The Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA

While driving into Somerset, we saw a road directional sign to "Flight 93 Memorial."   We checked our map and Shanksville was about 10 miles away; we had to go there.  Everyone will remember the awful day of 9/11 in 2001 when the 4 commercial jets were hijacked in flight from Newark by terrorists with 2 planes smashing into and destroying the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a third plane crashing into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The 4th plane, United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco was hijacked after 46 minutes flight and turned around heading for the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., only 18 flying minutes away from the crash site.

Just before 10AM, the United jet is seen flying low and erratically over southwest Pennsylvania.  It crashed at 10:03 AM, upside down, at 563 miles per hour into a Somerset County agricultural field.  There were no survivors; 33 passengers, 7 crew and the 4 hijackers were killed.  After the plane was hijacked, 13 passengers placed 37 phone calls to family, friends and authorities discovering the horrible end of the first 3 flights and realizing that their plane was also going to attack an important American target.  The passengers and crew voted to try to stop the hijackers and retake control of the plane.  When the flight data recorder was located, it had clear evidence of shouts, crashes, thumps, breaking glass and plates, leading to the 9/11 Commission conclusion that the unarmed passengers and crew were seconds away from heroically overcoming the hijackers.  At that point the hijackers could be heard yelling--take it down!-- and crashing the plane into the ground.

The Flight 93 Memorial is still under construction with completion expected by 2016.  There is a temporary Visitor Shelter, a Flight Path walk and the Wall of Names, 40 concrete tablets with the names of each of the victims. A large boulder marks the impact site which was filled in after the investigation was completed.  A Memorial Grove of trees and the Visitor Center are in progress as is the entire Memorial Plaza. A Tower of Voices with 40 wind chimes is under construction near the entrance.  The Memorial Park celebrates the 40 heroes that thwarted the hijackers, sacrificing their own lives.  It's a very large Memorial and currently very somber due in large part to the nature of the event that occurred here.

Zanesville, Ohio--the Y Bridge & Alan Cottrill Sculpture Studio

After leaving the historic village of Zoar, we stayed overnight in the Amish areas in the small town of Sugarcreek, OH in a downtown campground with full hookups.  We were hoping that one of these villages would have a Memorial Day parade but it didn't happen.

On Memorial Day Monday, we drove to the tiny village of Charm, the location of the Guggisberg Cheese Factory where we tasted many of their different cheeses and bought pieces of butter cheese and Swiss, which were very tasty.

Millersburg is a bigger town laid out in 1815 with 3025 population now but many businesses were closed for the holiday. Our destination was Zanesville, Ohio, settled in 1799, and once the Pottery Capital of the U.S. and still producing pottery today.  Wes and Shirley, parents of our daughter Monique's husband Kirk back in Seattle, were our hosts for 2 nights, including several meals and a nice dinner out, which we all enjoyed.  It was a real treat seeing the red streak of cardinals flying on and off their backyard bird feeders...and Lin attempting to photograph them!

The Y-Bridge is very unique, shaped like the letter Y, carrying U.S. Route 40 over the Muskingum and Licking Rivers.  U.S. 40 is the current name for the original National Road, the first federal highway, authorized by Congress in 1806.  The bridge has been in use since the early 1800s, having been rebuilt several times.  The very interesting National Road Museum is on the outskirts of Zanesville; we enjoyed a visit 2 years ago.  The Zane Grey Museum (Zanesville is the famous author of Western novel's birthplace) is in the same location as the National Road Museum.

The other thing we missed last time and really wanted to see was the Sculpture Studio of Alan Cottrill, visible several blocks away in downtown Zanesville with a block long display of his large bronze figures of military subjects, cowboys, famous Americans and Presidents, animals and much more with more sculptures on the roof of his building!  This is a working studio which is self-guiding, showing all the steps from concept to clay to wax to bronze.  His entire body of work of many hundreds of sculptures is on display and photography is allowed.  A studio brochure says "this is the world's largest bronze sculpture exhibition of any living sculptor's work."  Alan co-owns a bronze foundry nearby that casts all his works.  Most of his work is unbelievably realistic, especially anything showing human anatomy.

