Fort Meyers , Florida

  This is Thomas Edison’s winter home where he brought his family to enjoy the warm weather for over 45 years. He purchased the property because he thought that the abundant bamboo  might make a good filament material for electric lights. Other trees and plants were imported as part of his ongoing research and experimentation making it a interesting botanical garden.

  In 1885 when he purchased the property , Fort Meyers was a cattle town with little contact with the rest of the country. Everything was shipped along the Caloosahatchee River , out to the Gulf of Mexico. Edison and his architect designed the houses , lab and other buildings which were pre-cut in Maine ,transported by ship around the tip of Florida and assembled on the property by local laborers. The railroad finally came to Fort Meyers in 1904. More pictures here - http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/FortMeyersFlorida?authkey=Gv1sRgCJDlvPyf-dbv5QE#

Disney World

   It’s been a long time since we visited Florida so off to Disney World for a few days! We were surprised at how much of the park is wheelchair accessible. I could go on 3/4 of the rides and attractions without getting out of the chair. Disney World opened the Magic Kingdom in 1971 and added three other parks , the last one Animal Kingdom in 1998, so it takes awhile to see everything. We had five full days and managed to see most of it but if this had been our first visit it would not have been enough time!
  More pictures here - http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/DisneyWorld?authkey=Gv1sRgCM68ieLChcPbpwE#

Pittsburgh Zoo

  We had a lot of fun visiting everyone in Pittsburgh and Ohio (thanks guys!) but as usual I forgot to take pictures. However we did spend a day at the zoo where I took a lot of pictures so that’s what I’m posting. This zoo was started in 1898 and has been continuously changing through the years. When we were kids most of the animals were in small concrete floored cages – smelly and sad. Now with large ,more natural enclosures, the animals actual look content. The aquarium is double it’s original size and is filled with all sorts of cool animals. So if it’s been awhile since you visited the zoo this is a good time to go – no crowds and the animals are easy to spot.
  More pictures here - http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/PittsburghZoo?authkey=Gv1sRgCNG_t7TDz-3oUg#

   I think everyone was surprised at the huge turnout for this rally. The Metro broke ridership records. Streets had to be closed down because people walking to the rally over flowed the sidewalks into the streets.

   The message of the rally was that most of us are in the middle. The politicians , news media and bloggers yelling on both ends of the spectrum don’t really represent us. The middle has no voice. Obviously people are upset about this , judging by the turnout.

   I try to keep this blog non-political so if you want to see pictures of the rally click here-  http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/RallyToRestoreSanity?authkey=Gv1sRgCKHj-IW-19xH#

   And thousands of pictures by other rally attendees-  http://www.flickr.com/groups/rally4sanity/pool/with/5130707328/

Albany , New York

   We didn’t make it very far into New England but we still saw some beautiful hillsides of fall colors. We stopped in Albany , which is the capitol of New York , so that we could visit the state museum. State museums are always interesting and are a good place to get an overview of the state history and geology. New York’s is exceptional and it’s also completely free!
 More pictures here - http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/AlbanyNewYork?authkey=Gv1sRgCKav8vikjYr0DQ#

Mystic Seaport , Connecticut

  Both of us get seasick so we can’t even imagine the life of a sailor , whaler or fisherman  out on the open sea for days or months at a time. Until the 1860s an immigrant coming from Europe to the US could be on board a ship for one to three months. When steamships started crossing the Atlantic the trip shortened to a little over one week. This was such an improvement that the old wooden sailing boats were soon scuttled or turned into fire wood. Mystic Seaport’s goal is to save some of these ships and the history that goes along with them. Besides a large collection of ships they’ve also moved and renovated more than 60 historic buildings to make a 19th century seafaring village.

 More pictures here - http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/MysticSeaport?authkey=Gv1sRgCKb42e3mg-mCmgE#

Edison National Historic Park , N.J.

    This is a piece of elephant skin. Edison didn’t want his researchers to be held up waiting for exotic materials to be delivered so he kept a fully stocked warehouse with everything imaginable on the shelves. The laboratory complex included a physics lab, a chemistry lab, a metallurgy lab, a pattern shop, and chemical storage buildings. Keeping all of this up and running was expensive but right next door were Edison’s factory buildings where many of the townspeople were employed making batteries , phonographs,light bulbs and even furniture.

