September 12, 2015

Good morning everyone.
Today our plan was to go to the Bailey railroad classification yard.  The yard's main function is to sort out incoming trains, car by car if necessary so that they can then head to all parts of the country.  It is the largest reclassification yard in the world.  Our visit to the yard was to the Golden Spike Tower where we could get an 8 story view of the yard. For the best view from the tower, go to Bailey Tower View On this site you can scroll left and right to see the yard with labels on the different areas.
For a good overview of what the yard does, go to this link.  Overview of operations
 

At the yard, all the locomotives are  computer controlled. The only time that Locomotive engineers are needed is when they bring a train in, or they take a train out.  The picture below is the Locomotive repair building.  It operates 24/7, repairs approximately 750 locomotives monthly, can hold 87 and work on 35 at one time.  It employs 900 people.

This is the sand tower.  Each locomotive takes on sand that is used when more traction in needed with the rails.  The yard also pumps 18 million gallons of diesel a month.

This is a hump where cars are separated and then by gravity are sent to different tracks that ultimately make up a train headed for different locations.  The link to youtube gives an excellent view of what is done on a hump.  Hump in action

 This is the east hump that is higher and sees much more action.

After we left the yard we caught Grammie taking a break in the Challenger engine 3977.  It was put into servive in 1943 and weighed over a million pounds when ready to go. The tender held 5945 gallons of oil, 25,000 gallons of water and 53 cubic feet of sand.  It was retired in 1961.

 Inside of a mail car back during the days when mail went by rail.

A great tour if you are in the area.

Tom went for a walk later in the day and decided to walk on a golf course (no not to play).  The course was empty so it wasn't going to bother anyone.  As he walked near the 16th tee, he saw a stray range ball and decided to pick it up and toss it back to the nearby range.  As soon as he picked it up, he saw a snake about 2 feet away all coiled up as if ready to strike.  It wasn't very large but looked kind of serious.  When he got back to the room, he did a little research and found the pictures below.

 Because it was coiled up it was hard to judge the size but was estimated to be about 18 inches.

Tom decided that it was a Prairie Rattlesnake and was probably better left alone.

September 11, 2015

Good day everyone.
We drove across a lot of Nebraska today.  Tom played golf at Wildhorse golf course.

The 150 yard markers. 

Why should dead bees and crickets be found on a golf green, across the street from a corn field? Enough said.

September 10, 2015

Bonus Day!
Heading west from Springfield and what did we see.  Hannibal Missouri...now lets see...thinking...Mark Twain.  Just after the bridge going over the Mississippi was the exit to Hannibal.
This unplanned stop turned into a good find.
Hannibal is one of those towns that has taken advantage of having a famous personality associated with the town.
For those familiar with  Sam Clemens stories, the characters bear maybe a bit of truth about some real boyhood friends.

 The building below is the one where Huck Finn lived.  There were 8 children in the family that lived here.

The home of childhood friend Laura Hawkins...aka Becky Thatcher.

Becky and Grammie

Grampy and Grammie

Grampy and Grammie got conned into whitewashing the fence.

Tom Sawyer's home.

Tom and Huck

Downtown there is a Mark Twain Museum.  On display there are numerous sketches and paintings by Normal Rockwell. Rockwell was asked by George Macy, editor of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to do the sketches for the books.  In his creating the sketches he went to Hannibal to see the place.  To make the sketches more realistic he made a deal with a farmer to buy him a new set of clothing in exchange for the ones he was wearing.  Several farmers and town folks later, he had what he needed.

One painting (Fence Painting) ended up in the Farnsworth collection when it was bequeathed to the Farnsworth Museum by a private donor.Today it is in the Twain Museum on Loan.

We took some pictures of the Mississippi River from the Lover's Leap location.

Steamboat cruises and done on a daily basis.

Lover's Leap

A great find and a great day!

September 9, 2015

A great day touring Lincoln's house, the Lincoln Museum, the Lincoln Presidential Library, The Lincoln Memorial at the Oak Ridge Cemetery, The Union Station where scenery, props and costumes of the movie "Lincoln" are displayed...and got our kicks on route 66.

