Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The West-Denver, Montana, Idaho and Washington

Back to the West with a stop in Denver to see my niece, her husband and their two adorable girls.  Denver is a challenge in a motorhome.  RV and State parks are so oversubscribed that, during our two week visit, we in four locations. Despite that, we had a nice visit, tended to the Freightliner service on Pancho and repeated the check engine light correction with the local Subaru dealer, this time successfully.  We also enjoyed visits to Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park, the fun city of Golden and a short visit to Colorado Springs.  One young woman, a recent East Coast college graduate we met in Washington, said every friend she had was heading to Colorado after college.  The traffic and growth support the contention that the area is a young population magnet. 


Downtown Golden, CO



Rocky Mt Nat'l Park

Max loved the elk wandering in the town of Estes Park

View Driving to Estes Park

Max on Critter Watch

Drive Near Colorado Springs

Eleanor, 2 and Maddie 5 with Maddie's Kindergarten Graduation Sign

 We had planned to go the the SW after Denver, but a weather check argued for continuing West. We spent time in Coeur d'Alene, with a day visit to Sandpoint and Lake  Pend Oreille.  The area is beautiful and while popular, not overrun with tourists-at least when we were there.  We learned that Sandpoint was hit hard by the bankruptcy of Coldwater Creek but also discovered that the ever popular salad dressing Litehouse, originated there.  I had never paid attention but their variety of dressing choices is quite large and their Greek yogurt ones are tasty.  Another discovery was Huckleberry Hard Cider, made in Spokane.  A cruise of the lake was lovely and provided a good view of the cabins and homes.


Dining at the floating restaurant on Lake Pend Oreille

We continued west, finding a fun town on I-90 called Cle Elum, where the Yakima River runs through the town.  The area prospered in the late 1800's/early 1900's due to lumber and coal, that latter being needed for the Northern Pacific Railroad expansion.  Because of the ready coal source, the town became an important rail center with a roundhouse and worker housing.  The coal mines were just north, where a  prosperous coal mining town named Roslyn was established.   The coal mining boomed for 35 years, starting in 1886 and attracting immigrants from Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Lithuania and 23 more countries.  Mining fell off in the late 30's and the mines closed in 1963. It is estimated that four fifths of the supply remain.

And, on to lovely Vashon, Gig Harbor and the coast. Seeing old friends, taking care of business and enjoying the comfortable temperature and great food were all a plus.


Mount Rainier and Gig Harbor

La Conner Waterfront looking at Swinomish Tribal Land

Geoduck Duck Delivery at Gig Harbor

Backtracking, we headed for Flathead Lake, MT. 





 We lucked out, finding an RV Park that looks over the lake and has been completely redone with no expense spared.  The owner made some shrewd business decisions in the early phases of ND Fracking and was able to retire.  It apparently wasn't long before his wife suggested he needed another project.  He bought the RV park, which had seen better times, and along with some of his kids (there are 12!) completely redid it.  He is super friendly and tireless, out at 8am emptying trash cans.  


Morning View from Campsite

Sign at local cafe

 At the suggestion of Ann Burnett, we added the National Bison Range to our list of places to see.  It was terrific, not crowded and we were able to take back roads to and from.  The Range was established in 1908 to save the bison from extinction.


Bighorn Sheep


The bison ignore the cars that travel through the range
 Driving around, we took a road to see what used to be known as the Kerr Dam, but renamed Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe when it acquire the dam in 2015. The dam is on the Flathead River and was completed in 1938.   The dam is within the Flathead Indian Reservation and had apparently been the subject of some competing ownership claims.



 According to the local paper,

"Yet alongside its power and influence, Kerr Dam has remained equally contentious and divisive among tribal members and non-Indian property owners trying to coexist amicably on the Flathead Indian Reservation while grappling over water rights."

I am reminded of the Mark Twain observation that 

                                                Whiskey Is for Drinking;
                                         Water Is for Fighting Over   

The other big attraction in this part of NW Montana is Glacier National Park.  Camping not being available within the park, we settled for a day trip on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.  The section of the road which crosses the continental divide is closed during most of the year but late July found it open but pretty crowded.  It is a spectacular road but I have a confession.  I have a bit of a phobia when the passenger side (my side) is a short distance from big drop offs.  Guess what, that is a major portion of the road going from west to east, which was our route.


