Yesterday

Yesterday we drove from Lewisburg, OH to Topeka, KS, a distance of 650 miles. We left the Super Inn at 9:40a.m., and arrived at the Topeka Super 8 at 10pm (11 pm eastern time). A long day. It was I- 70 all the way. Along the way we stopped in Columbia, MO, where Katie still has a house rental and a lot of stuff. We picked up some things she needs, saving her a trip. We met Sam, her housemate, who helped us find things. Thanks, Sam. 

Crossing the Mississippi at St. Louis - we saw no obvious vestiges of flooding. Probably not in the right place. 

                     Katie's housemate, Sam

                     Katie's house rental in Columbia, MO

Today we are continuing along I-70. Traversing Kansas. We've been enjoying a loaf of bread Harry gave us - with goat cheese spread on it. I use the road atlas as a work surface for cutting bread and spreading cheese. It has a shiny surface that can be cleaned. 

                                    Preparing lunch 

We're about to cross over into Colorado. I've been reading aloud from The Radical King, a collection of MLKing, Jr.s writings by Cornel West. We keep finding extremely apt passages for today's political campaign. E.g., King's formulation, "the inseparable twins of racial injustice and economic injustice." A perfect motto for Bernie's campaign. 

Snow squalls

Yesterday we set out from Swarthmore and had an easy drive along the PA turnpike- occasional flurries but road clear and dry. We located a Roadfood restaurant west of Columbus - Henry's - and headed for that, arriving about  5:30 pm. Henry's was a classic place, utterly unpretentious with basic, very reasonably priced food, famous for their pie. Ellen had custard and I had peach. Certainly good if not 5-star.

                       Henry's in West Jefferson, OH

            Interior shot of Henry's 

But when we got on the road again, we were suddenly enveloped in a snow squall. Total white-out. We managed to get onto a side road and waited. It stopped snowing, we went on, it started again. We had intended to aim for a motel in Indiana, but the driving was so tense, we pulled off in Lewisburg, OH, near the IN line, and found the Super Inn, a very down-scale motel. One room left, and we took it. Really basic motel. The room was cold. Ellen slept in her clothes and jacket. I had my heating pad,  thank goodness. We got some sleep. It was hard to get a hot shower - we settled for lukewarm. Today is very cold but bright. Road is fine. 

                                              The Super Inn

                  Beautiful room 112

Our first leg

We are in Swarthmore, PA -  the first stop in our journey to Boulder. We stayed last night at Wallace's, and had breakfast this morning with Harry and Sarah, at Hereford Place, in Lansdowne.  We just took a walk with Sarah, and Trey, along Darby Creek. But it was very cold and blustery, so we didn't stay out long.

We learned yesterday, in an email from Rob, that Betsey has developed shingles.  Not uncommon for someone on chemo with a compromised immune system. It is evidently not a bad case, but it must be uncomfortable for her.  The medical advice we have received is that we are not at risk to get shingles from Betsey. If we had not had chicken-pox, we could get that, but you can't "catch" shingles from someone. Shingles erupts in your body as the result of a breakdown in your immune system. Neither of us have been vaccinated for shingles, but for someone my age, it is not very effective anyway, and in any case, it takes a few weeks for the vaccination to work. So we'll proceed as planned. 

              Walking along Darby Creek

A lot to report

It's been a while since my last post and there is a lot to report. Looking ahead, we are leaving in two days to drive to Boulder again, to provide some respite help to make it possible for Katie to take a week off to visit friends in the Boston area, and also just provide Rob with support. We will be away about a month.

Looking back, we left Owl's Head, ME last Tuesday, stopped in Bath, ME on the way so Ellen could visit the Halcyon Yarn store, ran into Jim there, who came down to meet music students, then went on to Ogunquit, where we walked the beach, and then Kittery, where we went to When Pigs Fly bread store, and then Bob's Clam Hut where we had lunch, and then on to home. Since being home, we have gone to a rehearsal of the Rachmaninov Vespers, a "cabin fever" workshop with Larry Gordon and Carl Linich, singing Georgian, African and Gospel songs, a wonderful Service at the Guilford Church, a powerful concert of African-American spirituals and songs by Charles Mays, and got together with John and Cynthia. There have also been meetings, Ellen was with Tamar for a while, had a supper and movie date with her daughter, Julie, I spent several hours in the Subaru agency while our Impreza had some major work in anticipation of our trip, and I also did some major cleaning and organizing in my study, which desperately needed it - that is ongoing. So it has been a full time. 

          The entrance to Jim's studio in Bath

 

                    Jim in his studio, where he meets students one day a week.

                      When Pigs Fly bread store

            Some of the delicious bread there

   

Bob's Clam Hut, featuring Lilllian Mangos, who worked the counter for decades. 

                               "Cabin Fever" workshop

       Larry Gordon leading a song 

After church at Guilford. A group of young people and adults from the church is leaving for Kenya this week, taking with  them 80 tie-dyed T-shirts they made for orphans there - on display on the wall. The church has a more than a decade-long connection with the village of Kaiguchu in Kenya, deriving from a visit by Wangari Matthai to the Guilford church back in 2001. 

Owl's Head Transportation Museum

Just a couple of miles from Jim and Mary's new home is the Owls Head Transportation Museum, which we had not been to before, and which is quite an amazing place. It is open every day except four major holidays. It contains hundreds of antique cars, airplanes and motorcycles, and a few other things as well, like an old circus wagon. Anyone who loves old cars or planes would love this place. I'm not exactly an aficionado of these things, but I do enjoy seeing them. Here is a little sample of what is there - three early automobiles, each using a different source of power: gasoline, electricity and steam.

This is a replica of the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, said to be the first automobile propelled by an internal combustion engine. About 25 were built.

This shows the engine for the Benz. Pretty simple, though it utilized several new inventions. If you want details, go to Wiki.

This is the 1912 Woods Electric Brougham. Before 1908, electric vehicles were in the majority. By 1912, gas-powered engines were becoming more popular. This car cost $3000. The Model T was $350. Therein lies the problem, still true today.

This is a model of the famous Stanley Steamer - the 1904 Model B Runabout. Ironically, it relied for its viability on the existence of numerous water troughs alongside the road - for horses to drink from - because it had to make frequent stops for more water. Thus it was dependent on a technology it was helping to make obsolete.

This is a steam-driven motorcycle! The 1868 Roper Steam Velocipede. Not sure what it was like having that steam engine right under your seat!! It was fired with charcoal fed into the bottom of a copper boiler. The seat doubled as a water tank.

When we first went to this museum, I was confusing it with the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME, which I had visited decades ago. I thought I would find there in Owls Head a sample of the street car I used to ride in Minneapolis, MN, when I was a boy, which I had remembered seeing years ago in a Maine Museum, and I was excited by that prospect. Wrong Museum. That thrill will have to wait for another time.

The newly shingled house

Jim and Mary's house in Owl's Head, ME, was just recently given it's outside shingles. We think it is quite handsome.

Front of the house

This really probably should be called the "front" but it is the side facing away from the road

Enjoying the living room

Opening up

Over the years, a number of white pines have grown up in front of our house. They are like a weed, and they were pretty at first, but they became giants and eventually blocked our view of our more distant hills. Here is a before photo (taken a few years ago, so everything was bigger now):

View from the deck - before opening up

Cleared out and burning brush

 

 

I'll do some more photos when we get home.