The first stop found Grammie making a visit to the home of Abraham and Mary Lincoln.  Two years after moving in, he won a seat in the US House of Representatives as a member of the Whig Party, but only served one term ending in 1849 until 1860 when he became the first Republican elected as President.

Back then, the candidates did not go to a national convention.  They stayed home.  The picture below is where Lincoln received the nomination as the party candidate...in his own home, in his parlor.  He did not officially accept the nomination until 4 days later by written response.

You notice Lincoln reading a book while 2 of his boys were raising "you know what" in his Law Office.  Lincoln's philosophy was that he believed his sons should be "free, happy, and unrestrained by parental tyranny."

We left the home and went to the Lincoln Museum where we took lots of pictures but the most meaningful one we came away with was a quote from his 2nd Inaugural Address.

In the Museum gift shop, guess what we found?

We found Grammie again!

We drove to the Lincoln Memorial and burial site which is found in the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. This cemetery is the nations 2nd most visited cemetery just after Arlington. 

After Lincoln died, in May following his death, he along with Eddie who was transferred from the Hutchinson Cemetery, and Willie who died while living in the White House in 1962 were placed in a temporary tomb until 1871.

In 1871, before the present memorial was completed, they were then moved into the final resting place.  Abraham, Mary and three sons are there.  The fourth (oldest) son (Robert Todd) was buried in Arlington after he died in 1926.  Lincoln's vault is behind and 10 feet below the Marble Monument.

 The following chart identifies the descendants of Abraham and Mary Lincoln.  There are no direct living descendants after Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith died in 1985.

Finally after reading and walking and picture taking, it was time to eat.  We rode down the
Old Route 66 until we got to the Cozy Dog Drive In featuring...the Corn Dog.  Fries, onion rings and coleslaw to boot.

 Thanks for catching up with our travels.

September 8, 2015

Catching up a bit on our travels, on Sunday, we rode to Pittsburgh where we stayed at the Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station.  We have stayed there several times when making east-west trips.  We rode up through New Stanton, PA where we will be staying when we go to the US Open golf tournament being played at Oakmont in June.  On Monday morning we had breakfast at DeLuca's Restaurant in Downtown Pittsburgh. We met up with Devin and caught up on goings on since last year when we passed through. 
We then got an early start on the trip to Cincinnati to visit Jane and David.  We had a nice visit. Jane as usual came up with something unique for a meal and the Fried Green Tomato sandwiches were great.  Sharing stories and laughs took up the remainder of the visit.
On Tuesday morning we headed to Springfield where we got in an afternoon tour of the State Capitol (our 27th). 
The Capitol building (including flag) allows them to lay claim to the tallest Capitol building in the country.

This is a balcony view of the Senate chambers where then Senator Barack Obama served the state of Illinois.

Below are two portraits of Lincoln and Douglas that hang in the House Chambers.  Completed in 1869 by artist Aaron Darling they have been hanging in the current state house since 1877.

 

Tomorrow, we will be spending the day visiting other President Lincoln related sites.

September 6, 2015

Hello again everyone.
Today was pretty much a travel day but before we left Carlisle heading towards Pittsburgh, we found the burial site of Molly Pitcher whose last name wasn't Pitcher.  To save a little time, I took a photo of the story for you to read.  Molly Pitcher story

A Memorial to Molly.

Molly "Pitcher" McCauly burial site.

September 5, 2015

With a little more catching up during a front porch breakfast, we got a late start leaving what started as Saybrook colony Connecticut in 1644, later split up into smaller communities but kept and restored many older buildings.  Thanks Pat and Professor Grunko for a pleasant stay.

The remainder of the day was spent on the road heading to Carlisle Pennsylvania.  It was a great day for traveling but after a while driving into the sun when the temps are in the high 80's doesn't seem so much fun at all.
Carlisle has a military history dating back to Revolutionary war times.  Carlisle served as a munitions depot during the Revolutionary War and  eventually developed into the United States Army War College at Carlisle Barracks.
The building where we are staying overnight (Pratt Building) has a history to it.  (Following from Wikipedia... ) United States Army Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt founded Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879 as the first federally supported school for American Indians off a reservation. The United States government maintained the school, housed at Carlisle Barracks as an experiment in educating Native Americans and teaching them to reject tribal culture and to adapt to white society. Richard Henry Pratt retired from the Army in 1903 and from supervising the school as its superintendent in 1904. Athletic hero Jim Thorpe entered the school in 1907 and joined its football team under coach Glenn Warner ("Pop" Warner) in 1908. Playing halfback, Jim Thorpe led the team to startling upset victories over powerhouses Harvard, Army, and the University of Pennsylvania in 1911–12, bringing nationwide attention to the school. Marianne Moore taught there c.1910. Carlisle Indian School closed in 1918.  An old munitions building is right next door.