A bit macabre but Alan sculpted tombs for him and his wife

Next day, we drove on into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and through the old town of Somerset, to a campground a few miles away.  We had to stop and photograph the iconic Somerset County Courthouse with its copper dome and limestone construction with the adjacent large Civil War Memorial..  

This is the 3rd Courthouse built on this site and was erected between 1904-06.  A Somerset walking tour booklet notes that "between 1900 and 1910, the county's population grew by an astounding 48%!  Many of present-day Somerset's buildings date to this era of tremendous growth and prosperity."  This prosperity came during their coal-boom years!  

The impressive Somerset County Civil War Memorial, constructed of white bronze, shows a Civil War Union soldier at parade rest.  The text reads: "To the Perpetual Memory of the Defenders of the Union 1861-1865.  Erected September 17, 1888 by the surviving soldiers and citizens of Somerset County, PA."   Around the base and 3 sides of the monument are the names of 184 soldiers killed in battle, 17 missing in action and 186 soldiers who died of disease during their Civil War service. 

Coming in our next post--the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville, PA.

The Historic Village of Zoar

We first heard about the village of Zoar, Ohio in the National Trust for Historic Preservation monthly email newsletter.  Zoar had a dire emergency!  The Army Corps of Engineers had built a 60' high levee around Zoar in 1936 to prevent the frequent flooding from the Tuscarawas River that had happened for years.  Due to poor maintenance, the levee had some areas that needed work but the Corps had no budget.   After much study, the Corps proposed 3 alternatives:  Repair the levee; Buy the village, tear it down and let it flood; or Relocate the village to higher ground.   The National Trust put Zoar on its "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places" list in 2012 and enough petitions and signatures, including ours, were generated to finally get politicians involved and force the Corps to back off.  Now the Corps has said it will study solutions to reinforce the levee and allow Zoar to survive!  That's the background!

Part of the 1936 levee

The Village of Zoar was founded in 1817 by a group of German religious dissenters seeking escape from religious persecution in their homeland of Wurttemberg in SE Germany.   They had separated themselves from the state religion of Germany, Lutheranism, and were being persecuted because they did not believe in baptism or confirmation and did not celebrate religious holidays except for the Sabbath. Thet wanted their religion to be simple and bereft of all ceremony.  They emphasized a mystical and direct relationship with God. They were also pacifists, definitely not popular in those days in Germany.

Joseph Bimeler (1778-1853) was a teacher in Ulm, Germany and the Society's founder, spiritual leader and business administrator. The group of 300 separatists arrived in Philadelphia in August 1817 and were befriended by the Quakers who provided shelter and helped them find jobs.  But their goal was to establish their own community in America so sight unseen, they purchased a 5500 acre tract along the Tuscarawas River, contracting to repay the loan from the Quakers over 15 years.  Small groups moved onto the land as they could afford to move.  The first cabin was completed in December 1817.  They called their community Zoar, a Biblical reference meaning sanctuary from evil.  Food was scarce the first winter, forcing the Zoarites to work on neighboring farms to feed themselves.   In 1818, each family cleared and cultivated its acreage but yields were low.  In 1819, the commune was born, with Bimeler as leader, holding all the land and property in common.  They called themselves the Society of Separatists of Zoar.  Trustees were elected and made decisions for the members and distributed food, clothing and shelter.  Times were still difficult but improving!  They still were not generating enough money to repay their mortgage!

