From West Monroe LA to Weatherford TX 12/29/11

After the standard breakfast fare of hard boiled eggs, toast, peanut butter and an apple (the hotels provide breakfast usually) we set off from West Monroe LA.  The air was polluted from a nearby chemical plant, and the water was not drinkable.  The coffee somehow tasted great, though.

 We (I) set the cruise speed at 80 (that's what did all though Mississippi; no police ever took note), turned on NPR (which is a treat when we can get it).  Herb, with all his careful map planning estimated a 5 1/2 hour driving day.  The roads are completely flat with swampy and deforested areas on either side of us.  The air is hazy.

We were discussing the environmental issues that seemed to be different in each state when I WHIZZED by a statie sitting in his white car up above the road.  I just gave up when I saw the flashing light and pulled over.  He had such a swagger and an accent and a sweet face that I knew that he wouldn't haul me into court.  "LICENSE AND REGISTRATION PLEASE"

You have to understand how full this car is.  Everything takes a specific very tight space.  We need two of us to pack it every single morning so that the skis fit under the books and the duffel bags fit between the two bicycles.  There are flattened bags of clothes, helmets, tennis racquets, ski boots, books, maps, fruit snacks, 2 bags of dark chocolate Lindt balls, computer, cords, camera, ipad, cables.

I COULD NOT FIND MY PURSE.  We are on a major super highway, the state trooper had no sympathy.  He just stood with arms akimbo and stared as I pulled everything out. The skis clattered to the road, Lindt chocolate ball bag fell open and spilled onto the grass......No purse......I pulled all my clothes out of the duffel bag.  Things that I wouldn't even want Herb to see!All over the grass.

Finally Herb found my purse under the front seat, and he gave us a ticket with a comment that he'd never seen so much stuff piled into one car.  (PAHLD IN WAN CAO MAAM)

Herb took over the driving then for most of the day.  I was a bit traumatized!  We noticed a big difference in our surroundings as we passed from Louisiana into Texas.  Why is it that all we've seen in LA. has been clear cutting and ragged areas of swamp with stubs of trees?  We've seen little else except blast furnaces from nearby chemical plants.  It seems that it is a poor state.  I asked why we don't have chemical plants and coal mining in the Northeast.  He thinks that those companies do their work in poorer states where people just accept it.  (Just a thought based on driving through for one day only)


Shortly before lunch time we entered Texas.  The scenery was lovely, some rolling hills, long views.  BIG trucks everywhere.  Lots of cowboy hats.  Extremely friendly people.  The McDonalds prosper here.

Herb found Tyler State Park for our noon breakaway hike.  Some days the walk has had to be many times around a McDonald's parking lot.  But today was lovely.  Huge park with vegetation exactly like Cape Cod.  Scruffy pines, sandy soil, some ivy and the sun shining brightly through the trees.   Getting back on the highway we noticed a sign by a house:

http://icwdm.org/publications/pdf/feral%20pig/txferalhogs.pdf

Interesting day with easy driving.  VERY courteous drivers.  We're heading up towards Carlsbad Caverns

Herb's comment about the pollution, the chemicals, the smoke, the smog, the deforestation, the miles and miles of huge houses that look all the same.  (Just built....no green anywhere around these developments yet)  "Well Ellen, you don't have to like it.....At least you've SEEN it!"

Wednesday December 28, 2011

One last photo taken at Vicksburg .....a poem about the dead......

Herb showing me the (Union) iron-sided ship that slid qui

etly up the Mississippi in order to gain Vicksburg during the night but ran into a mine which blew a hole in the bow. It sunk within minutes.

Vicksburg continued 12/28/11

I cannot figure how to get photos below the first part of the blog, so I'm writing a second one for today. Vicksburg has been awarded money for working the land to make it more historically accurate. (See photo of huge tracts of land deforested and dug up) We walked up to the Illinois memorial

(See photo of huge tracts of land

deforested and dug up)

We walked up to the Illinois memorial which was an ornate white marble structure with 60 stairs leading up to it. The ceiling is a cone made of marble. The acoustics are amazing. I'll send you the movie/sound track of what the acoustics did to my scales.

