PA, OH, IN, IL, IA

When we left New York state, we passed through the northwestern corner of PA that borders Lake Erie.  We followed the Yellowstone Trail on Hwy 20 but didn't find any signs, etc. about the YT.

We  continued into OH heading for an RV park on the Huron River.

This sign is as close as we got to downtown Cleveland.  We have by-passed many of the larger cities in most states by taking freeway loops around them but we have to forge through the Cleveland area on Hwy 90.  We try to go between rush hours and so far, we have been extremely lucky to make all the lane changes without missing the lanes we needed.  That's a big plus when you are towing trailers and vehicles.

We did pass by Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians.   The Cleveland Indians home park opened on April 4, 1994, when fans filled the ballpark to watch the Indians battle the Seattle Mariners.  I thought it was interesting that their first game at Progessive Field was with Seattle.

The rivers were muddy looking because OH had received a lot of rain just days before we arrived.

There were lots of farms.  It is still amazing to see all the farmland across the U.S.

This old, old silo was completely covered with ivy. 

It is great to see the wind farms in so many places, too.

Pioneer Hi-Bred is the second largest (to Monsanto Company) U.S. producer of hybrid seeds for agriculture.  We have seen quite a few of their plants as we have traveled.

Ohio celebrated their bicentennial as a state in 2003.  Someone was proud enough to have this great sign on their outbuilding. 

Looks like this trucking company didn't get their trucks moved before the water raised.  We saw lots of high water in both OH and IL but only saw a little on the sides of the roads we traveled.  There were signs indicating the water had been over the roads just a day or two before we got there.

We traveled Hwy 6 after leaving the RV park in OH to our next destination in Indiana.  We left Hwy 6 and went north on Hwy 9 to Howe, IN, where we spent several days.

Here's another picture of the high water we saw in IN.  We have been extremely fortunate to have dodged many storms. 

We spent one day traveling from Howe back to Hicksville, OH, looking for YT towns and signs.  We did see some old homes and buildings.

Hicksville, OH, was a town on the YT but there weren't any signs or roads named after the Trail that we could find.  We had a laugh at the name of the town, though. 

In many states beginning in PA and all through the Great Lakes states, we have seen Amish communities.  This is the only picture I took of them because I didn't want to invade their privacy.  This family was at a park on a Sunday afternoon.  We have seen them in a parking lot at Walmart, driving along the highways, and in their gardens near their homes.

It was only 6 miles to MI from where we stayed in OH.

We made a trip to Walmart in Sturgis, MI, to get a replacement tire for our trailer.  This is the second tire on the same side of our trailer that we have had to replace.  The tires on the other side are wearing normally.  What's up????

After studying our resource books about the YT, we decide to head for WI where there appears to be a real interest in the preservation of the history of the YT.  It has been fun to research and explore the YT but we have added many other sights to our trip that have made it an awesome trip.  We head through IL to get to WI.

We traveled through the northeastern corner of IL south of Chicago on Hwy 30 so again we avoided the congestion of a large city.  It was a busy road but not like a freeway right through Chicago.  We saw the Chicago Heights area.  Also, Hwy 30 was the YT at one time.

After leaving the suburbs of Chicago, we again found nice farms.

How many rivers have we passed?  We haven't really counted but they are beautiful.

Wind farms are everywhere.

We decided to drive on Hwy 61 through IA.  It is pretty with lots of rolling hills.

This part of IA was mostly farmlands and rural communities.

The highway went in the middle of all the buildings for this farm.

The old farm house was still standing but unoccupied.  We have seen many abandoned buildings.  The stories they could tell would probably be interesting.

What a neat city hall.

WI here we come. Oh, did I tell you that we were in the middle of thunder and lightning storms all day as we traveled through IA.  It was exciting to say the least.

Lake Erie, Niagara Falls and Teddy Roosevelt

What do Lake Erie, Niagara Falls and Teddy Roosevelt have in common?  New York state. 

We left Massachusetts and headed for a state park on the shores of Lake Erie.  As we traveled across New York state to get to our park, we realized that our perception of New York state included big cities and congestion.  We were pleasantly surprised to see scenic hills and lots of rivers and farms.

We diverted from our pursuit of the Yellowstone Trail to go to Niagara Falls.  The falls are located between New York state and Ontario, Canada and there are actually three falls.  We chose to view them from the Canadian side and were glad we did.  They are very amazing from both sides but from the Canadian side, you are looking directly at them.  On the U.S. side, you have more a sideways view of them.  This picture is of American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls (divided only by Luna Island).   There are tour boats that take you for a close-up view.