In 1820, the state of Ohio began building the Ohio and Erie Canal and needed some of the Zoar land for this project.  The state offered the Zoarites a fee of $21,000 to build a 7 mile section of the Canal that would run  through their land and they happily accepted as this would allow them to retire their loan!  The women of Zoar did much of the canal building by hand as they outnumbered men in the colony by 2 to1.  By 1834, the Society paid off its debts and had a surplus.  Men and women had equal rights!  Most Zoarites had regularly assigned tasks to perform in the communal society and those without regular duties assembled daily to receive assignments from the trustees.

One impressive feature of Zoar is the central flower garden which is based on the Book of Revelation with a towering Norway Spruce in the middle representing Christ and 12 rays with Juniper trees at the middle emanating from the center representing the 12 apostles.  A large garden house, part hothouse, adjoins the garden.

The village grew, crops flourished, cattle and sheep farming prospered and new houses and shops were built.  The river powered their sawmill, flour mill, planing mill and woolen mill.  Brick and ropemaking were developed  By the mid-1830s, Zoar was virtually self-sustaining.  They produced an excess of food, flour, meat, hides, eggs, butter and poultry which was sold to other towns. By 1852, their assets were valued at more than $1 million!  But times were changing!  Joseph Bimeler died in 1853, leaving no experienced successor.  The social and economic environment was changing in the U.S.  The rise of mass production made Zoar's smaller handmade businesses obselete.  Younger members also drifted off to make their fortunes.  The members of the Society voted to dissolve in 1898 and the common property was divided among members with each receiving about 50 acres, $200 and other property.   Zoar is considered one of the most successful and long-lasting communal communities in America with 81 years of existence.

Today the village is run by the Zoar Community Association to preserve the history and heritage of Historic Zoar Village.and 75 families live in Zoar with a population of about 170.  There are 10 restored buildings, with a number owned by the Ohio Historical Society, which began buying and restoring some of the original village buildings in 1942. 

The goal is to show Zoar as it appeared in the days of its greatest prosperity.  Zoar tours are self-guided with costumed interpreters in the Town Hall Museum, the Bimeler House or #1 House, The Garden and Garden House, the Tin Shop, the Blacksmith Shop, the Bakery and sometimes the Zoar Church.  The Zoar Cemetery is interesting with a number of Civil War graves as well as Bimeler's grave.  Zoar Lake is also accessible and this section of the Ohio and Erie Canal is nearby but not functional other than as a biking or walking path now. There are several annual festivals in Zoar and in September 19-20, 2015 there will be a Civil War reenactment of the Battle of Sailor's Creek.  We really enjoyed our visit to Zoar!

Zoar Sources: Websites of the Ohio Historical Society and National Parks Service furnished historical information.

Go Dutch in beautiful Holland, Michigan!

We arrived in Holland (Michigan) on 5/21 and parked the Sprinter at the beginning of downtown and walked 5-6 blocks taking in the typical Dutch stepped gable architecture, the shop window decorations, street banners, and a salute to upcoming Memorial Day in many business windows of World War I & II recruiting posters.  The Holland Tulip Time Festival was 5/3-10 this year but we were told it was still very cold and the tulips just peaked just before the week of our visit!  Six million tulips were in bloom in Holland and you will see a few of our photographs of this amazing spectacle all along the downtown streets and in the wonderful city parks.


Holland was setttled by a group of Dutchmen in 1847 seeking freedom of religion and economic opportunities they were unable to obtain in the Netherlands. Holland is located on Lake Macatawa that was not connected to nearby Lake Michigan, crucial to their commercial success to transport goods in and out of the town.  They hand dug a canal linking the two bodies of water allowing ships to dock directly in Holland.  Holland still honors its Dutch legacy but is diverse and cosmopolitan with many restaurants even a large Irish pub on a prime corner of downtown!  Holland is also a city of art with many sculptures downtown and many other locations.  The Holland Visitors Bureau puts out an art and architecture brochure that includes 20 buildings and sculptures and we tried to see them all!  They range from Dutch theme to "the Joy of Music" (a five peice band sculpture), Ben Franklin on a park bench reading the Declaration of Independence, Holland's founder, Rev. Albertus Van Raalte, and an impressive bronze of a group of children pledging allegiance to the American flag.  Most original downtown buildings did not survive a devastating fire in 1871 so many were rebuilt in 1870-80.