We left in mid afternoon and went to the Coca Cola museum in downtown Vicksburg. It cost $3.00 and was a complete ripoff. Lots of glass cases with Coca Cola paraphernalia like lapel pins, Coca Cola hats, Coca Cola openers, glasses, t-shirts, etc.

I bought two books that look to be excellent reading for right now. UNRULY WOMEN (The Politics of Social and Sexual Control in the Old South by V. Bynum. The other is KATE CUMMING (The Journal of a Confederate Nurse)

H. and I spent time discussing WHY these young boys volunteered to be in the Civil War. Were they simply altruistic and wanted to stop slavery? I read that these boys volunteered for many reasons: ashamed to be left home/ Felt loyal to the UNITED States and didn't want to see a country split/ Needed the pay of $19.00 per month/ Were against slavery.

A guide asked us to think today about how different we might be if: 1. The Civil War had not been fought at all OR 2. The Confederates had won.

At 5:00 we crossed the Mississippi to enter Louisiana. Miles and miles of flat road ahead with timber farms to either side of the road. As far as you can see.....

Exhausted, we came to our hotel, and Herb had Hester's delicious wine, and we went out to Scotty's Catfish House (All you can eat Cajun). Herb had Gumbo with little twisty crawfish claws and big filmy pieces of okra. I had catfish and "dirty rice"

If anyone knows how to load photos so that everyone HAS to be at the top, please let me know.

Also, I am trying to make sure that everyone who wants it is receiving our blog. Let me know.

Cheers,

EK and HK

Wednesday December 28, 2011

We set out at our agreed-upon time of 8:30 and drove about 3 1/2 hours to Vicksburg, Mississippi where we visited the National Military Park. In 1863 Vicksburg was the last remaining Confederate stronghold which blocked the Mississippi River. On our journey there, we passed this sign and evidence of tornado activity. (Several miles of destroyed buildings, felled trees)General U. Grant had been stymied for several months in his attempts to take Vicksburg. He finally undertook a daring maneuver which involved crossing the Mississippi below Vicksburg, marching to Jackson, MI (with 45,000 YES.....45,000!) while fighting a number of battles along the way.

He then doubled back west to trap the defending Confederate army in Vicksburg. The Union army held the Confederates in Vicksburg so that they had no access to provisions. After 6 weeks, the starving Confederates finally had to surrender.

We saw a movie which showed a dramatic and pitiful surrender. The carnage was amazing. Thousands upon thousands dead on this hallowed land.

Tuesday December 27, 2011

We woke in Chattanooga; an industrial city where it was 34 degrees, pouring rain, and the motel parking lot was flooded. Someone was smoking down below us, and we wondered what we were doing so far from our cozy Kittery nest!

We forged ahead nonetheless and the first stop was the gas station. Gas is cheap ($3.00 gallon)

Herb suggested that we drive up to the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Park. We drove up a very tortuous and precipitous road with washed out areas on either side. As we drove up, we could look down onto Chattanooga way below. We could see the bends in the Tennessee River.

In 1863 the Confederates had mounted a seige of Chattanooga (because of its importance as a rail center). The confederates had the advantage of being located on the top of the mountain but they were few in number. The Union army charged up the mountain and drove the Confederates off. When Herb and hiked up some of the trails, we really could not believe that thousands of men and their horses had actually climbed over this steep terrain to reach the top of the mountain. I've tried to send the famous painting by James Walker showing the seige.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Battle+of+chickamauga+james+walker&hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=-ChhQKEfp32eCM:&imgrefurl=http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/civil_war/cw_art_and_photos.html&docid=V2kZAf-cf-nPHM&imgurl=http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/civil_war/images/Artwork/hp-4-48.jpg&w=2753&h=926&ei=lIH6TtyxKITX0QGLy_ygAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=608&vpy=113&dur=5139&hovh=130&hovw=387&tx=116&ty=100&sig=116661850075615598922&page=1&tbnh=95&tbnw=255&start=0&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&biw=1244&bih=599

Monday December 26, 2011 Lexington VA

We woke at 6:30 to meet Bill Tyler for breakfast. For those of you who don't know Bill, he is one of our oldest friends from Echo Lake hiking camp. He drove an hour from Nelly's Ford VA in his spiffy blue truck and looked handsome and fit.

