October 28, 2015

Good morning everyone.
We finally made it back to our own bed on Monday evening the 26th after seeing children and grandchildren.
Yesterday we collected the mail, weeded out the fire starters, started the wood burner, cleaned out the suitcases, and returned back to Maine life, the way it should be.
Now to take a few moments to recap the trip  with a few last photos.
Visiting Danvers MA, visiting a Maine native living in exile, we took a stroll around the neighborhood looking at Halloween displays.

 A sign in the Brothers Restaurant in Danvers.

Finally got to purchase cheap gasoline but had to come back to New England to find it.

...and yes we did get back in time to see some wonderful fall foliage.

We were gone 55 days, passing through 17 other states, even if only briefly, resting our heads, the most in Colorado (14 nights), New Mexico (8), and Wyoming (7).  We stayed with family for 12 nights, military installations for 16, friends for 4, on the economy for 15, and a weeks down time in Pagosa Springs.
We visited friends, three whom we hadn't seen for over 45 years, 2 military retirees, several people in the hadn't seen in the 3-5 year category, and several others seen more frequently.  Family included, a sibling, children, an aunt, cousins, relatives, and extended family.

Our goals for the trip were accomplished, visiting Springfield, IL to see more about President Lincoln, visiting 2 state Capitols, Springfield and Santa Fe (# 27 and 28), seeing the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque NM, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, driving up Mt Evans CO, seeing Doug and Robin, and playing a couple of special golf courses.  Adding up the slips from fabric shops was well over the amount spent at golf courses.  LOL.

Total miles, 8113...number of Maine cars seen west of the Mississippi-2.  Nights being high (over 5000 feet) 32.
Best part of the trip...seeing Doug and Robin; Balloon Fiesta, John Denver Sanctuary, watching Grammie squirm while Tom was driving the Million Dollar Highway (Colorado)...taking lots of pictures... and getting back home to see friends again.
Best unplanned find..Hannibal MO., looking for Mark Twain on the Mississippi River.  A very beautiful Gondola Chair lift ride up over the from Mountain Village to Telluride...but no tickets for the Brewfest   Breweries represented at Telluride...all sold out. Next time better planning. Free lift and, as a bonus, free parking for the day!  Also Maroon Bells just outside Aspen CO.  We got up early to see the sunrise shining off the mountains.  Se more images.  Maroon Bells
This wasn't the photo that we took but an example of how pretty it can be.

And after all that, getting back in Maine breathing in the air, the taste of a carrot fresh from the garden, the taste of fresh apple cider, leaves on the lawn waiting to be raked up.
...and still being connected to everyone while gone, by seeing the same moon at night.

Thanks for keeping an eye out for Grammie.

October 23, 2015

This morning we awoke in the home of one of Grammie's high school classmates that she hasn't seen in over 49 years.  Linda is a great host that lets us clean the dishes and do chores around the house.  A small price to pay for stealing her bed.  Sharing stories of "What we can remember"  is always fun.  Roller skating in Augusta anyone?

We started out with breakfast in town, our second breakfast at a restaurant since we left home. Across the street was another pretty picture.  Ahhh... New England in the Fall.

On the way back to Linda's we stopped at the New England Air Museum. No pictures of Grammie flying a jet.

A Fokker Tri-plane.

McDonnell Douglas FD-4 Phantom

The  Goodyear control car of an airship from 1942, being restored.

B-29's.  The most advanced plane of the WWII era.

Sikorsky Flying boats

P-47 Thunderbolt.  The largest single engine plane used during WWII.

Tom's picture of the day.  The colors were better if you were there.

Even if you didn't see Grammie today, she was well entertained reminiscing about goings on and people from years ago.  We will surely be back to see Linda on our way through Connecticut.

October 22, 2015

The next morning before we headed down the road, we went out for breakfast and got some more pictures of nature's beautiful offerings.   Dan and Tom

 The birds were out for breakfast too.

The Whistle Stop Cafe breakfast was great!

Just around the corner from the cafe.

Alice, Carol and Tom out for a morning walk...enjoying the colors.

Not all of the town is residential.

Deep River Landing was the site of shipbuilding starting in the 1790's and extending until 1867. One of the largest boats, a 400 ton brig, was named MUSIC because the town was the nations leading manufacturers of Ivory piano keys made from imported Ivory. Upwards of 12,000 pounds of Ivory were imported a  month with finished keyboards shipped out daily by steamboat.  Many sea Captains set sail here.

 Across the river from Deep River Landing.

 For the tourists in town, there are also 2 other means of transportation.

Going frontwards in a backwards locomotive.

Thanks for keeping an eye on Grammie.The end!

October 21, 2015

Hi everyone. We took a break from the blog and are now doing a little catching up.

Monday and Tuesday evening we stayed in Tobyhanna PA and took a short rest.  Tom played golf at Jack Frost National golf course.  A fun and demanding day.  While Tom was gone, Alice had a couple of visitors.  They didn't run away but stood there kind of inquisitively.

