Mom And Dad's Odyssey

THE ODYSSEY
There are a few things I learned by our taking the scenic route rather than the Interstate:
(1) Those who take the Interstate pay a lot of money in tolls in the eastern states.
(2) By taking the scenic routes, a round trip of 2,000 miles - 30 hours drive time can be a 3,000 mile - 5 day drive time trip!
(3) Those who take the Interstate miss out on some truly awesome scenery.
(4) Taking the scenic routes allows you to experience true Americana with the quaint
towns and friendly people.
(5) Never get on the “off the beaten path� road without a full tank of gas and an empty bladder. You never know when you will find a gas station!

SCENIC ROUTE #1: After the first nightÂ’s stay in South Bend Indiana, we thought we would take a quick look around Notre Dame University. It turned out to be real quick as guards stopped us from entering certain areas with our car and directed us to the visitorÂ’s center for a walking tour. Nahhhh, didnÂ’t need to see the college THAT bad.

On our Amish by-way through Ohio, we discovered some wonderful curvy and hilly roads that would be awesome to ride on the motorcycle. As we shared the road with Amish buggies and watched the rolling countryside pass by with its simple Amish farms, we decided we would have to come back there on the motorcycle. We found a charming Bed and Breakfast in the village of Charm. This is a place where you could shed all of your stress! Stopping in Millersburg to buy some fresh baby Swiss cheese, we discovered the cheese factory that “inventedÂâ€? baby Swiss. Boy, it was delicious. We really meant to save you some but…

Traveling on we made Pittsburgh at night so I canÂ’t tell you what it looks like in daylight, but at night it is lovely. Twinkling lights cascade down the hillsides toward where the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers meet.

SCENIC ROUTE #2: The next day found us in the delightful town of Somerset, PA searching for the beginning of our next scenic route. What fun it would have been to spend time poking in and out of its little shops that run up and down the hilly main street.

We had stopped in Somerset to ask directions to Route 281. The lady said, “Oh, you must be going to 93. It has been very popular today.� and proceeded to give us some directions. As I frantically searched the map for a Route 93, we drove off to find the south route of 281 that we needed. It was than it hit Joe that the lady was talking about the September 11th FLIGHT 93 that crashed on the Pennsylvania hillside. We did a few quick turns and found a gas station to ask specific directions to the crash site. We were told we needed to go to Stoytown and find a man in a store who could give those directions. Stoytown just happened to be at the end of our scenic route! We were so close and didn’t even known it.

When we got to Stoytown, we could only locate a NAPA store and as we wondered if this was the store with the “direction man�, we saw a couple was mounting their Goldwing motorcycle. Joe stopped them and asked if they knew how to get to the site. “Yes, we are going there now� so we followed them. At the crash site, a man immediately came up to us (I think his name was Niles) and started telling us about the six-month memorial service they were having there on Monday night.

This man had seen from his house across the hill from the crash site the whole horrible 9/11 episode unfold. He watched the plane as it flew low across the horizon, skip once on the hill ridge and crash nose downward. He said there was an immediate plume of black smoke and an instant later a fireball erupted.

A simple memorial has been placed at this site with a fence to hang remembrances, a board to write your feelings, a stone and metal plaque with the victimÂ’s names and a semi circle of wooden angels also with their names. United Airlines has bought the land and will erect a permanent memorial. We werenÂ’t allowed to walk over to the crash area as it is still considered a gravesite. There were VERY few dry eyes as people stood about trying to comprehend how this tragedy could happen.

(Somewhat less notable but never the less important in historic value, this scenic route also took us to the Fort Necessary Battlefield, the start of the French Indian War, where George Washington built a fort in 1754. Needless to say this part of our country is steeped in history both current and past.)

WASHINGTON DC: Here, we had opportunities to see sights we hadnÂ’t visited on a previous trip there. In-between JoeÂ’s conference sessions and receptions, we were able see the Jefferson Monument, the two new Vietnam Monuments, the Korea Monument, and the FDR Monument. I walked to Georgetown to view the Frances Scott Key Monument, the Old Stone House, the oldest standing house in DC built in the mid 1700s and a cobblestone street that George Washington passed on. I say walked because while Joe mastered the subway system for our joint sight seeing ventures, I was totally confused and preferred my own two feet and a good map!