                           
It was however not as bad as our scariest trip from Williams Lake to Bella Coola in BC, which we made in our Alaskan Camper many years ago.

Prior Trip on Bella Coola Road in Alaskan Camper
Despite the road, the scenery is spectacular, though the only glacier we saw was nearly gone.

Glacier National Park


No blog would be complete without some foodie stuff.  My current fixation is the huckleberry.  It makes up 15% of the bear's diet and all efforts to domesticate production have proven fruitless.  The berries grow at elevation and must be harvested by hand and you are wise to have bear spray at the ready to deal with the competition. While driving some dirt roads we discovered several people picking huckleberries, including a family.  The young boy, Mason, volunteered to show me where they grow.

Family picking huckleberries

Mason, my huckleberry guide


Picking the berries is labor intensive


 I fell in love with Huckleberry Hard Cider which had replaced wine for my cocktail hour choice.  A pint of Huckleberry Freezer Jam (the technique requires much less sugar than conventional canning) cost $18.50 and now resides in my fridge.  Another discovery is Montana made Huckleberry ice cream, a quart of which sits in my freezer.

The other local fruit that is produced in Flathead Lake orchards is the cherry.  At $2-4 a pound they are much more affordable than huckleberries at $16.

The RV Park sits next to a local meat store that specialize in bison and elk with lots of smoked meat, sausages and jerky, so we are set for the next leg of travel.

Locally Bison, Elk and other meat and sausage













Thursday, June 2, 2016

Iowa and Missouri (After racing through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois)

Having been on the road for 3 months and heading to Denver to see Chris, Christina and the girls, Maddie and Eleanor, we wanted to make some time so drove 1100 miles in three days to Hannibal, MO.  The plan was a stop in Hopkinton, Iowa, the birthplace of my father.  I also saw that there was a scenic "river road" going north along the western side of the Mississippi.



I either never knew or long ago forgot that Hannibal was the setting for Tom Sawyer as well as Mark Twain's boyhood home.  It is yet another town with lovely old buildings and homes.  However, whatever industry fueled its prominence in the past seems long gone and the main attraction now is tourism.  There are extensive building devoted to Mark Twain's legacy and tourist themed activities for kids and adults.



The museum contains much about his life and a highlight for me was the display of original Norman Rockwell art which was completed in the mid 1930's to illustrate Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. They are a treasure to see and bring to life the shennanigans of the boys.



When we took a Mississippi cruise many years ago, from Memphis to the gulf, we were surprised that our views were pretty much limited to barge traffic and the river side of levees which obscured towns and homes on the shore.  On this part of the Mississippi there are cliffs on the western side and, if you are on a road close to the river, you have a view.  I think a cruise on this part of the river would provide better views although the barge traffic seems much less active.

Mississippi view from a cliff in Hannibal


Locals in Hannibal told us that flooding of the city occurs periodically and one woman described how her husband had to commute via boat to his downtown bank job and walk to the 7th step via a plank to enter the building.  She said that dampness and mold are a real problem in the basements of the old buildings.

Picture from past flood in Hannibal

Downtown Hannibal in prior year's flood




I always head for museum shops to see what treasures I need to get for friends and family.  Maddie and Eleanor have new books and I have a book of Mark Twain Quotes to enliven our upcoming drive across the plains.

Some of my favorite Mark Twain sayings are:

A Magnet for my Collection



"SUPPOSE YOU WERE AN IDIOT, AND SUPPOSE YOU WERE A MEMBER OF CONGRESS; BUT I REPEAT MYSELF."

"FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT-AND CHILDREN"

'THE MOST USEFUL AND INTERESTING LETTERS WE GET FROM HOME ARE FROM CHILDREN, SEVEN OR EIGHT YEARS OLD...THEY TELL ALL THEN KNOW AND THEN STOP."

"A BANKER IS ONE WHO LENDS YOU HIS UMBRELLA WHEN THE SUN IS SHINING AND WANTS IT BACK WHEN IT RAINS.'


