STORIES DELAYED ARE STORIES DENIED...
Wow, it’s been a long time again since my last blog. Let’s see… we were in Virginia, visiting
presidents homes, right? In West Virginia I fell ill with a tic borne illness, Larry knew I was very ill when I didn't even care to go to the Virginia Quilt Museum. He dragged me there anyway, thinking somehow he'd be blamed later if we didn't stop. But by that afternoon I collapsed in a heap with flu like symptoms - shivering, exhaused, dehydrated) and after a day in urgent care getting antibiotics and fluids pumped into me and then several phone
calls from the West Virginia doctors on our way when my blood tests straggled in, 4 visits in
total to urgent cares across 3 states, 3 visits to WalMart for drugs, one bad reaction to
Doxycycline, ( I’m leaving a trail across
the country!) It took several days to overcome the effects of the illness, but I
finally got back on track about Ohio and have been improving ever since although I was still dragging in at the end of the day, sometimes collapsing on the couch while Larry bless his soul, set up the trailer solo. Lucky for you, Larry took no photos!
Christmas Quilt from the Virginia Quilt Museum |
.
I have the makings of at least 4 blogs in my mind now that I'm back on full drive, not get through the day and survive mode–
here’s a preview:
Since West Virginia, we’ve been to Pennsylvania to visit Fort
Necessity – George Washington’s defeat against the French and the second
engagement of the French and Indian War, and the sight of the National Road
Museum. And very close by was Falling
Water … a Frank Lloyd Wright house built over a small waterfall. Then we were on to Ohio – Cambridge, a small
town not known for much, but Larry’s Dad Willard was born there and some of the
Stevens and Merciers hung around a while so we did some genealogy research, and
we went on a wild goose chase in Monroe county for barn paintings… it turned
out to be quite a story!
From Ohio we bounced down to Springfield for a Lincoln fix,
the new Lincoln Museum and upgraded Lincoln House sites were great! One of my 1st cousins, once
removed (impressed aren’t you?LOL) lives in Springfield so we visited Pat and
Melge one evening and reminisced about Pat’s childhood in Jamestown and Beckemeyer.
I got a little more genealogy information out of it as well. We were slated to
head down to St. Louis from there but the trip didn’t happen, Erla – another cousin
was busy and Larry’s drill was in Springfield Mo not St. Louis, so we headed
east instead across the flooded Mississippi to Hannibal, which was partly
underwater – but not the old town, thank goodness! – to see Mark Twain’s
childhood home. It was a pretty good
museum, the town is ALL about Mark Twain and we learned a lot about the origins
of his Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn characters.
Next was a move north to the Amana Colonies and Herbert
Hoover’s boyhood home. Again fighting swollen rivers to get there. I can’t help but think that with all the
technology we have to build oil pipelines we could find a way to siphon off the
overflow water and send it to the areas in the west stricken by drought. Water wouldn’t even pollute the land if it
broke out of its pipe!
I fell in love with Herbert Hoover. What a great man! and maligned president and
the Amana Colonies, close by his Quaker community were a revelation. And a place I succumbed to my crafting
obsession, buying the makings of 3 quilts and two wall hangings. Now I have to relearn my sewing machine and
get to work ;)
We are heading home, slowly.
Yesterday we spent the day celebrating Railroad Days in Omaha with half
the city, it was a great day. We didn’t
even know it was on, we just showed up at the gardens for a tour and found
ourselves enveloped in trains and model trains and gardens too! Today we are
heading into Lincoln for our last touring stop … we are collecting capitol
buildings and there’s a quilt museum I have to see. Then it’s a two day 10 hour drive straight
through to Monument. There’s bridge to
be played, doctors to be visited, bills to be paid and always another trip to
prepare for!