SCRAPPLE....enough said!!!!!!

Well, here we are in Erie, Pa where Vern and I both grew up. Vern's Mom, Ellen and all of his brothers and their wives and families still live here, and it's always so nice to come "home" and see everyone.

No visit to Erie would be complete without tasting Ellen's wonderful cooking...she is always ready for us with wonderful, tasty good old down home cooking. Part of that good old food includes "Pennsylvania Dutch" recipes and this morning we are being treated to SCRAPPLE.. Lots of folks don't know what that is..you are really missing it if you've never had it. It's made with pork sausage, corn meal, spices...then boiled in water, then refrigerated to solidify. When you are ready to cook it you slice it, dredge it in flour and fry it. Yum yum yum. we love it.

Ellen's "grandson-in-law", Mike Carmosino makes fabulous "OX ROAST" and of course Ellen stocked up on that for us, too. We have already had a sandwich of that, and are eagerly awaiting some more!.

Kathy, Ron's wife made us a CHERRY PIE...oh boy is that good...home made, and we have already had a piece of that. You won't recognize us when we return, after all this food, and we have only been here 2 days!!!!

For those of you (many of our friends) who know and love Ellen, she is doing really well. We have already had our afternoon gin and tonic, and she is ready to beat me at Gin Rummy. When we arrrived the first day she wasn't home...still out playing cards with her ladies group.
Oct. 1st she will celebrate her 92nd birthday and we will be here with bells on!

More about Erie soon. Mary ( P.S. Happy birthday Margaret Hobbs! )

History and Family in Pennsylvania

We grew up in Pennsylvania, but seem to know so little about it, I guess because we left right after we became full fledged adults. History was not usually the most important thing on our minds in those days! Hollidaysburg, PA is a very small town near Altoona, PA...which is near Pittsburg. My sister Soozie and her husband, Howard Etzel have a lovely home there, and we paid them a visit yesterday. While visiting, they asked us if we had ever been to "Horseshoe Curve" in Altoona. We had never heard of it, so off we went to get a fascinating history lesson.
(Soozie and Howard are both very happily retired teachers)

The Curve is a railway that was hand carved with picks and shovels and explosives into the Allegheny mountains...it's shaped exactly like a sharply curved horseshoe, and it was a major thoroughfare for the Pennsylvania railroad for shipping goods across the country in the early 1900's. It is still used extensively today by many lines, and you can wave to the engineer as he swings around the curve...(no more caboose, though).

During WWII the nazis plotted to destroy the Curve, and if they had succeeded, it could have crippled the American war effort, and changed the course of history. The PA railroad was the largest transportation artery in the nation, and every day hundreds of trains carrying thousands of troops and tons of military material went through the Curve. In 1942 German submarines landed in the dark of night and fog on the shores of Long Island, NY and Florida and deposited saboteurs to destroy the Horseshoe Curve, and many other targets including the NY water system , Niagara power plant and some major manufacturing plants. Fortunately, because of the saboteurs' greed and stupidity, they were caught , tried and executed before they could carry out their plans. Soozie gave me a book depicting all of this, and much more history of the area during WWII. If you're into history, the book is "The Horseshoe Curve...Sabotage and Subversion in the Railroad City" by Dennis p. McIlnay. Thanks Soozie and Howard for that tidbit!

Then we were treated to a wonderful dinner at the Etzels...not only was the spaghetti sauce home made, but it was made from Etzel's homegrown tomatoes. You can't get much better than that. Finally, we went to Barnes Noble bookstore where Soozie works part time. She knew where every book was and led me right to some that I hadn't been able to find. Gotta keep that rv stocked!

Tomorrow we'll be in Erie with Vern's mom and family..It will be great to see them all!!!

Mary

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!!!!

Well, I'll start out with the bad.....Of course you can't always have perfect days, rving or not, so it caught up with us yesterday. Vern got a real workout driving to Dayton, Ohio where he wanted to see the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum. We had a horrific drive with construction, detours, accidents on the road, and one detour that nearly put us into a big ditch. By the time we got here (actually, the only place close to the museum that we could find) we were beat, and unbeknownst to us (here comes the ugly) we ended up in an r v park that sounded pretty good in the book, but we realized very quickly that we are the only non-residents in the park. Rvers know what that means!!!! To make matters worse, for two days our lights in the coach had been flickering, and they finally gave out on us around 9 PM. Vern called Monaco, and they said "Check the fuse". He did and it was fine, so then he told Vern to bypass the solenoid. We decided to wait till the AM, so we went to bed only to be rudely awakened by a train that I thought was coming right into the rv around 3 AM.!!!! In the morning Vern knew just what to do, and like magic, he electrified us again..ho ho. (Thank goodness for old Clem Webster, Vern's old electrician employer when he was a teenager, and our dear friend Jack Hobbs, our rv mentor).