While in DC, we also visited the Pentagon crash site. Heavily guarded, it is bound by a high chain link fence with black netting over it so you can’t see in. (Some adventuresome soul poked peek holes in it though.) You could stand on a small knoll adjacent to the Pentagon and see over the fence and watch the rebuilding project. While there wasn’t anything left of the original “wound� in the Pentagon’s side, what amazed me was that the section they are rebuilding must have been ½ to 1 block long! There were a couple of trees on the knoll that were decorated with pictures and flowers in honor of some victims. A beautiful bronze memorial plaque stands at the beginning of the sidewalk that winds around the Pentagon to the crash site.

Tuesday morning found us in the State Capitol building with an Iowa delegation who were to meet with our Senators and Representatives. After going through the security checkpoint, it was disappointing to find only two of our Washington elected officials showed up! Congressmen Leach and Nessle (Boswell was not in town). Hmmmm, that sure says a lot about what our “men in Washington� think of the people they represent!

While in the DC area we had the opportunity to visit HarperÂ’s Ferry, WV and Antietam Battlefield, MD. In HarperÂ’s Ferry so much history abounds that even I got tired of reading the information!! This town built on the point of land where the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers meet is most famous for the 1859 John Brown Raid. It is where George Washington had a national armory and arsenal built. It is also steeped in transportation history as it was the first major point reached by the railroad and the C & O canal in their contest to bring a transportation route from the East Coast through the Appalachian Mountains. When the C & O Canal was built, it formed the Virginius Island off the shore of the Shenandoah River. This Island was once a thriving industrial community with a multitude of mills and factories. Floods destroyed it over time.

HarperÂ’s Ferry is also noted for its African American history as Storer College was established there. It was the first college to education African Americans. You can walk up the steep hills on the Appalachian Trial and stand by JeffersonÂ’s Rock to view the two rivers as Thomas Jefferson once did. Further up the hill, the climb will bring you to an old cemetery dating back to the early 1700Â’s. Further up yet is Storer College.

As a side note, Joe and I noted that many old cemeteries are dug on high hills. We decided this must have been for revenge as when you died, you could name your worst enemies as pallbearers so they would have to carry your casket up the hill! I have mentioned that this is a very OLD town. While in one of the original old houses still standing, Joe left and left the door ajar. I found it rather spooky that as I stood alone reading more information, the door gently shut and a moment later I heard a door at the back of the house shut too. Probably was the wind, but I didnÂ’t stay around to conjecture!

Antietam Battlefield is where 23,100 Union and Confederate men lost their lives on September 17, 1862. It was the bloodiest day of battle in the Civil War and really couldn’t be called a decisive victory for either side but was called one for the Union as Lincoln needed a “victory� after a summer of defeats to announce his Emancipation Proclamation. It is one of the most comprehensive battlefields we have ever visited as the “education� room is glassed in on three sides so you can see most of the battlefield as a park ranger explains the various movements of the two armies. An excellent movie can also be viewed to help understand this battle. You can than follow a driving route to see for yourself the lay of the battle.

SCENIC ROUTE #3:
Since we had viewed two of the 9/11 crash sites, we decided we would travel to New York City to visit Ground Zero (or Ground Hero as many people are now calling it). We traveled east across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (awesome site with the two massive and gigantic bridges spanning the Chesapeake Bay) up the eastern coast of Maryland and into New Jersey.

After leaving the mountains and river valleys of OH, PA, VA and WVA, the Maryland and New Jersey countryside wasnÂ’t that inspiring but I am sure it is beautiful when it is all green. I found the people in New Jersey friendly but a bit stand offish. We decided to stay in NJ so on the rainy, foggy morning of September 13, we rode the Amtrak through NJ and into NY City. (Side noteÂ…we had a singing stationmaster at our Morris Plains, NJ Amtrak station; he was quite good too!)

We reached Penn Station in NY City at about 7:30 a. m. and wondered around its rabbit warren corridors until Joe got his bearings. We found NY people very friendly and helpful but tending to give very short and not so precise directions, except for three young female office workers we talked to on the subway. They collared a couple of men they knew who were going in our direction and had us follow them part way to Ground Zero. Once there, we found out that we had to have tickets (free) to get on the observation platform and we had to walk wayyyy down to Pier 17 on the Hudson Bay to get them. Getting directions from still MORE friendly people and policemen, Joe got the tickets and stuck them in his pocket. We decided since we were on the Bay we would take the Staton Island Ferry across and back so I could at least view the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island within a 1/4 mile. Wow, is that Ferry bigÂ…it must hold hundreds of commuters and when I saw the Statue of Liberty, my heart actually leaped when I first recognized it through the fog.