Holland has a huge 250 year old windmill brought over from the Netherlands set in a commercial park called Windmill Island Gardens adjacent to downtown, that is still milling flour, along with an antique Dutch carousel and an Amsterdam street organ.  When we visited Holland 4 years ago, we enjoyed visits to Windmill Gardens as well as Nelis' Dutch Village.  So this trip, we went back to the Dutch Village and were not disappointed as they have added several more authentic attractions.  It really is stepping back 100 years in the Netherlands with the architecture, bridges, Dutch dancers at the old street organ, a giant stork, the costumed interpreters at the wooden shoe carving shop, the cheese shop, candle carving and the Delft pottery making shop.

One big highlight was an authentic Dutch lunch at the Hungry Dutchman Cafe where we had delicious Dutch pea soup, Kroketten (fried pork and beef roux), SaucijzenBroodjes (pork sausage wrapped in pastry dough), and a large slice of Dutch apple pie!   There were lots of games and  fun for kids like the huge wooden shoe house, the great old 1924 Herschell-Spillman carousel, Dutch schoolhouse lessons, and a demonstration of the authentic old cheese weighhouse.  Their museum is very interesting showing their start in 1958 as a tulip growing garden along with many Dutch costume and cultural displays.  On the hour, a Dutch Tourist Office film takes you on a typical tour of the Netherlands.  A large Dutch store complex has nearly every Dutch porduct known for sale with huge displays of Delftware, Dutch foods (yep-we bought some!) and much more. A carillion sounds out the hours and half hours much like many Dutch villages.  Altogether a very well done attraction at a reasonable entry price too.

We drove to several of the parks and were very impressed with the number of moms, kids and baby strollers utilizing the parks.  All were very clean, huge expanses of grass, gardens with tulips and sculptures too. We went out to Holland State Park which is where the Holland Canal meets Lake Michigan with its iconic "Big Red" Lighthouse.  The fog kept drifting in and out so the Big Red red color was not as saturated as on a sunny day but still quite nice.  We thought we'd camp there but we found that in addition to the $27 a night electric site charge there is a $9 per night permit required--a little higher than we wanted so we went to the Holland Elks Club which is very pleasant, even got a 15A electric connection for a $10 donation to their veteran's fund.  The next morning we drove back into town and  found a beautiful city park called Window on the Waterfront with incredible tulip plantings, 80,000 strong--Wow!   Our photographs tell the Holland story very well!

The next day we drove across Michigan and down into Ohio, stopping at Mansfield and a Super Walmart for shopping and parking overnight.  The next day we arrived at the Village of Zoar!  Stay tuned!

Visiting Jerry Ford, Muskegon, MI & LST-393

Sunday 5/18, we left the Escapade Fairgrounds and drove north towards Grand Rapids, MI and checked into Wood Chip RV Park about 10 miles south of Grand Rapids.  We had decided to give ourselves a rest after a month on the road so we paid for 2 nights of R&R.  We got reorganized, did a little cleaning and relaxed reading books and magazines. On Tuesday 5/20 we arrived at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, right on the river in the heart of downtown with spacious grounds and free parking.  This Presidential Library and Museum is unique in that the Library is physically split from the Museum and is located on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor--the only such split facility in the Presidential Library system.

The Museum is on the 2nd Floor and begins with the sights and sounds of the mid-1970s, rock and roll, the Vietnam War, the Watergate breakin, Nixon's resignation, Squeaky Fromme and the pistol she used in her assassination attempt on Ford, the '70s energy crisis and much more. The whole story of how Ford became the U.S. Vice President after Spiro Agnew resigned and U.S. President after Nixon's resignation without ever being elected to these offices is unprecedented in U. S. history! 