September 4, 2015

Back again with another great day!
After spending a 2nd night at Tom's sisters, we headed back to the first day of the Fedex Tournament with a fresh loaf of zucchini and blueberry bread.
When we arrived at the tournament, Tom grabbed the camera and we headed to the bus to take us to the course.  When we went to get on, Tom was told that cameras were not allowed but cell phones were. Back to the car to leave the camera. It was still a little chilly so Alice grabbed her fleece to keep warm.
Once at the course, Alice decided that her fleece was not needed so we left it at the Birdies for the Brave hospitality tent.  We then went to the 18th hole, Mickelson's 9th of the day just in time to see him birdie the hole. We then headed over the front side to continue to watch Phil's round.  When Phil was walking down the 2nd fairway, close enough to us, Tom said to Phil "Light it up Phil" to which he gave the thumbs up and then Tom said, "Brady isn't the only story in town" and Tom got a smile and a 2nd thumbs up.  Phil then birdied the hole and again on his 13th hole.

When the round was finished, we decided to head down the road with the next planned stop to see a high school friend in CT. Before we left, we had to go back to the Birdies for the Brave tent and pick up her fleece and grab some water.  When we got there, they were just unpacking the Fedex Cup trophy so we got the opportunity to grab a cell phone picture.

Here is Grammie with her first place trophy for her "Best Quilt Design".

Actually this is the Fedex Cup Trophy which was making it's way around the hospitality tents.  Just think, no fleece this morning and we wouldn't have had this opportunity.

A bit down the road and we stopped for a quick visit to see some friends in North Attleboro. Jerry and Lea showed us some pictures of the Canyonlands that we  eventually hope to see.

The green River in the Canyonlands.

A short way from their house is a place that our kids have visited before.

After a short visit in NA, we continued into Connecticut where we met some other friends, one who was Tom's high school classmate.  We stayed there for the evening and got to update each other with goings on in our lives.  They bought a wonderful older house and over the last 2 years have made some functional changes but have kept the house substantially the same.  Having grown up in older houses, we miss what they had for great living spaces.  One of our grandchildren will appreciate their choice of decor.

Tomorrow,on the road again.

September 3, 2015

Hello again.
Today we spent the day at the Deutsche Bank Fedex cup site in Norton Massachusetts.

Today was a practice round that was also a Pro Am tournament.  There were 4 amateurs that were teamed up with a Pro, with 52 teams competing today.  Many of the Pros forego their regular caddy and play with course caddies.  The caddies signed up for a lottery to determine who might caddy for a Pro.
The day was very sunny and hot, but thanks to Birdies for the Brave, a temporary stand was set up to provide the much needed relief.

The next 2 pictures were of the 17th tee and fairway from the stand.

After a lot of walking around the course, we decided on a shaded location to sit and watch the players come through.

Jim Furyk

 Jordan Spieth

 Phil Mickelson

Today was a great day for getting in a lot of walking...and who knows, Grammie might even be found playing a round on the golf course.

Oh, by the way, if Gloria Garmin tells you that you might save 10 minutes driving somewhere...don't do it.  Stick to your original plans.  The drive back through Bean town was actually uneventful, although a little longer than planned.  Tomorrow, Day 1 of the Tournament.

September 2, 2015

Hi everyone.  We are finally back on the road again, this time heading west as far as Utah and down south to New Mexico.

Our Travelocity Troll is the first picture of this blog.

With the van all packed we are now ready to hit the road.  But wait, Where's Grammie?

We made it as far as Danvers, Massachusetts visiting Tom's sister and brother-in-law. We are getting a good nights rest so we can find a parking lot on Route 128 tomorrow, as we are heading to the Deutsche Bank Fedex golf tournament in Norton,  MA.