Now for the good part. Wright Patterson Air Force base in Dayton Ohio is huge, and they have an unbelievable air museum. I think almost every airplane that was ever built for the Air Force is there, including some from Germany, France, England, ect. Vern was so anxious to go, because it's about the only place he knows of that has the Airplanes he used to fly...F-106, F-102, T34, T-33, T-37. He found them and really enjoyed them all, including ones that friends had flown...Terry Wall's C-133...(Terry, notice how your airplane is hovering over Vern's like a stern father,) John Bollinger's B-47 and B-52, and so many others. Vern even found his Alaska squadron's (317th Fighter Squadron )mascot, "Iron Mike". Mike used to get stolen on a regular basis, and taken to strange places, like Viet Nam, Greenland, England , or wherever. Then it was up to the 317th pilots to find him again and bring him home. I see he has found a permanent home at last!!. (See Iron Mike's photo at top) We were there from 10 AM to 4 PM and it was great. After I figured how long we had been in there I told VB he owes me an Art Museum visit!!!!! In the entry there is a beautiful sculpture of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun.

The next good thing of the day was a visit to The Cracker Barrel Restaurant..what a treat!! It's always something to look forward to since California doesn't have any. Fortunately, we'll remember the museum and forget the rv park(I hope!)

Mary

So much more in Indiana!

We took our drive to Kokomo today to see the house we lived in when Lori was born, and to reminisce a little. It's funny how you remember things...or don't. I remembered our exact address from 1962 when Lori was born. We both remembered that Terry, who was two at the time, used to play with the little boy around the corner, J. D. Pryor. ... such a big name for such a little boy. We (the two Moms) used to lift the boys over the back fence to play with each other, and when I would be holding the new baby and looking across the fence to check on Terry, he always decided he had to come home...only for a minute, then it was back to J D's. I'm not sure if the house was magenta then, but since that was always Lori's favorite color, maybe that's why???!!!

The reason we lived in Kokomo was that Vern was stationed at Bunker Hill Air Force Base where he flew F-106's, so of course that was on our list of to do's. It isn't called Bunker Hill now, It's Grissom (Gus Grissom was born here). Sadly for Vern, any trace of the airplane he flew here is gone, and the only thing that was familiar to us was the runway and his ops building. Most of the other buildings were gone, and there is even a prison on the grounds now. So much for progress. He did manage to find his squadron patch, and even a photo of one of the pilots that he flew with...Roscoe Turner. There were lots of other airplanes there though, and we were wishing that Luke and Trevor could see them all. Maybe they will someday..Eric, there's a trip for you!!!!

Next on our list was a visit to the University of Notre Dame. It is such a beautiful old campus, and we enjoyed seeing all the students walking around either on their phones (sound familiar, Taylor?) or reading in front of one of the reflecting pools. It made me want to be a student there, but then I remembered I'd have to study....hmmm? We found out that the starting quarterback for the football team (the fighting Irish) is a freshman named Jimmy Clausen , really big deal...He is from about 5 miles from our home in California, and went to Oaks Christian School in Thousand Oaks. Small world. We saw a magnificent mural of Jesus on the front of the 15 story (!!!!) library building which faces the football field. They say if you are up high in the stands during a game you can see it just beyond the home goalpost.....check out the picture and see what you think!!!

Tomorrow we will pull up the jacks and be on our way. Indiana has so much more to offer than I knew. I would love to come back again.

Mary

Indiana.....Pleasant Surprises

Elkhart, Indiana has been one of the nicest surprises!!!! We came here because this is where the Monaco factory is, and we have been having trouble with our sattelite tv. (yes, another gadget).
I hated the idea of wasting time here, but it was right on the way, so we stopped. One thing about Monaco is that they have overnight parking and full hookups for all their customers while they are doing the coach repairs. We ended up staying here 4 nights, even though the rv was finished the first day. Monaco will let you stay as long as you want if there are open spaces...they even have free laudramats. Apparently this is the center of rv manufacturing, and it is interesting to see all the different motor coach companies right next to each other.

