so we’ve come 355 miles in 6 ½ hours = 55 mph on average. We stopped in Rawlins for a pit stop and snack. I got a hotdog for $1.10 and Ellen got iced tea and chips. I made a P&J sandwich for us both, plus a cookie. Earlier we had cheese and crackers. Earlier I read a couple of chapters from Peter Duck and also read from Richard Rorty. Right now the scenery is pretty spectacular – hills, snow, vistas. I-80 is pretty windy’ We noticed the wind when we got out in Rawlins. We've been listening to a fascinating Fresh air interview between Terry Gross and Meryl Streep, who is nominated for as Oscar for her role as Margaret Thatcher in Iron Lady.
Much later We got to Sidney, NE at about 6:30pm, where we had a room in an America's Best Value motel reserved. We ate at a Mexican restaurant next door which was totally empty of patrons. But the food was tasty and generous.
DAY 23 Now it's Tuesday morning, we slept well. We're heading for Marshalltown, IA today - just reserved a room. It's about 583 miles. Our plan is to go regular Route 30 all the way, which parallels I-80. But I-80 is an option if we need to make better time. Rte 30 is the "Lincoln Highway" and much of it between here and Marshalltown we've never been on before.
We got off just a little before 9am and we’re now headed south on Route 89 to Kemmerer, WY. I'm composing in the car and will upload to the blog at the motel tonight. Much of the day will be on I-80 over to Cheyenne. We’ve hit dense ground fog on WY 89, but now it is bright sun. The trees are encased in hoar frost, and it is beautiful. But the sections of ground fog are slowing us down. I hope this burns off soon.
Later: We’re on the leg between Kemmerer and I-80, it’s almost noon. The ground fog is over and done with. We’ve been on the road 3 hours and have come 162 miles; We did stop at a Maverick convenience store in Kemmerer to get gas and a snack of coffee, poppy-seed muffin and carrot cake and I had a much-needed pit stop. But even with the stop we’re averaging over 50 mph which is good. Kemmerer is the home of the original JC Penney store, and the JC Penney house. We didn’t stop. The other attraction we passed was Fossil Butte N.M., which would probably be interesting. There is also a fossil state park.
I’ve been warming up my voice and am about to work on Brahms'Liebeslieder Waltzer (which I did for about an hour or so). The Chorale is performing them in April, so I need to keep them fresh.
Later still. It’s now 12:58pm, and we’re past Rock Springs, WY, and we’ve come 215 miles in 4 hours = average 54mph. It is a bright sunny day, and the temp is up to 30 degrees. It was -8 when we left, so it’s warmed up 38 degrees! The road is utterly clear, the sun is beating in warmly on my side- so much so that I had to put up a blanket to block it.
Yet Later: It’s 3:08pm, we’ve put Rawlins well behind us and are well toward Laramie. It’s 4052 on the odometer, so we’ve come 355 miles in 6 ½ hours = 55 mph on average. We stopped in Rawlins for a pit stop and snack. I got a hotdog for $1.10 and Ellen got iced tea and chips. I made a P&J sandwich for us both, plus a cookie. Earlier we had cheese and crackers. Earlier I read a couple of chapters from Peter Duck and also read from Richard Rorty. Right now the scenery is pretty spectacular – hills, snow, vistas. I-80 is pretty windy’ We noticed the wind when we got out in Rawlins. We've been listening to a fascinating Fresh air interview between Terry Gross and Meryl Streep, who is nominated for as Oscar for her role as Margaret Thatcher in Iron Lady.
Much later We got to Sidney, NE at about 6:30pm, where we had a room in an America's Best Value motel reserved. We ate at a Mexican restaurant next door which was totally empty of patrons. But the food was tasty and generous.
DAY 23 Now it's Tuesday morning, we slept well. We're heading for Marshalltown, IA today - just reserved a room. It's about 583 miles. Our plan is to go regular Route 30 all the way, which parallels I-80. But I-80 is an option if we need to make better time. Rte 30 is the "Lincoln Highway" and much of it between here and Marshalltown we've never been on before.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Games
Today we went down to Afton, about a 25-mile drive, and went to Agave, a Mexican restaurant, very good food. And then we went bowling. It was Ellen's first time bowling ever in her life! And she did well--she bowled an 85 or something like that. I bowled 110! The first time I've gone over 100 in memory (but then, I haven't bowled that much in the past 5 decades). Ellen got one strike, which helped her score a lot. Paul was second with a 95. Jenny and Max were in the 50s I think. A bunch of duffers, but it was fun. The bowling alley also has some arcade games and Paul and Max "rode the motorcycles" and "racing cars," and we played Ellen's "fave" where five alligators randomly stick their noses out of five separate caves - you have to hit them on the nose to get them to go back in. It gets fast and furious at the end.
Paul and Max on the bikes
I forgot to mention earlier that Thursday night Paul, Ellen and I played Scrabble and, wonders never cease, I won that game too. Either Ellen and Paul always win at Scrabble but I just got lucky, I guess.
And tomorrow is the big game - the Super Bowl. Ellen always makes great snacks for that.
I forgot to mention earlier that Thursday night Paul, Ellen and I played Scrabble and, wonders never cease, I won that game too. Either Ellen and Paul always win at Scrabble but I just got lucky, I guess.
