Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

Carl Sandburg was already famous when he moved with his family to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina in 1945. Poet, minstrel, lecturer, biographer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author spent his lifetime championing social justice and the American people through his writings and songs. He was 67 at the time that he moved here and spent the next 22 years until his death writing at this home site where 1/3 of all of his works were accomplished. He died in 1967 and his wife sold the home to the National Park Service and donated all of the contents including his many books and reading materials. There were over 14,000 volumes in the house alone. The reason that he ended up actually in North Carolina was that Mrs. Sandburg and his youngest daughter, Hilga, needed a large farm in order to raise goats. Lilian, "Paula", Sandburg was internationally renowned as a goat breeder and was one of the outstanding pioneers of the American goat industry. The grounds here at this historical site are lovely with rolling hills, pastures and a pond along with barns to see.

William Howard Taft National Historic Site

Our 27th President, William Howard Taft, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1857. Taft is the only person who was both a President and Chief Justice in his lifetime. His presidency ran from 1909 to 1913 and he served as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1921 to 1930. He spent his complete life in service to his country. The main thing that we had completely forgot about was that President Roosevelt was the person who pushed Taft into office and then the two had a great political falling out which actually split the Republican vote and insured victory for the Democratic rival Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt headed the ticket for the Bull Moose "Progressive" Party and ran against Taft and Wilson. As always, in visiting a site honoring one of our Presidents, it does bring back much of history to our minds. We drove around Cincinnati and then drove across the Ohio River and enjoyed a picnic along the Kentucky side of the Ohio River overlooking Cincinnati. The baseball stadium, as in San Francisco, is right on the waterfront.

Northern Indiana

Before having the motor home serviced at Newmar in Nappanee, IN, where it was built, we spent a week visiting museums and surrounding Amish countryside. The Studebaker Museum in South Bend was interesting since Studebaker went from manufacturing wagons to automobiles. In the first 2 years that Studebaker manufactured cars they were actually electric. Studebaker had quite an impact on Northern Indiana. Oliver Museum and Mansion gave an insight on how the wealthy lived in the 1890's. Oliver invented the process for hardening cast iron. The plow that he manufactured had an impact on the opening of farming in the mid-west and west. The plow had a hard face and a soft back in order to take the rugged work during plowing. It is always a joy to visit the Amish craft shops and countryside here as well. We had some great food but could not always allow ourselves to eat that plentiful all of the time.

We got to visit with Sue's friend, Maura, who is now a professor at Notre Dame and Sue knew when Maura was at Holy Cross. Her husband, Paul, was off on a business trip in Sweden and also is a professor at Notre Dame. Their twin daughters, Meggie and Annie, who are 9 years old had grown a foot since when saw them in the spring of 07. They had us over for dinner and it was a very nice visit. We got the slide on our motor home repaired at the Newmar facility and were on the road once again.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, Iowa

Our 31st President, Herbert Hoover, had a modest Quaker upbringing living his early years in West Branch, Iowa. He was orphaned at an early age and at 11 years of age he was sent to live in Oregon with his mother's brother, Dr. Henry Minthorn. Herbert was educated as mining engineer and was very successful all over the world. Hoover's humanitarian efforts, during and after WWI and service as Secretary of Commerce, made him a highly respected figure. His presidency was daunted by the Depression. At that time, he was definitely blamed for not doing more. Many historians say he did as much as possible in the short time that was President. He went on to be quite the humanitarian working closely with feeding the hungry and expanding the Boys Club of America. He was well respected and worked well into his 80's.

The museum did have a section devoted to the children of the various presidents who lived in the White House. Until one sees it all together it was difficult for us to realize who actually lived part of their childhood on 1600 PA Avenue.

Homestead National Monument of America NE

We did not realize, until visiting Homestead Nat'l Monument, the true extent of the Homestead Act. Thirty of the 50 states had Homestead Land at some point during the Homestead Act's existence (1863-1986). The Act was repealed in the Lower 48 in 1976 but extended to 1986 in Alaska. Over 270 million acres in 30 states were turned over from the government to private ownership. In order to obtain private ownership you had to build a home and develop the land and after 5 years the land was turned over to you. Women did not have the right to vote at this time or many other rights but they could homestead and obtain ownership. About 40 per cent of the people homesteading did obtain ownership. It was a difficult lifestyle to say the least. Many of these areas were never farmed before and crops had to be developed that would produce. Each homestead could claim 160 acres which is 1/4 square mile. It was enlightening to see how many families still are on the land today that at one time was homesteaded.