The first thing I found out was that this area has a very big Amish settlement nearby, with some really neat shops and restaurants. Vern and I are in the market for a new dining room set, so we set out to look at furniture. The first place we went after looking up the address looked just like someone's house in the middle of nowhere. We walked in and were blown away by some of the most beautiful Amish handmade furniture you can imagine. Rooms and rooms of it. Oak, Maple and Pennsylvania Cherry (there is a difference), all solid hardwoods and beautiful designs. There were many, many establishments like this one (Weaver hardwoods).

There was Yoder's meat and cheese store, a farmer's market...you can only guess what the cheese tasted like!!!! I also bought some pork chops that I am dying to cook...all natural, local meat. The quilt shops were plentiful, with every design you can think of and beautiful handiwork. Of course there was lots of tourist stuff, too.

But here is the best and most surprising thing. I have been wanting a small coffee table for the rv. I found one at the rally that was jut the ticket, and was told that it was made by the Amish in Indiana. For some reason I didn't buy it, and later was sorry. Guess what...the man who makes them is right here in a little town called Shipshewana. We went to find him and had a heck of a time, since he is out on a farm rd..but we did find him..."Focal Products". We walked right into his workshop as he was making them. What luck!!!!!!!

It was fun seeing all the horse and buggies on the road...also all the Amish riding their bikes. Their farms are so beautiful and well kept, it is such a pleasure to drive through the countryside.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and everything is closed around here, so we are going to drive to Kokomo. As I recall, when we lived there we gorged ourselves on corn and tomatoes, so maybe we will be lucky enough to do it again.

Mary

Iowa is "CORNY"

We stayed in a lovely little campground last night, kind of an out of the way, off the beaten track town called Avoca. It had been such a hot day, and when we arrived we were the only ones at the park. Later, three other rigs pulled in...We sat out on the grass just as it was cooling off. All of a sudden the trees were alive with sounds...I think it was locusts....maybe katydids, I don't know my bugs very well. It reminded me of Erie on those hot evenings when we were kids. Very charming!!!! The only thing missing was the lightening bugs. Terry and Taylor just visited Erie. Maybe they Experienced the same thing.

Today we drove to Davenport, Iowa. We saw miles and miles and miles more of cornfields. If corn/ethanol ever becomes the fuel of choice, Iowa will be the richest state in the nation!

Tomorrow we will end up in Elkhart, Indiana where there is a Monaco factory...we have a few odds and ends that need to be taken care of on our RV. While there we intend to drive over to Kokomo, Indiana for a little reminiscing. That is where we lived for a year when Vern was in the Air Force, and where Lori was born. Lori, tune in for pictures.

I won't blog for a few days, since we will be mostly just heading East. In the evenings I will be trying to finish Vern's second sock that I am trying to teach myself how to knit. I finished the first one, even though it looks a little pointy on the toe...maybe he can take up ballet!!! It will be interesting to see if the second one remotely resembles the first. Ellen, help!!!!!!!

Till next time,

Mary

Shopping...South Dakota style

While in South Dakota we stayed in a really beautiful campground called Rafters J Bar Ranch. It was one of the nicest we have ever been in and so we ended up staying there 4 days....from there we saw Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial (another figure carved into the mt.) My camera battery died, but it is an ongoing sculpture of the Indian Crazy Horse, much bigger than Mt. Rushmore. They have been at it for 50 years, and it will take another 50 probably to finish it.
Our Camp was in Hill City, Where Don and Sue found a really neat antique store. This was a REAL one with stuff you remember from your childhood. What fun pouring through it all. Sue and I found a fantastic fabric store, specializing in quilts...guess those South Dakota ladies have lots to do on those cold winter days.

Don make us another cowboy breakfast on our last day in camp, and I made us all a sauerkraut dinner, dumplings and all. Vern made sure we had all the fans on!!!!!

Next day we were headed for Wall, where there was supposedly a huge old fashioned Drug store. Anticipation was high as we drove down the road inundated by ads for the place. When we arrived we discovered we had been duped. It was a GIANT tourist trap.....so we took our picture with the Indian and got out of there (well, we did buy a few trinkets!)....Next morning at 8 AM Vern and Hulls went to Cabela's, a really neat outdoor outfitter...I stayed home and drank my coffee. I love to shop, but 8 AM is out!

Today we left the Hulls. They headed for Kansas City, and we turned East on I 80. We have driven quite a few hours through Iowa, where we see miles and miles of cornfields. The corn is cut, and the hay is baled....guess they are getting ready for winter, which is hard to believe since the temperatures have been in the high 90's.

So far it's been a wonderful trip and it was fun to have company for awhile. We aren't sure when or where we are going, but hope to visit many of the relatives along the way. We will call long before we are close ...Nan, loved your message!

Mary