And tomorrow is the big game - the Super Bowl. Ellen always makes great snacks for that.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Down time
Well, the past week has been pretty quiet for me - because I haven't really felt all that well. I felt ok Sunday, and while Ellen, Paul and Max went to Idaho Falls, I went to church, not once but twice. I went to our usual church, the United Church of Star Valley, which is a union of Presbyterian and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) congregations. It is a small congregation, especially in winter when many folks have gone south. But it is congenial. However, for some time I have wanted to experience a Mormon service, and Sunday I finally succeeded, because the LDS Church in Thayne had a 12:30pm service, so I was easily able to go after the United Church service.
It was very interesting, both familiar and unfamiliar. It opened with an invocation, but the sacrament immediately followed. The sacrament was like Holy Communion, but it was bread and water, served, however, in the same way as at Guilford, trays of bread and little cups passed among the congregation. The Bishop presided, but only started the service and then turned it over to others. There were three speakers, a teenage girl, a young mom, and a middle-aged man. The teen shared her experience of going on a spiritual retreat and discovering the Book of Mormon for the first time. The young mom shared her experience of being a first-time mom, and gave some experiential tips on parenting: e.g., be there for your kids when they need you, explain "why" they need to do something (or not do something), and don't just order them to do it. The older man talked about the meaning of the sacrament, and the atonement of Jesus. The Book of Mormon was quoted but not read from as such. There were three hymns, one of which was familiar. The hymnal seemed to be about 10% mainline, Christians hymns, 90% of Mormon origin. There was a closing prayer. There were a lot of young people both present and involved. They were neatly dressed, the boys and young men all in white shirt and tie, with black pants. There was throughout a great deal of emphasis on "right behavior" - respect, discipline, service, compassion, regularity of attendance, etc. When I came in, I was greeted with smiles, but no one actually came up to me, introduced themselves and welcomed me. Immediately after the service, children, youth and adults immediately went into classes. There was no coffee hour. They seem to take their faith very seriously.
Monday-Wednesday, I just didn't feel very good. Chills, then feverish, like a mild flu. Tired, unable to sleep, aching joints, headaches. I spent most of the time in bed, reading, working on the index, sometimes napping. I finally decided that maybe the Lyme disease which I carry was flaring up again, so I started doxycycline. That seems to be doing the trick. Yesterday Ellen and I went to Jackson and did a few errands and took a little walk in the elk refuge. That went ok. Today I took a bit longer walk up the hill and that was ok. I have finished the index to the book of stories, which feels good. This evening we looked after Max while Paul and Jenny went to the movies. Max plays a lot by himself now, so he was no trouble at all. Tomorrow we'll go to Thayne "Snow Days" and a bowling alley in Afton. A family day with Max. Sunday I think Ellen, Max and I will go to church and in the afternoon, it will be the Super Bowl. Monday we'll start back. I have every reason to feel that I'll be ok for the return trip. I certainly hope so. The weather looks good. Today was brilliant sunshine, moderately cold. Lots of snow on the ground - much more, I gather, than there is back east.
Here are a couple of shots - one Ellen took when Max was playing with the camera in the bedroom, one is from yesterday's walk.
It was very interesting, both familiar and unfamiliar. It opened with an invocation, but the sacrament immediately followed. The sacrament was like Holy Communion, but it was bread and water, served, however, in the same way as at Guilford, trays of bread and little cups passed among the congregation. The Bishop presided, but only started the service and then turned it over to others. There were three speakers, a teenage girl, a young mom, and a middle-aged man. The teen shared her experience of going on a spiritual retreat and discovering the Book of Mormon for the first time. The young mom shared her experience of being a first-time mom, and gave some experiential tips on parenting: e.g., be there for your kids when they need you, explain "why" they need to do something (or not do something), and don't just order them to do it. The older man talked about the meaning of the sacrament, and the atonement of Jesus. The Book of Mormon was quoted but not read from as such. There were three hymns, one of which was familiar. The hymnal seemed to be about 10% mainline, Christians hymns, 90% of Mormon origin. There was a closing prayer. There were a lot of young people both present and involved. They were neatly dressed, the boys and young men all in white shirt and tie, with black pants. There was throughout a great deal of emphasis on "right behavior" - respect, discipline, service, compassion, regularity of attendance, etc. When I came in, I was greeted with smiles, but no one actually came up to me, introduced themselves and welcomed me. Immediately after the service, children, youth and adults immediately went into classes. There was no coffee hour. They seem to take their faith very seriously.
Monday-Wednesday, I just didn't feel very good. Chills, then feverish, like a mild flu. Tired, unable to sleep, aching joints, headaches. I spent most of the time in bed, reading, working on the index, sometimes napping. I finally decided that maybe the Lyme disease which I carry was flaring up again, so I started doxycycline. That seems to be doing the trick. Yesterday Ellen and I went to Jackson and did a few errands and took a little walk in the elk refuge. That went ok. Today I took a bit longer walk up the hill and that was ok. I have finished the index to the book of stories, which feels good. This evening we looked after Max while Paul and Jenny went to the movies. Max plays a lot by himself now, so he was no trouble at all. Tomorrow we'll go to Thayne "Snow Days" and a bowling alley in Afton. A family day with Max. Sunday I think Ellen, Max and I will go to church and in the afternoon, it will be the Super Bowl. Monday we'll start back. I have every reason to feel that I'll be ok for the return trip. I certainly hope so. The weather looks good. Today was brilliant sunshine, moderately cold. Lots of snow on the ground - much more, I gather, than there is back east.
Here are a couple of shots - one Ellen took when Max was playing with the camera in the bedroom, one is from yesterday's walk.
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