Iron sculpture of Ford in his football days

A look into his childhood and school years, becoming an Eagle Scout, his football stardom in high school and college and service as a Navy officer in World War II on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific were all interesting as well as his law career and then political career leading up to the presidency. There is a replica of Ford's Oval Office and the Cabinet Room in the Museum.  And of course a discussion of Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon and the reasoning behind it, still controversial today!  We came away with the impression that this was a very decent, honest man trying to do the world's most difficult job!

Later that afternoon we drove northwest to the Lake Michigan port city of Muskegon to visit one of only two remaining World War II LST (Landing Ship,Tank) amphibious ships. 

 First we stopped at the Muskegon Chamber of Commerce in the old but beautifully restored Union Railroad Depot built in 1895.  We then walked to several nearby nicely restored buildings like the Muskegon Board of Education administration building (1895), the Hackley Public Library (1890) and the large well-kept Hackley City Park with a huge Civil War monument and with statues of famous Civil War Union generals in all 4 corners of the park!

 Lin, as some of you will remember, wants to visit almost all of the Navy museum ships in the U.S.   This was USS LST-393, a veteran of 3 major European campaigns in World War II, including D-Day at Omaha Beach in 1944.  This ship was sold as surplus by the government in 1947 and used as a car ferry on Lake Michigan until the 70s when she was laid up at its current location then rescued by a group of Navy veterans about 12 years ago.  The ship is in remarkable condition and the tank deck is filled with wartime exhibits plus a WWII Navy training film video on the operation of an LST and how it approaches a beach and drops its bow ramp and offloads its tank deck cargo of combat vehicles and then its deck cargo.  Virtually all its spaces on 6 decks including the engine rooms are open to visitors so it was a very informative visit.

 In keeping with the Navy theme, we drove out toward the canal to Lake Michigan to view a historic WWII submarine, USS Silversides (SS-236). The Museum had closed for the day but we could walk down the pier and inspect the ship.  Silversides is a Gato-class sub commissioned 12/14 1941!  In WWII, she earned 12 battle stars in combat and a Presidential Unit Citation for sinking 23 enemy ships, #3 record of all Allied Submarines so quite a historic ship!  Also on display ahead of the sub,
is a prohibition-era U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, USCGC McLane (WSC-146) commissioned in 1927 to chase bootleggers.  During WWII, she was assigned to the Bering Sea Patrol--very cold, rough duty!  She was decommisioned in 1968 and became a museum ship in Chicago and eventually was moved to this museum in Muskegon.  I find this ship interesting because it was contemporary with the larger USCGC Itasca that my father served on as gunnery officer whthe ship guiding Amelia Earhart into Howland Island when she disappeared.  That's it for Muskegon; next we'll visit beautiful Holland, Michigan, also on Lake Michigan.

Escapade Seminars, Amish Barns & Buggies!

We're starting this post with a quick wrap-up of Escapade activities, beginning Tuesday 5/13.  One reason we enjoy the Escapades so much is the learning opportunities at Seminars.  A couple calling themselves "Geeks on Tour" have been at the Escapades for 3 years now and present seminars on all the electronic toys and essentials we all have.   So over the course of the week, we attended 5 Geeks classes--Technology for Travelers, Smart Phones and Tablets, Every RVer Needs a Blog, Google Maps & Cloud Computing. Both Chris and Jim have been computer coaches for many years and have almost all of the answers.  They give a good handout with each seminar and offer a membership for $59 a year that gets you a CD or flash drive with a library of nearly 200 videos on all their classes and also covering software.  We've learned a lot and this year they finally convinced us that we could handle a blog, but it takes time, so we're nearly 10 days behind!

