The first half of our road trip will be loosely following the Lincoln Highway. Once we get to the Chicago area, we will switch to route 80 as we want to get through “tornado alley” as quick as possible.
Saturday, we head to Gettysburg Military Park. My ancestor Thomas Stapleton fought at this epic battle with the Vermont Volunteers 14th Regiment Company E in 1863. I hope to learn a little bit more of what he went through and to see the land he fought on.
Surprisingly, we think Macy hasn’t just adjusted to the road trip; we think she actually likes it. She’s a roadie!
It’s been 4 weeks now without a home. We’re doing OK but it will be nice to call Framingham MA home at some point.
We had a battlefield guide give us a 2 hour tour in our car. Below are pictures of where the Vermont Volunteers fought during Picketts charge.
Every state has at least one monument at Gettysburg, even the Confederate states. Below is one from North Carolina.
The view from Little Round Top was impressive. This was a Union position.
Learned some interesting facts about the artillery that was used then as well as stories about the battle and the people.
Lunch in an alley at the “Gettysburger”. Nice.
In town, you can still see civil war buildings with bullet holes/shrapnel. This is the Farnsworth building below.
Sunday morning we head to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwaters home in Mill Run PA.
We then headed to Ohiopyle for lunch. This is a great stop when cycling along the GAP (Great Allegheny Pass). Cool vibe.
Final leg of the day is to our hotel in Pittsburgh (Drury Plaza Hotel).
Monday morning, we walked downtown Pittsburgh and eventually across the Liberty bridge to the Duquesne Incline.
The Duquesne incline was built in 1877. As you slowly go up the steep incline your first thought is “is this safe”? Then you see the overgrown weeds and wood rot which removes all doubt. Defintely worth doing (before they eventually condemn it).
We finished our short Pittsburgh visit by getting a quick bite to eat in the Strip District.
Tuesday, we headed to Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. I wanted to see some old NY Jets stuff
Next was a surprise tour I booked for Beth. It was the prison that was featured in the movie “Shawshank Redemption”.
One story during the tour was when they threw powder on Tim Robbins to de-louse him. The extra was supposed to throw the powder into his chest but he threw it into his face. Tim Robbins told the extra “don’t do that again”. The director told the extra that he like that and told him to do it again. After the second take of getting hit in the face, the director said “Cut” and the extra took off running as a naked Tim Robbins ran after him.
The actual cell block scenes were from a set that was built in town. The cell block from the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield Ohio were very run down.
We ended our day at our hotel in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Wednesday is a pure travel day as we get off the Lincoln Highway and onto Rt 80. Our day ends in Altoona Iowa just outside of Des Moines.
Thursday we headed to Lincoln Nebraska for a midday picnic lunch at Pioneer Park Nature Center. The additional lure is that they have bison that can be viewed on the range. Unfortunately, they were so far from the fence line they were not that recognizable…..they could have been cows. Bummer.
We then headed over to the Sunken Garden in Lincoln. Lovely garden.
Not sure what these multi colored flowers are below but they are our favorite now.
Afterwards, we kept heading west to our hotel in North Platte Nebraska.
Friday we head to Denver, Colorado.
Did you know there are 5 different ways to pronounce Colorado? Google it, it’s a thing.
We got to Denver earlier than we planned. This was the second time zone change we hadn’t factored in. We headed to Daniel’s Park south of Highlands Ranch. They are suppose to have about 25 bison that graze on the reservation…..
Seeing a live bison….check