 More pictures here -http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyandkaren1/Edison?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmFqJLKg-zVSg#

Scranton, Pa – Coal and Trains

  Scranton is wedged in a long valley of the Appalachian mountain range. The pressure and folding of these mountains created anthracite coal which is harder and cleaner burning than other types of coal. This whole area is honeycombed with underground mines , once the source of great wealth and great misery depending on one’s circumstances. The mine owners owned the railroads  so they controlled not only a very valuable resource but the delivery system too. The miners came from western Europe and later eastern Europe lured by inexpensive steamship fares. Working in the mines was dirty, hard and dangerous. In the worse cases the miner was responsible for supplying all of his tools , dynamite , mule and helpers. He was paid by the weight of the coal that he managed to mine so some days he made nothing and the mine owner didn’t have to shoulder any of the expense. These conditions lead to labor strikes which often turned violent when strikebreakers and police were involved. The mining industry collapsed after WWII when other sources of fuel became more popular.

 More pictures here http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Scranton%5EJPa%20-%20Coal%20and%20Trains

Really,Really Rich People’s Gardens

   The late 1800s to the early 1900s is known as the Gilded Age.  Railroads , factories , coal mining and other heavy industries paved the way for individual families to amass huge fortunes of hundreds of millions of dollars. This excess of money was used to build very elaborate houses surrounded by vast estates. The owners traveled the world collecting antiques and treasures to furnish their houses. They brought back exotic plants for the gardens. They planted trees and made paths to ride their horses. As fortunes dwindled , older relatives died or areas become unfashionable, some of the estates were broken up and sold to developers. Others were saved by trusts or donated to organizations who took over the upkeep so now we can enjoy the century old trees and gardens that were originally designed for the enjoyment of these really , really rich people and their really , really rich friends!

 More pictures here http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Really%5EJReally%20Rich%20People%5E4s%20Gardens

Ghost Towns and a Little Family History

Are any of these guys my relatives?? I’m an American mongrel. My ancestors came from the British Isles , Germany and Slovakia. They came in the 1700s through the 1900s. They fought in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Most of them landed in Philadelphia or New York and migrated across Pennsylvania to settle in Pittsburgh. Roland Wilson Curtin,my great,great grandfather, was an exception. He drifted all the way to California but he started life in Curtin Village and grew up with the families of the men in the picture. His grandfather was a foundry worker at the Curtin iron works. His mother, Sarah Grassmier , had seven children , lived all of her life in the area and never married. Roland left home as a teenager and set out for Pittsburgh where he enlisted in the Union army.

Those are just the simple facts that I’ve found by searching census , payroll and other public records. The puzzle of it all is- who was Roland’s father? Why did his mother give him the name Roland Curtin? What was the social sigma like for an unwed mother in such a small village in the 1800s? How did she support all of the children after her parents died? The true story has been lost through the generations and it’s probably much more interesting than these little bits that I’ve found. Unfortunately when Roland went to California , his young daughter (my great grandmother), was left in the care of relatives in Pittsburgh and the only thing that they told her was that she was related to the first Roland Curtin who immigrated to the US in 1793 and founded the iron works at Curtin Village. 

 More pictureshttp://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Ghost%20Towns%20and%20a%20Little%20Family%20History -

Still in Pennsylvania

   We’re usually not in Pennsylvania this time of year so we’re enjoying the sunny weather and all of the greenness.  Pennsylvania is so full of history ,museums and funky little attractions that it’s going to take us awhile to get through the rest of the state!

More pictures-http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Still%20in%20Pennsylvania

Johnstown, PA.

The story of the 1889 Johnstown flood holds a certain fascination for us , perhaps because the names are so familiar – names that we’ve heard all of our lives , the great industrialists and financiers who built Pittsburgh. Carnegie , Frick , Pitcairn, Knox , Phippps, Scaife and Mellon were among the 61 members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club which owned the lake and 160 acres of adjacent land.

The lake was originally constructed as a reservoir to provide water for a section of the Pennsylvania canal.   However  before it could be used for this purpose the canal was rendered obsolete by the railroad system. Over the next 21 years the top of the dam crumbled and drainage pipes were removed from beneath the dam. When the club bought the land the dam was in need of costly repairs. They chose to patch instead of repair. The drainage pipes which could have been used to ease pressure on the dam walls were never replaced. The top of the dam was built up with loose fill and then the water was allowed to rise above a structurally safe point. The spillway which should have kept the lake at a safe level was blocked by a debris catching fish screen because the club didn’t want their game fish escaping down the river.

After the dam failed , flooding Johnstown with 20 million tons off water , killing over 2000 people and causing 17 million dollars in property damage , the club members abandoned the property. None of them ever returned to Johnstown and the property was sold at a sheriff’s sale. Individual members contributed small amounts to help the people of Johnstown but neither they or the club ever admitted to any responsibility for the disaster. No lawsuit against the club or any member was successful. 