On Wednesday we traveled to Deep River to visit Dan and Carol Kus.  We stayed the evening at their home!!!, Endless Summer,  located in Deep River CT, and had a wonderful visit.

After doing some catching up from the last time we saw them (3 years)  we went for a ride.

We went up the Connecticut River for a bit to get a closer look at the Gillette Castle.  It was built for William Gillette, an actor and since has been included on the national historic register and is part of a state park.  Gillette Castle

On the turn around, we had a new Pilot???  Caught Grammie in the Captain's chair.  Looks like she is enjoying it a little too much.

Good thing we had to go slow.  5 mph...no wake speed

The colors still aren't at the peak yet but getting close.

We finally arrived in Essex...a nice small town some would call the Best Small Town in America
Essex  Essex (Pettipaug) was the site of a British Raid in 1814.
Connecticut River Museum below.

After the raid, 24 houses were left intact and remain today, including the Griswold Inn (aka The Gris).

Enjoying the late afternoon walk through town.  What do you suppose the trick or treater's get in this town...the whole bag of candy??

We enjoyed an evening meal at the Gris before heading back to the slip after dark.  No, Grammie wasn't steering for this part.

Sleeping on board was great, no one was rocking the boat.

October 17, 2015

Today we went through another 475 miles headed back to what the FB pictures look like the beginnings of a White Christmas.  Our trip today started in Omaha (Offutt AFB) and ended just outside the megaopolis of Chicago.  We stopped at Rock Island Arsenal IL, in the middle of the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, IA and Rock Island, IL.  Last time through, we stopped by only to have the Mississippi River visitors center closed.
We did make 2 stops however, the first at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum and also the Mississippi River visitors center.  We did have a minor problem finding the open gate.  The first we went by was closed for the weekend so we went to the other end of the island.  We stopped to ask for directions to the other entrance.

Our first stop was at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum.  Rock Island Arsenal is the only active foundry and produces artillery, weapons and has approximately 6000 civilians that work there.

Gattling Gun Serial # 107

Officers pistols through the years.

Gold plated M-60 Machine Gun presented to the Commanding General by Saco-Lowell Shops in Saco Maine at the end of filling the contract for over 5800 machine guns

Rifles of all sorts over the years and wars.

1862, 24 pounder Field Howitzer. All metal parts of this Howitzer are original.

The 2nd stop was the Mississippi River visitors center.  The  Locks and Dam #15 still operate 24 hours a day to service traffic on the upper Mississippi.  There was a barge about 2 miles down river but waiting another 1 1/2 hours for it to get into the locks wasn't in the plans.

The Island has 2 national cemeteries...the first, and largest is the National cemetery which has soldiers serving in wars from the Civil War to the Persian Gulf and Iraq wars.  The 2nd cemetery was instituted for Confederate prisoners of war.  The present national cemetery consists of 31 acres.

The temperature never got above 57 today.  We finally are under the 700 foot elevation but still have a few mountains to hop over before we get back home.

October 15, 2015

Good morning everyone.

We see on FB that there are great fall colors back home.  Hopefully there will be some to see when we get back, but we may not make it back in time.  If you could, please rake all our colored leaves on the lawn into one pile so we won't have to walk around the house to see them.

We had a nice stay at Doug and Robin's for a week and left this morning shortly after 8 headed for Omaha.  We covered 500 miles today.  A nice quiet ride with a stop at Cabelas for another gift. Tonight's stay is in Omaha as well as tomorrow night too.
Today's trip put us over 6300 miles on the car and dropped us almost a mile in elevation.  Good to breathe in the heavy air again.

October 10, 2015

Hi everyone.
In case you haven't seen anything new for the last couple of days, we are currently in Cheyenne visiting our son Doug and Robin.  It has been a year since we have seen them both together so we have been catching up.  Last night we went to a Bark and Wine fundraiser for the animal shelter.  There was a silent auction (no we didn't win any of the auctions) and as usual, by the auction end, everything was auctioned off higher than the price.  A pair of hand knit mittens went for $500.  When the Black Dog Rescue first opened up, one of the early donations ($1000) came from Maine.

This is Jake who is a rescued dog that resides here now.

He is a wonderful dog who likes his home. His tail in the picture is blurry because it never stops wagging.

Today we are headed to Ft Collins.  We are wearing shorts and sandals for the day with a great day expected.

On the way to Ft Collins on I-25, the Rockies to the west

Fort Collins is a college town and there were a lot of people out today enjoying the warmth of the sun.

This was a pretty flower with a  half barrel bucket serving as the flower pot.

We went in to a couple of stores to see what was new/different.

Ever thought of this as your children were growing up?

Have a building that needs painting? Why not balloons?

Grammie tamed this one real quick.

We stopped at a local winery to sample some local wine.  Blue Skies Winery  

We had a good day in the high plains. We have finally gotten used to the 6000 ft altitude.About time as we have been in the 6000+ range since September 13th.  It will feel good to get back to sea level.