From Hannibal we headed north along the River Road scenic drive, entering Iowa with an intermediate destination of Toolesboro, site of some 2000+ year old Indian Mounds.  We pulled off the road to a small parking area where four men were working on a monument.  I asked where we could park to look at the mounds and they began to kid and told me we could stay right where we were as the Sheriff wouldn't be around till Sunday and the mayor lived next door.  Conversation ensued about what they were doing and a great story followed,  the kind that really make travel special.  The shortest man in the picture, in the blue shirt, is active in the local history museum.  Not long ago he was contacted by someone wondering if he would like a scrapbook from the 1920's which contained newspaper clippings regarding local events.  Of course he did and that led to a project which will culminate in the dedication, by the Governor of Iowa, of the memorial in the background.  Those clipping revealed a long lost story.

Men working on Littleton Monument


Prior to the Civil War a family named Littleton settled in this part of Iowa after migrating from the east.  They had six sons and several daughters.  Records indicated that the husband was a "mulatto" but no further research nor some living relative DNA testing, could determine whether that was Native American or African American heritage.  The six boys fought for the Union and all six died, extinguishing the male lineage.  It is thought to be the largest single family loss in the history of the US.  Of note is the fact that the other well known family loss, resulting in the military rule that siblings cannot serve together, was that of the Sullivan brothers who were also from Iowa.  The local group raised 1/4 of a million dollars for this monument.  The boys would have been many times great uncles of the tall man in the bright shirt.  He said that there will be 40 or so relatives coming from all over the country for the dedication.

After such a special interlude, we walked up to see the mounds.  The interpretive center was closed but we learned that these mounds are burial places and that they are common throughout the Mississippi area and in areas to the east.  In such mounds, artifacts have been discovered from as far west as the rockies, down to the gulf and all the way to the east coast.




We then headed north to Hopkinton, Iowa.  With about 700 inhabitants this is not a major tourist destination, but for me it represented a chance to visit the state and town of my father's birth.  I wish I had been more diligent about my genealogical research to pin down dates and locations but that will come now that I am inspired.  I only remember hearing of the town, knowing that the family farmed, that at some point they went north to Saskatchewan, where they also farmed, that they returned and in the 30's all moved to Los Angeles.  I knew that Dad attended "Normal School" and taught at some point in a one room schoolhouse.  The family were active Covenantors, a small offshoot of mainstream Presbyterians.

Before arriving I called the Delaware Historical Society and learned that they do not open until June. The museum consists of ten buildings, including the Covenantor Church, the former Lenox College, a Farm Machinery Display and a one room schoolhouse.  I was so fortunate to find Patty Hucker, who graciously made time to open up the museum and help me navigate its enormous collection.

The most gracious Patty Hucker opened the local Historical Museum


Our first stop was the church.



Growing up, this religion was central to our life though my parents did not adhere to its more strict prohibitions.  As I understand it, the Reformed Presbyterians, known here as Covenanters, took issue with the failure of the mainstream Presbyterians to insist that the government (originally in Scotland I believe) formally recognize the primacy of Christ.  As a result, many went to Ulster and later Canada and the US.  The religion prohibited voting for political office, serving on juries, singing of hymns ( Psalms were to be sung accapello), drinking, smoking, dancing and playing cards.  The observance of the Sabbath was strict and I was never allowed to attend Sunday birthday parties.

The church we attended in LA was ample in size and amenities but nothing to behold.  I was taken back by the beauty of my father's boyhood church.  The stained glass windows were imported from Bavaria and, with the sun streaming through, were stunning.  The wood working was exquisite, including curved pews, oak floors and an incredible 10-12' high roll down door.  The historical society has maintained it beautifully.  It was very fun to think about the family sitting in those beautiful pews looking at the windows.


Wooden Roll Down Door

The construction of the wooden pews is impressive


The next treat was across the road to the Lenox College Campus.  On the way to see the college I asked Patty whether it was ever known as a "Normal School." While she said that it was, I did not know where Dad attended Normal School. Given that this Normal School was  in his hometown, I suspected it could have been his alma mater.



When we entered the first building on the campus there was a large display of of Lenox College graduates.  While Patty and I were talking and looking through documents, the Big Dog spied my father's name (J. T. Foster Chambers) , and then the name of my uncle (Cecil Chambers).  It was an emotional moment to see Dad's name and realize this was where he first went to college.