Another view of American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.  From October 24, 1901 to October 20, 2004, there were sixteen trips over the falls by 14 different people (2 people went over twice).  Sadly, five out of the 14 lost their lives.  The falls actually stopped flowing once just before midnight on March 29, 1848.  The reason - a strong south-west gale pushed the ice fields in Lake Erie blocking the channel completely.  It stopped running for about 30 hours until the wind shifted and the water broke through to its customary route.

This is a picture (below) of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.  If you could see them from above, the horseshoe shape is really evident.  The tour boat actually goes under these falls.  Niagara Falls aren't the tallest falls in the world.  There are actually 50 waterfalls that are taller.  What makes Niagara Falls so extraordinary is its combined height and volume. 

Teri and Suzy were having fun.

We stopped for this view of Lake Erie as we came home from the falls.  It is immense.  It even has tides like the oceans. 

It was a beautiful, clear day but you still couldn't see land on the other side.

We have seen wind turbines in many states where we have traveled but were really suprised to see them on the shores of Lake Erie.  They seemed to be getting enough wind to keep them moving.

Here's the explanation of Teddy Roosevelt and New York state.  When President McKinley was shot, he was in Buffalo, NY.  Teddy Roosevelt was called to Buffalo when it was known that President McKinley was not going to survive.  

This is the Wilcox mansion where Teddy Roosevelt was inaugurated.  The home has been named a national historic site and is well worth the tour. 

The Wilcox mansion was also used as an army barracks in 1838.

This is the desk where the newly sworn-in President Roosevelt wrote a letter of assurance to the American people.

A telegraph was set up in the mansion where many telegraphs of congratulations and encouragement were received by President Roosevelt.

The furnishings may not have been the original furnishings of the home but they have used period pieces.

The library is where the inauguration actually took place.  It was chilling to think of what happened in this room.

Buffalo, NY, is home of the Gold Medal company.  However, they no longer give tours.  It would have been interesting.

We enjoyed our stay in New York State.

Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine

We left our RV's in Brimfield, MA, and took a three day trip through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

As soon as we crossed the Vermont border, there were signs to watch for moose.  We never saw a moose in the wild but we were very curious about the moose we saw in Bennington, VT.

Yes, they were on top of things and multi-colored.  What a hoot.

We saw lots of rivers, brooks and lakes in all of the New England states.  They are pristine and gorgeous.

We began to see houses with very steep roofs when traveling through VT.  (Hope you don't mind the postal abbreviations-it saves me typing them out and I have inside information.)

VT is known for covered bridges and when we heard the amount of snow they receive during the winter, we understood why.  Also, the snow is the reason for the steep roofs on the houses.

Onto to New Hampshire.

These stone fences are common in the NE states.  Suzy, our traveling buddy, has been to England and Scotland where these kind of fences are also very common.  The immigrants from Europe probably influenced the use of stone fences plus it makes good use of the resources available.

NH also had lots of pretty lakes.

Try to see past the guard rails on the bridge to see the awesome view of the rivers, hills and lots of green trees.  We would love to visit this area in the fall for the colors but all the shades of new green growth was also beautiful.

The lower part of the roof on this house was metal.  Our theory is the steep roofs and metal helps all that snow to slide off the houses.

Here's a stone fence that looks like it has been around for a long time with little care.  We saw these fences on both sides of the road at times.  There would be some coming across fields, too, like they were dividing them.

We enjoyed visiting Maine.  It is one of the coastal states of NE.

We saw several light houses on the part of the coast we traveled between Kittery and Kennebunk, ME.

The Maine coast reminded us of the Oregon coast with lots of rocks, harbors, etc.

It looked like there were many year-round residential areas but we also saw lots of rental homes, motels and charming shops.

As we made our way around NE, we began to notice a lot of Dunkin' Donuts shops.

Here's a picture of a photo we saw in one of the shops.  Dunkin' Donuts is celebrating 60 years of business this year.

We didn't count but we think that in one day of driving we probably saw 100 of these shops.  We compared them to espresso stands (Starbucks, etc.) in the Northwest and the ABC stores in Hawaii. 

There were some fascinating homes, too.

We are always seeing the names of cities that remind of someone or are the name of another city in the US.  We were actually surprised at how many cities have the same name as another city.  For example, Portland, OR and Portland, ME.  This sign reminded us of Sonja and Kent Hardwick, cousins we just visited in NJ.

We keep on keeping on.  Maybe we will be home by July this year.