When we got back, Joe pulled out the tickets and found out there was a viewing time for the observation platform on them. Our viewing time was between 9:00 and 9:30 by now it was nearly 10:00! Back to the Pier for more tickets but this turned out to be good luck. When you go up the Ground Zero viewing platform you turn over your tickets so you donÂ’t get to keep them but we still had our 9:00 tickets to keep! We found it kind of ironic that as we headed to Ground Zero, people stopped us and asked US for directions to the platform and where to get the tickets and we were able to help THEM!
Kind of made us feel as if WE were New Yorkers!

Ground Zero, what can we say, how can it be explained to people? The site where the World Trade Center Towers sat is across the street from an ancient cemetery and Church, how ironic. On two sides of the fence that surrounds the cemetery, people have placed memorials to the victims. Reading some of them can tear your heart out. Once on the platform, I noted a deep respect and reverence from the people viewing the destroyed area. I actually couldn’t see that well but Joe said he saw three floors of one tower that you could see straight through. I could see the scorched buildings next to the “hole� and I tried to imagine what it must have been like to have these gigantic buildings towering to the sky and now this huge empty hole.

What a worse tragedy it would have been if the Towers had fallen over instead of straight down as they would have taken the buildings next to them and more lives would have been lost. I saw people leaving the platform with bowed heads and many, like me and Joe, had tears in their eyes. The tragedies that happened on 9/11 have truly touched our whole nation. On our way back in the subway we talked to people who are still being inconvenienced with longer commute times, barricaded streets and detours. We also talked to people who happened to be on vacation or late for work on 9/11 and who would have otherwise been in the Towers. These people saw the second plane hit and say they still see it every day and some have sleep problems. One said she was just frozen when she saw it.

Thus ended our “Odyssey� to the three crash sites of 9/11.

COMING HOME - SCENIC ROUTE #4: Through most of Pennsylvania, we took the route that followed old Highway 6 through the Pocono Mountains to Scranton and the nice town of ClarkÂ’s Summit (good place to go back and visit).

Following this route took us through old hamlets that are long and narrow, following the road and the mountain ridge behind them. The “bigger� towns were all neat and clean with steeple churches reminiscent of New England architecture. No wonder since most of these villages were established in or before Revolutionary times by New Englanders. Fantastic views met our eyes as we wound our way through the Allegheny Mountains, the river valleys and forests. It must be spectacular when all the trees are leafed out or in the fall. There IS one good thing about traveling when the leaves AREN’T out yet, we could see wayyyy down into the valleys. Awesome! We stopped to view the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, a gorge that was cut into the mountains by glacial meltwater during the great ice ages. Pine Creek winds 50 miles through this Canyon and the Canyon itself is a mile across from rim to rim and plunges to a depth of 800 feet. Awesome, Awesome!

We followed the Allegheny River to the town of Tidioute and stopped long enough to have a picnic lunch at a mountaintop overlook. From there we could view the river valley and the picturesque town of Tidioute with its white iron bridge crossing the Allegheny River.

That was our last scenic stop as we traveled homeward. But on this marvelous trip I came to realized:
(1) We had been in 10 states (IA, IL, IN, OH, PA, VA, WVA, MD, NJ, NY) and one district (DC).
(2) Seen three mountains ranges (Appalachians, Allegheny and Pocomos).
(3) Crossed numerous waterways including the rivers Susquehanna, Shenandoah, Allegheny, Hudson, Monongahela and Potomac and two Bays, the Hudson and the Chesapeake.
(4) There is patriotism being shown all across the USA.
(5) Pennsylvania has the friendliest people but people were great everywhere, even NY City.
(6) Not everyone likes to read ALL the historical markers like I do and we COULD turn around if we missed something as we flew by it.
(7) Mary and Gary should check out the PA Mountains before they retire in CO or WI.
(8) The next time I am in PA, I am going to go to Hershey, PA!
(9) And last but no least, there are still NO restrooms in the subway stations and, Ben, the cup of “mountain dew� left the last time we were in DC is gone!

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