The Big Dog continued on his mission and found Dad's graduation picture.

Dad is the tall man in the third row up, in the center.

The college is a treasure.  There is so much to catalog and display.  For my pharmacist friends Dave and Myra Willingham, I took a picture of the turn of the century era drugstore recreated in one of the college rooms.



Given that Dad attended and then taught in a one room schoolhouse, I was eager to see the one that was moved onto the Delaware County Historical Society's Museum complex.



The picture doesn't show it well but the teacher's desk is very small.  It was hard for me to picture my 6' Dad seated at this one.  The classroom has pictures of Presidents Washington and Lincoln and a 1921 map that depicted Europe after "The Great War."


It would be instructive to study the map but one area that caught my eye was Western Turkey.  There was a section called Smyrna, shown as under "Greek Administration."  Having been on a trip to Turkey organized by Sue Willingham of Vashon, I knew there was some history of Greeks living in Turkey and Turks living in Greece.


I refreshed my memory of the issue on the internet-for those interested I have included the following:


"The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, known as the Western Front (Turkish: Batı Cephesi) of the Turkish War of Independence in Turkey and the Asia Minor Campaign (Greek: Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe (Greek: Μικρασιατική Καταστροφή) in Greece, was fought between Greece and the Turkish National Movement during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War I between May 1919 and October 1922.

The Greek campaign was launched primarily because the western Allies, particularly British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, had promised Greece territorial gains at the expense of the Ottoman Empire, recently defeated in World War I. The armed conflict started when the Greek forces landed in Smyrna (now Izmir), on 15 May 1919. They advanced inland and took control of the western and northwestern part of Anatolia, including the cities of Manisa, Balıkesir, Aydin, Kütahya, Bursa and Eskişehir. Their advance was checked at the Battle of Sakarya in 1921 by forces of the Turkish national movement. The Greek front collapsed with the Turkish counter-attack in August 1922, and the war effectively ended with the Great Fire of Smyrna by the Turkish forces.

As a result, the Greek government accepted the demands of the Turkish national movement and returned to its pre-war borders, thus leaving East Thrace and Western Anatolia to Turkey. The Allies abandoned the Treaty of Sèvres to negotiate a new treaty at Lausanne with the Turkish National Movement. The Treaty of Lausanne recognized the independence of the Republic of Turkey and its sovereignty over Asia Minor, Constantinople, and Eastern Thrace. Greek and Turkish governments agreed to engage in a population exchange."

What I remember was walking through what had been an ethnic Greek town in Turkey.  It was abandoned and crumbling-the casualty of the "population exchange" where ethnic Greeks were removed from Turkey to Greece and the same was done to ethnic Turks living in Greece.  In each case, the removed populations may not have spoken the language corresponding to their ethnicity nor had the skills for their new home.  It was so interesting to see the map in a tiny schoolhouse from the 20's in rural Iowa.

The next treat was the farm machinery buildings which contained large numbers of donated equipment from the era of my father's farming days and earlier.

Early Wooden Threshing Machine
I remember Dad and Grandpa talking about harvest time and the traveling crew of threshers.  They would harvest the crop and Grandma would spend hours preparing huge meals for the family and crew on a wood burning stove in the heat of summer.


This is a navy bean sorter
 Patty truly extended herself on our behalf and through a friend at the Assessor's office found the parcel that was likely where my father's family farmed.

Intersection of the likely Chambers' Farm

At Patty's suggestion we had lunch at the local cafe whose much loved specialty is Tenderloin.  Pork tenderloin is sliced, tenderized, breaded and then fried.  It is about 10" at its widest and served on a soft bun.  True to its name, was very tender.  I am told, by my brother John in South Texas, that the cafe on the Rio Grand features this specialty for the Iowa snowbirds.

Cafe serving pork tenderloin sandwiches

After much family and Hopkinson history we took a drive in the area and found several Amish establishments, including a fun bakery.

This must have inspired the now annoying bicycle signs



Max was not neglected as our handy RV park had lots of critters to see on his long walks.



And finally, though I loved learning more about my Dad's early life and farming in those times, the following probably reflects my thoughts.