More pictures- http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Johnstown%20%5EJPA

Leaving Pittsburgh

 
CCC cabins. Few people realize the scope of the CCC. The program put into place by President Roosevelt during the depression to employ young men. At it’s peak in1935 , 2,600 camps employed 500,000 young men.  We’re most familiar with the work that was done in state and national parks but it also included these projects:

more than 3,470 fire towers erected;

97,000 miles of fire roads built;

4,235,000 man-days devoted to fighting fires;

more than 3 billion trees planted;

7,153,000 man days expended on protecting the natural habitats of wildlife; 83 camps in 15 Western states assigned 45 projects of that nature;

46 camps assigned to work under the direction of the U.S. Bureau of Agriculture Engineering;

more than 84,400,000 acres of good agricultural land receive manmade drainage systems; Indian enrollees do much of that work;

1,240,000 man-days of emergency work completed during floods of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys;

disease and insect control;

forest improvement — timber stand inventories, surveying, and reforestation;

forest recreation development — campgrounds built, complete with picnic shelters, swimming pools, fireplaces, and restrooms

The cabins above , in Raccoon Creek State Park, were in  disrepair with leaking roofs and missing chinking in the logs. They were built from wormy chestnut trees that had died from blight. These trees are now almost extinct  but they once covered acres of the eastern US, an estimated 3 billion trees. We’re so happy that we , along with other volunteers and park employees, were able to save the cabins.

More pictures here-http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Leaving%20Pittsburgh

Visiting Back East

  We’re almost legal! We have a new license plate and inspection sticker. Now we’re waiting for Penn DOT to give us the official thumbs up and send us the little sticker that goes on our license plate.  It also looks like we’ve solved all of the major motorhome problems. Everything is working properly , no new problems and just a week or so left of little stuff to fix. It will take us longer than that , though , because it’s much more fun to visit everyone!

More pictures here -http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Visiting%20Back%20East

Meandering Our Way North

Hot Springs , Arkansas – This is the men’s dressing room in the spa that the National Park Service restored as a museum. The hot springs that feed the spas are unique because the water isn’t heated by volcanic action but by the water percolating down far enough to be heated by the rocks which are hot from gravitational compression. The water is very pure , odorless  and good tasting.
  The hot springs had been known and used first by Indians and early settlers but the area wasn’t developed as a commercial spa until the early 1800s. The federal government , fearing that many people would lose access to the springs , set up a reserve so that they would have some control over the development and use of the springs.  The spas were used as therapy for many different diseases and conditions.  During the 1920’s elaborate buildings with stain glass , marble and colored tiles were built. This was also the era of probation and Hot Springs became a  gambling mecca and  vacation spot for many of the bootleggers.
As medicine was developed for many  diseases , the spas lost their popularity and some were abandoned. The National Park Service stepped in to restore the Fordyce Bathhouse as a museum.  

More pictures herehttp://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Meandering%20Our%20Way%20North-

Visiting Everyone in Texas

We stopped for a couple weeks in San Antonio , Texas for a long over due visit with family.

Dinner out with the ladies , my Mom and her friends , Shirley and Minnie.

Many thanks to Chris and Dan , sister-in–law and brother, for the good company and good smoked barbecue and home cooking!

We made good use of Dan and Chris’s front yard to get some more sealing finished. Red Letter Day! – May 17 – huge rainfall and no leaks!

It was great visiting  but Texas is getting way too hot – back on the road and heading north!
Early spring was pretty wet this year so Texas hill country is bursting with wild flowers.

New Mexico

 
  Spanish missions dot the countryside in New Mexico just as they do in other southwestern states which were once part of Mexico. Some of them are still in use today. Others , like this one , are in various degrees of ruin. The Indians here left because of a drought and raids by hungry Apache Indians. Other missions were destroyed after the Indians grew tired of forced labor and suppression of their traditional religions and rebelled in 1680, killing some of the Franciscan friars and settlers and forcing all of the others to flee to El Paso , Texas.  The Spanish reconquered New Mexico in 1692.

More pictures -http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/New%20Mexico

Petrified Forest , Arizona

This place is really cool. The length ,diameter and number of logs scattered over such a large area makes it a unique treasure. Until 1906, when President Roosevelt set aside some of the land as a national monument , people were carting off so many rocks that it was in danger of disappearing. Now all the rock in the park is protected and some people think that there’s a curse on it! Every week the rangers receive a few packages in the mail with returned rocks and sometimes letters apologizing and explaining that nothing had gone right since the rock had been taken! We didn’t take any  – .  