Lincoln Nebraska

Sue says that she wants to visit the state capitals so that she will remember them when testing the grandchildren in years to come. Lincoln has a population of about 226,000 people and is a financial center for Nebraska. The Capitol Building and surrounding government buildings did not give the appearance of a big city. We easily drove around Lincoln and parking spaces were plentiful. While in Lincoln we visited the Germans from Russia Museum. Bob's brother, Vic, always said that our Polish grandfather came from Russia because he saw his Russian Military uniform. Bob had German friends growing up who understood Polish and Bob could understand some of their dialects as well. Catherine the Great of Russia in 1762 invited Western Europeans to settle along the Great Volga River. Germans colonized also moving into the Polish and Ukranian area known as Volhynia. Bob's Polish grandfather may have come from this region. It makes sense since he always spoke of leaving Europe when the Russian Revolution of 1917 was about to begin. This has opened many questions for Bob and someday when we're off the road he will do more research regarding this matter. While visiting the museum and afterwards the grounds there were gentlemen putting items in the small church and invited us to take a look inside. It was filled with all kinds of church artifacts from different churches representing the different religions practiced in this area. Some items were from the Mennonites, the Catholics, the Protestants, Lutherans and Russian Orthodox churches and other sects as well. I especially liked the Russian icons which were nicely displayed.

Cheyenne WY

Cheyenne is the Capitol of Wyoming and has a population of about 53,000 people. The city was founded when the railroad was constructed from the east to the west coast. We took this visit to Wyoming to learn more about the state itself. We took in the state's museum, Capitol Building, Historical Governors' Mansion, Frontier Park/Old West Museum, Depot Museum and Cheyenne's Frontiers Day Exhibit. Wyoming is known for its ranching, mining and oil fields. During the Cold War there were many nuclear sites in Wyoming. After spending time in Wyoming, especially at Yellowstone National Park and at the Grand Tetons National Park, it has become obvious to us that we enjoy the friendly people here, wide open spaces and the big skies. Cheyenne Frontiers Day has been going on since 1897 and includes the largest rodeo in the world. We have come to appreciate the life of a rancher, including that of true cowboys and cowgirls which very much still a lifestyle in this area. In speaking with a few old time ranchers who never complain about their lifestyle in the past you realize how difficult it was to develop a working ranch. One old timer indicated that the only meat that they ate was wild game since the sheep and cattle were needed to raise money. Most of the ranches here have been in their respective families for generations. There are still many small ranches in Wyoming. In the future we will definitely be spending more time in this fine state.

Fort Bridger State Historic Site Wyoming

Established as an emigrant supply station in 1843, Ft. Bridger became one of the major players in the opening of the American West. The first school was established in Wyoming at this site. There were 3 major ownership changes. The first as a trading post which served Oregon/California emigrants who stopped for supplies, wagon repairs and fresh animals. The Mormons then operated it briefly in order to control the costs for people making their journey to Salt Lake. The US Army established it as a fort from 1858 to 1890. Jim Bridger was a trapper and frontier man who saw the need and opened this trading post in 1843. We normally have not been visiting state sites but this was right next door to the campground that we were staying at and it was very highly recommended to us and we were happy that we paid it a visit.

Fossil Butte National Monument Wyoming

I did not realize how much of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah had once in their territories ancient lakes. Fossil Butte is the result of Fossil Lake which was 50 miles long and 20 miles wide at its maximum some 50 million years ago. The fossils that had turned into the rocks today are known as the Green River formation. The formation is made up of laminated limestone, mudstone and volcanic ash. We had visited Florissant fossil beds in Colorado and now after this visit here we have a much better understanding of fossils and their importance in scientific studies. It amazes us the details of many of the fishes, i.e., retain not only their entire skeleton but their teeth, delicate scales and skin as well.

Lucy Photos

Lucy

Lucy went for her first check-up at the doctor's at 3 weeks and weighed in at 9lbs 20z which is 14 ozs more than her birth weight and she grew 1 1/4 inches. Becky and Chuck are doing a fine job as parents. Lucy has them in a routine that keeps her well fed, changed and getting plenty of sleep. Becky and Chuck say that she looks like Chuck and from Chuck's baby photos along with our memories of him at that age we couldn't agree more. Bob finished up painting the front of the house which was more work than he anticipated but the end results were well worth his efforts. We have hit the road once again and have an appointment in Napanee, IN at the factory where our motorhome was built on October 20. We will stop in Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa at National Park sites. After the motorhome is serviced, we will head towards South Carolina going through the Smokey Mountains and it should be ideal to witness the fall foliage.