Seminars that we enjoyed during the week were Alaska by RV on your Own (vs going on an RV Caravan), Highway History and Backroad Mystery (a series of great stories of places found on the road), Your Bucket List (putting together a list of places to go and things to do before you both croak!), Basic Genealogy (presented by our Genies group--the questions are always interesting!), My Personal Amish & Mennonite Story (a great presentation by a lady raised Amish but later became Mennonite for more freedom and who answered many questions about the religions), and finally, Escape to Mexico (we, Maryke and Lin, have been presenting this seminar for 3 years and it helps bring in new members to our Mexican Connection/Escapees Chapter 8 Mexico travel group and it's followed immediately by our Chapter 8 Social with chips and salsa, cheese and drinks --we're the Chapter Presidents this year.)

Of course, many other things were happening during the week--we had 510 RVs come to Escapade this year, down from normal.  Tuesday night, we had a Genies Pizza Party that's always fun to talk about our Rally and genealogy research that was ahead of Escapade this year in Fort Wayne.  Wednesday was exciting because after 3 days of heavy rains, our Infield camping was almost impassable with really deep mud. 

Several rigs got stuck and had to be towed out. We called our area "The Swamp!"  Finally the Fairground brought in several big truck fulls of gravel to make the entrance more passable!  Wed. night we had a Silver Bullets (Airstream owners) Social and met a few new Airstreamers.  We organized this group 6-7 years ago and we meet at Escapade and Airstream events. We had a chance to go to dinner with our good friends Anne and Roger Wilson at the very good Hacienda Mexican restaurant in town!   Everyone looks forward to Ham-o-Rama Wed. night! It's like an Amateur Night where Escapees members entertain us in the big hall with music, singing or story telling.  One very pregnant gal had an opera quality soprano voice and sang an aria from the opera Carmen--wow! We had very talented people this show, most pro quality!

On Friday 5/16 we played hooky until 3PM, going on a drive through the Amish towns of Shipshewana and Middlebury. The famous flea market in the first town with up to 800 vendors is only on Tuesday and Wednesday so we missed that, although we visited a large antique market in the same complex.  We went to Menno-Hof, a large visitor center that tells the history of the Mennonite, Amish and Hutterite people that came to the US for religious freedom back in the 1700s.

Barn with buggy and Amish woman

Lots of interesting information and graphic displays of their persecution in Europe and the lives they have built in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, the 3 biggest populated states with the 3 religions.  We visited an Amish cheese factory and bought some of their delicious Swiss cheese. Got lots of photographs of farms and barns and horse and buggies moving about the area.  We got back to the Fairgrounds in time for the Closing Ceremony and final big door prizes--as usual, we got "nada!"

Reflection of barn under blooming apple trees

John Deere alive and well in Amish area

And finally, Saturday 5/17 between 7-9AM was the Escapade "Hitchup Breakfast" with various sweet rolls and drinks and a chance to say goodbye to friends.  Right after that, we took off for a final exploration of the Amish areas, this time going to the towns of Nappanee and Wakarusa, and back to Middlebury.  Wakarusa has an large old 5 and 10 cent store that now sells the biggest selection of candies that we've ever seen!  Bought a bag of Necco wafers--remember them?   We were literally like "a kid in a candy store"!

All these areas are interesting, friendly folks, have good food and lots of photo ops!


In a "grand gesture" the Fairgrounds decided to compensate everyone in the "Swamp" with one night of free camping, and we took them up on it!

Amish don't have telephones in the house--This is a phone on their

property usually near the road they can use and people can leave voicemail messages.

That's how you take your bicycle!

You can even add a "trailer"

This whole Northern Indiana area is home to almost all of the major RV manufacturers. You see lots full of 5th wheels, trailers, park models etc. Many Amish are working here building the interiors.
The Amish have a great work ethic and do top quality work!  There are many companies delivering these RVs all over the nation to RV dealers, and you'll notice many of them on the road with brand new RV's in tow. Drivers with 3/4 and 1 ton pickups are in high demand for this work. Anybody interested....?

A "threefer" with small teardrop trailers

Rows of Ford chassis waiting to become Class C motorhomes at Coachman plant