  More pictures-http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Petrified%20Forest

Grand Canyon

 
After we left Vegas we stopped at the Grand Canyon for a few days to spend some time with my sister and her family. Every year for the kids’ spring break they go on a trip and sometimes we are able to join them – a lot of fun! As you can see in the picture above ,  snow was still on the ground. Fortunately we had a couple of beautiful days but with snow back in the forecast , we decided to get off the mountain. Next stop-Petrified Forest!

More pictures here: http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Grand%20Canyon

Goldfield , Nevada

We had very fast trip south through the high deserts of Oregon and Nevada and are settled in dry , sunny , warm Las Vegas for a few weeks of caulking and sealing.

Along the way we took a tour through Goldfield. We can’t resist ghost towns. It’s strange to see all of these big buildings deserted and crumbling.The town is right off the main highway and is not a complete ghost town but the houses are falling apart too so most of the residents live in trailers. With the price of gold today it looks like the population  is growing.

More pictures here:  http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Goldfield%20%5EJ%20Nevada

Columbia River Gorge

This is the dry side of the gorge in eastern Washington. The population is sparse – fruit trees , cattle and wind turbines out number people but it’s  a beautiful place.

The gorge cuts through the Cascade mountains between Washington and Oregon. It was formed when the Glacier Lake Missoula ruptured  it’s ice dam and a huge wall of water rushed  down the corridor. This happened at least 25 times and formed the gorge which is 80 miles long and 4,000’ deep at some spots. Because of the width of the river and the steep walls of the gorge there are very few spots where the river can be crossed.

The salmon runs on the river supported local Indian tribes but dams to stop flooding , supply electricity and ample water for irrigating fields have destroyed some of the best fishing areas and wild water. The US government and Indian tribes are working to restore the salmon runs and at the same time support the needs of the communities.

More pictures here:  http://cid-4ce32117b0082fb8.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Columbia%20River%20Gorge
 

On the Road Again!

 
We moved into the new motorhome two weeks ago and everything seems to working right. We still have some minor  finish work on the inside and we have to make sure all of the exterior is sealed. Our lawyer is sending a bill to Ken for the repairs. Ken probably will not pay without a fight but the lawyer doesn’t think that we have to stay around so we’re outta here!

Zingara and Scotty. We sold the Scotty to a young couple. They’re going to Alaska!
Side graphics  

Interior before we fixed things.                                

After –this is like a find the differences puzzle because the changes are small and don’t show well in the picture but they made it look so much better.

Trying a New Shop

  Ken returned the motorhome to us after having it for a week. He told us that he found no water in the cabover when he was installing the new trim strip. We removed a few of the screws and water came streaming out. There was also evidence that he had tested the gray water tanks and that they had leaked. More lies! We decided to go to another shop , get everything fixed and deal with Ken later.

Patch that leaked (again!)                                     New tank installed by new shop.

     Water draining out of the screw  holes.             Drying out the cabover to reglue it all.                                                                                                                                                             

The Never Ending Motorhome Saga

1 Comment
  Ken has been patching and patching. The tank has been leaking and leaking. He had to work on another job so he brought the motorhome back to our campground about a week ago. We decided to go to a repair shop , pay to get a new tank installed and then sue Ken for all of the extra expenses that we’ve incurred because of his ineptness. But before we could do that we discovered two more problems. One is a tiny leak right behind the driver’s seat.  The other is the separation of the  fiberglass sheathing from the luan underlayment on the cabover section of the motorhome. Our lawyer said that we have to give Ken a chance to fix these so back to the shop it went. He’s also trying to fix the tanks one more time.

These are the tanks that he’s trying to fix. They’re stacked in  a T shape and leak at the seams.

  Ken in the compartment. Installing a new tank would have been faster and easier!

Delays and More Delays

  Hope everyone had a good time over the holidays -we spent the day with Eden and Burt so we had a great Christmas!  All the parts that we ordered to finish the motorhome were delayed because of the holidays but they finally started coming in last week. We could be out of here! Buuut…… we got a leak!  Ken joined two gray water tanks ( shower and sink waste water) together and that has become a reoccurring problem. He’s on his third patch job and if that doesn’t work he’ll have to start over with a new tank.
We’ve had a lot of time to putz around and fix any little things that we didn’t like. Here’s the before picture. I can’t take an after picture yet because the motorhome is in Ken’s shop.