His wife Helen is still in rehab with a traumatic head injury incurred last January in a fall. He visits her most every day and is also taking a course at the local university in astrophysical thermobiological metaphysics!

We drove for hours with our books on tape, NPR (when we could get it), silence and watching the rolling hills, sheep, cows, clouds.

As we get further south, (and further from the northeast) we both notice the level of courtesy with everyone we meet. People going 75 mph on the highway keep at least 6 car lengths away, everyone yields at the stop signs, there are greetings when we walk into a restaurant. People seem more relaxed and go at a slower pace. (Cannot find the article which I read recently that said that people in the Boston area are the most time-pressured people on the planet).

We stopped in Abingdon, VA to walk the Virginia Creeper national recreation trail. This is a carefully tended 34 mile trail which took us through beautiful deep woods. About 4-5 miles in, we saw around us, fallen trees, dead vines, rotted vegetation, and piles of bull-dozed mud. As we walked further, we could see dazzling progress. The forest had been transformed into rolling hills ready for golfers and dazzling 4000-5000 sq. ft houses.

http://www.vacreepertrail.org/content/virginia-creeper-trail

It was heaven to finally pull into Chattanooga where we spent the night in a Comfort Inn and had black beans and rice at a local diner.

Christmas Day

We left the Kingsbury Christmas brunch at noon and drove to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. We found our way to the Civil War Battlefield National Park where we could see through the trees down to the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.

We put on our trusty hiking shoes and walked over to the battlefield where there were 12 cannons in a line and aimed at a hillside directly opposite.

The temperature was 50, there was a slight breeze and the whole place was silent. We could see for miles.

We read signs that were scattered here and there on the battlefield. We read (but of course Herb knew it all anyway) that General Lee divided his army into three groups (thousands of young men) and surrounded the encampment of Union soldiers who were sleeping on the hillside that we could see from where we were standing. As the fog lifted, Lee attacked and shortly thereafter the Union soldiers surrendered.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Harpers_Ferry

We drove another 2-3 hours and stayed in Lexington, VA where we slept VERY WELL!

Christmas eve with Tracy, Bert and Mary

Lovely day here in Maryland. We took a long walk, read and spent time with Mary Elizabeth. We made some gingerbread cookies which resulted in tough brownish clumps. We DID have a blast making a big mess!

It's Christmas eve and the light reminds me of Christmas eves at Aunt Marthas house with a big roast on the table, and 20 or so cousins playing various instruments for Christmas carols around the piano.

Here is our Maryland family.

BERT, TRACY, and MARY ELIZABETH

On our way south tomorrow................

First day on the road 12/22/11

Charity has helped me to start this blog so that we may keep track of our adventures as we cross America in our 2006 Subaru Turbo. We're thinking that maybe some of you might be interested in "traveling" along with us. Read what interests you and leave the rest.

Car has been packed now for two days and we've included tennis racquets, bicycles, helmets, skis, poles, boots,hiking shoes, sleeping bags, tent and air mattresses. Herb has left a 8" by 8" viewing hole to see behind us as we drive.

We drove first to Woodbury Connecticut where we had a Christmas dinner

with the Kingsbury clan. It's been over a year since we have all seen each other.

On the left is Frank Shepard, Herb's favorite cousin. Frank is a farmer and helped and guided Herb as he grew up mowing hay, harvesting potatoes, and living the farm life.

In the pink shirt is Marion, Herb's sister. She is active in the Catholic church taking courses, and

contributing to the local soup kitchen. To Herb's left is Herb's other favorite cousin, Charlie Kingsbury. Charlie worked for Black and Decker as an engineer and called it "Bleak and Darker" He has a wry sense of humor and speaks many languages. Gail is next to Charlie and and is yet another favorite cousin. She and Charlie keep close track of the Kingsbury family geneology and she leads prayer retreats in her retirement village. Jean (at the end) is Frank's wife and has known Herb for his entire life. She is an avid gardener and an active citizen of the town of Woodbury

We left Woodbury and drove the rest of the way to Fair Hill, Maryland

and where Bert, Tracy, and Mary Elizabeth (age 3) live

Goodbye to Kittery 12/22/11

We're leaving Kittery and wandered out on to the beach for a good-bye walk.