Lots of dots

 

This was what we saw first today.  It says:  CAN YOU READ THIS.  Well, as close as I can make it by inserting images of braille letter patterns in our blog.  We visited the American Printing House for the Blind.  It was a tour of their museum and factory processes and was extremely interesting.  They have been making materials for the blind and those with low vision since before the Civil War, beginning with raised lettering books (before Braille was invented and widely used), up through talking books that are similar to what we think of as books on tape.  Their product catalog includes all kinds of learning aides for use in schools for the blind, including globes, math and science materials, games and many other items. We saw examples of how book texts go from written or digital form to published braille versions, including binding.  At the end of the tour, we experimented with braille "typewriters" to produce our own messages written in braille.  It was highly informative and interesting.

Then we pressed on to our next tour of the Louisville Stoneware facility.  Although owned by many different people, they have been making stoneware since the early 1800s in Louisville.  They get their raw materials (dirt) from Indiana.  It is a large stoneware (to me, it's pottery) operation and they have many different patterns, plus they make all kinds of customized items.  We were able to learn about the process from the mixing of the dirt with water, drying and pressing it to make clay, shaping the pieces with molds or by hand, painting, glazing and firing the items til they are turned into stoneware to be sold and shipped. 

Then we headed back north from our Louisville detour to return to Route 50, passing through more lovely Indiana countryside under a bright blue, cloudless sky.

4 out of 5's not bad

Today was about a beautiful drive, geocaching, and courthouses.

After one more short visit with Mom and Dad, we headed down the road.  Finishing Illinois with stops in Olney and Lawrenceville and then into Indiana.

This is what the drive looked like.  I just pointed the camera behind Debby and snapped.  It just so happened that a route 50 sign was along side the road just at that instant.

In Indiana, we had stops in Vincennes, Washington, Shoals, Bedford and Brownstown.  Those towns are all county seats, so we visited their courthouses.  We also hunted geocaches in all of those towns.  We succeeded on our hunts 4 out of 5 times, only missing a find in Vincennes.

Then we buzzed down to Louisville, Kentucky for one of our planned detours.

Heading east...

We are truly underway as of today, heading out of St. Louis and starting across Illinois.  Route 50 in southern Illinois is a path through small towns and rolling farmland.  Many places along side the current route 50, the earlier route parallels.  It has lots of weeds growing up through the pavement and the old bridges are sitting rusting with barricades at each end.  It is interesting that the older route was not ripped out and removed.

Besides visiting the small towns and courthouses along the route, we had much visiting with  family today.  We met our cousin, Billie, in her hometown of Louisville.  It is only 6 miles off Route 50.  She took time off from all of her farming business to spend time visiting with us and treating us to cold beverages.  Then she took this picture of us.

We spent the afternoon with our parents and then had dinner with them, and our other two sisters and husbands -- a real fun time!  We'll visit with our parents a short while once again in the morning and then head on down the route towards Indiana.

What do butterflies and beer have in common?

They are both in abundance in St. Louis.  We spent the morning at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House.  It was teeming with fluttering and darting bursts of color.  We saw butterflies eating, resting and loving.

Butterflies have an uncanny ability to close their wings right before you press the button on your camera to take their picture.  Regardless, they amazed and delighted us.

In the afternoon, we visited the Anheuser Busch brewery.  The brewery in St. Louis is both the original location for Anheuser Busch, started in 1851, and the largest Anheuser Busch operation, producing about 15 million gallons per year.  We saw the Clydesdales, the huge lager tanks, the mash cookers and bottling lines.  Unfortunately, the line we could see was down for maintenance so we didn't get to see the bottles and cans flying by.  We finished with refreshing beverages of our choice.  I had Shocktop, a Belgian white ale, and Wild Blue, a blueberry flavored lager.  Debby had a Pepsi.

All aboard!

In it's heydey, during the 1940's, Union Station in St. Louis handled 100,000 train passengers a day.  That's twice as many as go through Atlanta airport daily now.

That's where we are right now.

The station ended train operations in 1978, but was saved as a historic landmark and converted to a hotel and shopping venue. 

This picture shows the station's stained glass "Allegorical" window depicting St. Louis between New York and San Francisco.  It is located over one of the arched domes of the grand atrium.  We'll be exploring more of the atrium area tomorrow since it had somewhat limited access this evening due to a private fundraising event.

The drive from West Virginia to St. Louis was a flash down the interstate, not like our actual road trip, where we avoid interstate travel all together, instead stopping to explore all the little hamlets, villages, and wide spots in the road.

So now that we have arrived at our official road trip starting point, it's all aboard the Route 50 flyer!

Almost heaven...West Virginia

We drove through West Virginia, listening to Jimmy Dean. He entertained us with the story of Big, Bad John, Little Bitty Big John (Big, Bad John's son), and the Cajun Queen (Big Bad John's woman). He described the mine that took John's life as we drove past billboards touting coal for energy and through long, long tunnels that took us deep under the mountains while hearing the refrain..."at the bottom of this mine, lies a big, big man."


Now that it is daylight, looking out our hotel window, I can see past the tops of buildings to treetops, a bridge and the Ohio river just a couple of blocks away.
 
I knew it was time to retire Debby from driving last night when we approached the Walker Mountain tunnel (picture above) and she thought it was a fireworks building.  I know that is hard to understand, but if you've ever driven past the Tennessee Alabama Fireworks building along I-24, you could POSSIBLY see the similarity.  This is just a reminder that Debby can't see at night.

We are on the road again!

We are headed for our official starting point of St. Louis. 

Debby got into RDU about 5PM, after a short delay in leaving Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.  We were on the road by 5:30.  We made it to Huntington, West Virginia, as planned, after stopping for dinner at Cousin Gary's in Pilot Mountain, just past Aunt Bea's BBQ restaurant and Mt. Airy.  Mayberry must have been just down the road.

We traversed 4 big mountain ridges and have made it to the downhill side.  There was some beautiful mountain scenery along the way. 

"Almost heaven, West Virginia."

And the odometer ended at: 

0355

Where are we starting from?

Debby starts like this -- Rockmart to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport to Raleigh-Durham airport.


View Larger Map

Jerry starts like this -- Carrboro to Cary (working for the man all day) to Raleigh-Durham airport.


View Larger Map

And when we roll out of the Raleigh-Durham airport, the odometer starts like this:

0000

I'm packed!

A toothbrush, a change of clothes, and a GPS.  That should be enough for two weeks, right?

Tuning up the electronics

We leave this week!

This weekend, among other preparation, was scheduled for getting all my electronic ducks in a row.  You know how those cords and batteries tend to wander off.  These were the ducks I lined up:

• backed up my laptop (for which I was way overdue),
• cleaned up the contents of my digitial camera cards,
• got a new wall charger for my cell phone,
• rounded up the car, wall chargers, and batteries for the camera, cell phone, and GPS,
• topped off my mobile broadband card for time and data,
• cleaned off a spare thumb drive, cause you just never know when you'll need one,
• organized my CDs into their mobile carrying cases,
• changed all the batteries in my home smoke detectors.

Ok, that last one wasn't strictly preparation for the trip.  However, I like to make sure that the detectors are  not going to go into their dead battery chirp mode (or worse) while I am gone so that they won't drive the kittens or Mom H. (when she is visiting to take care of them) berserk.

I don't like packing.  But I like making lists.   So I decided I could make the packing easier if I would make a detailed list to use for packing.  Debby laughed when I told her there were 78 things on the list.  Ok, so I'm a little compulsive.  But you'd be surprised how many items would be on your list if you wrote down every single item you put in your suitcase and toiletries.  After I've been on the road a day or two, I'll report back what I forgot...there's always something.

Fuzzy Wuzzy...

Fuzzy Wuzzy
Was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Wasn't fuzzy, was he?
Was he bare?
 
I am!  All I have left is a little fuzz on top of my head.  There will be no problems with my hair blowing into my face while we travel with the top down on the Solara.  There isn't a hair on my head longer than 1 inch!

What city did we sleep in last night?

So we put our heads together (some people say it takes both of our brains put together to meet the IQ of a normal person) and came up with the following proposed itenerary for our upcoming road trip. I guess first, you need to understand that we are booking it on the expressway (with our eyes closed all the way in order not to see the scenery) to St. Louis in order to officially start our trip in St. Louis.

Friday, June 25: I fly to Raleigh, NC where Jerry will pick me up at the airport & we will drive to somewhere in West Virginia.

Saturday, June 26: West Virginia to St. Louis, IL (These two days will be the pre-game warm up.)

Sunday, June 27: Our trip officially starts with sightseeing in St. Louis---probably a tour of the brewery, the botanical gardens, etc. (You can see where we're staying in one of Jerry's earlier entries---looks cool!)

Monday, June 28: Leaving St. Louis heading east. Courthouses in Salem, Louisville and Olney, IL.

Tuesday, June 29: Spending the day in West Liberty, IL with family.

Wednesday, June 30: Heading east. Courthouses in Lawrenceville, IL, Vincennes, Washington, Shoals, Bedford, Brownstown, IN. Then, short detour to Louisville, KY

Thursday, July 1: Sightseeing in Louisville. Certainly wouldn't want to miss the "world's largest bat".

Friday, July 2: Back on route 50. Courthouse in Lawrenceburg.

Saturday, July 3: Heading east. Courthouses in Cincinnati, Hillsboro and Chillicothe, OH.
In Chillicothe we plan to see "Tecumseh"...The Ultimate Outdoor Drama Experience.
(http://www.tecumsehdrama.com/)

Sunday, July 4: Heading east. Courthouses in Athens, OH, Parkersburg, W VA, Clarksburg,

Monday, July 5: Heading east. Courthouses in Grafton, Romney, W VA, Winchester, Manassas, VA

Tuesday, July 6: Heading east to Arlington (looking for Trace)

Wednesday, July 7: Sightseeing in DC. We have scheduled tours for both the Whitehouse & the Capitol and also are planning a nightime tour of the monuments.

Thursday, July 8: Leaving DC. Driving through Maryland. Courthouses in Annapolis & Easton and on to Ocean City and the beach.

Friday, July 9: Relaxing at the beach!

Saturday, July 10: Heading home to Carrboro - visiting with family there.

Sunday, July 11: Debby - home to Rockmart!

We won't be covering nearly as many miles as we have on some of our previous roadtrips but have some serious sightseeing planned and of course, some geocaching along the way. I've just mentioned a few of the highlights here but we will keep you updated as we go. Looking forward to hitting "The Lonliest Road" again this summer.

There ain't nothin' wrong with the radio...

In the immortal words of Aaron Tippin -- 

Sometimes she runs, sometimes she don't
More than once she's left me on the side of the road
The older she gets the slower we go
But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio
She needs a carburetor, a set of plug wires
She's ridin' me around on four bald tires
The wipers don't work and the horn don't blow
But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio

I picked up the Solara from the shop after having a pre-road trip shakedown, including oil and filter change, lube, top off fluids, visual safety inspection, tire rotation and North Carolina emissions and state safety inspection. I've renewed the registration and am awaiting the new license plate sticker.

I'll wait til the week we leave to get a good wash and interior clean so she'll be all spiffy when we set out.

As of today, the odometer is at 173,874. With a beach trip this weekend and 2 1/2 more weeks of commuting, by the time we leave on June 25, it will be just under 175,000. So she's well used, but we're going to hope that she's not used up!