Our Road Trip - Part Two

Our Road Trip -Part Two

 

My last column chronicled the first part of our Great American Road Trip towards the East coast with family. When that column was submitted, we were still in Kitty Hawk, NC on the Outer Banks.

 

We finished our stay there by driving south on Hatteras Island and marveled at the wetlands that buffer the North Carolina coast from Atlantic hurricane storm surges. We saw inlets that welcomed the pirates and provided refuge from storms at sea. More seafood beckoned at seaside joints that offered views of brave para-surfers flying across the bay. The next day, we headed West stopping at Fort Raleigh and the Lost Colony that was home to some of the first European immigrants until they vanished. 

 

Then it was onward further West to Greensboro, NC and a visit with my older brother who retired there after serving in law enforcement in California, working for our father in the family business and raising his family. He returned to the area where he met his wife while serving in the 82^nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. It was good to connect with him and share family stories from our early California childhood.

 

We next trekked further west to Knoxville, TN where we reconnected with our youngest and her family and we all met up with our second youngest granddaughter and her new husband, Kevin. The interesting connection here is that Kevin now works at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory which is where our youngest daughter’s husband worked after receiving his PhD. While there we went to the Museum of Science and Energy which traces the history of Oak Ridge in the development of the atomic bomb and nuclear energy during World War II and after. Current work at the lab continues to provide solutions for our energy needs and the decommissioning of nuclear weapons from around the world. 

 

After Knoxville, we went to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It is truly a mammoth cave and the park on top of it is spectacular. Our daughter and her family took the extended tour below ground that descends over 600 vertical steps. My wife and I took the less strenuous, old geezer, tour which only went down and back up about 100 steps. The history of the place is fascinating. The cave has been in use for thousands of years by native inhabitants of the area and then later European immigrants who settled there. It has been a tourist attraction since the early 1800s. Now a National Park, the various aspects of the cave and surroundings are being preserved for future generations. 

 

After Mammoth Cave, it was time for us to head back home. Three weeks on the road and over 3,000 miles driven is enough. 

 

We saw America on the move as we travelled. The more parks and historical sites we visited, the more families we encountered. We kept track of the license plates we saw and counted all but Wyoming and Vermont on the cars and trucks we saw on the road. We also encountered staffing shortages in restaurants and park facilities due to pandemic furloughs. Many could not fill available tables or spaces due to lack of staff. 

 

The other major issue that struck us was the condition of the highways and back roads we traveled. We went through Michigan, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois on our venture. We were struck with the quality of the roads we took. All of them, in every state we were in, had better highways and secondary roads than we find in our home state of Wisconsin. It did not seem to matter whether the states were controlled by Republicans or Democrats, they all appeared to invest in building and maintaining good roads for travelers. Instead of visiting bogus election audits in Arizona, our legislators should just get in their cars and take a road trip to see what we are missing.

 

All in all, we had a great trip. It was wonderful to reconnect with family and hug our kids. We loved visiting places where history was made and learning about the feats of everyday Americans that built this country. We have been privileged to see much of our country’s parks and monuments and hope to continue the journeys as America recovers from COVID.-

Summer Travels

Post-Pandemic Road Trips

Reuniting Family

 

One of the worst things about the pandemic over the past year was our inability to be with family. Our kids and grandkids are scattered across the country and in Canada. Travel to see them was impossible until we all got jabbed and the country in between our respective homes became safer for travelers. 

 

Now that all of us, except the youngest granddaughter, are fully vaccinated we are embarked once more on a great American road trip. 

 

We started early in the morning and boarded the Lake Express Ferry with 20 other people for the journey across Lake Michigan to Muskegon. We then drove to Ann Arbor to see a first cousin. Like the others on the ferry, I noticed that many of the others on the road were geezers like us. 

 

After a lovely dinner sharing family stories, we retired to a sparsely populated hotel for the night. The next day, we drove to Pittsburgh to see our son and his wife. We stayed with them and caught up on the news of their kids and new changes to their family business. 

 

Three days later, the four of us drove to America’s newest national park, the New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia. We rented a large Airbnb in Fayetteville close to the longest single arch bridge in the Northern Hemisphere that spans the river. We were joined there by our youngest daughter, her husband and their two daughters. The family stories flowed, and laughter followed. It was good to have us together once more. 

 

Our middle kid lives in Canada with her husband and they could not join us in person, so we FaceTimed with them for a virtual whole family reunion. Hopefully, we will be able to be with them later this year when the border reopens to visitors. 

 

The next two days were spent exploring the New River ecosystem which is older than any of the generations of humans who have occupied parts of the gorge etched through the steep mountains by relentless moving water. The National Park Service has done a great job protecting the space which was designated a National River by President Jimmy Carter. Now that it has joined the National Park system, more will be protected for future generations. 

 

In addition to the water and forests, we were able to explore a mining camp ghost town, Thurmond, which straddled the railroad tracks that opened the area to coal mining and lumber operations which lasted from the late 1800s into the middle of the last century. Native American histories are also preserved in the Visitor Centers that surround the park. 

 

Then it was on to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and a rented house on the beach at Kitty Hawk across the road from America’s first airport that was home to Wilbur and Orville Wright and their first flight in a powered aircraft. While the area has some of the trappings for tourist crowds, it seems sparsely populated with outsiders. Fresh seafood called out for the first night’s supper and Henry’s did not disappoint. Crab cakes, scallops, shrimp, and flounder accompanied with hushpuppies and served with a Southern drawl were a warm welcome after a long day on the road. 

 

Our son headed home to Pittsburgh from the New River, so we just have our daughter and her family on this leg of our journey. The first morning, we just sat on the beach and watched the pelicans fly in a line down the shore looking for their breakfast. We all collected shells brought in and left uncovered by the tide and waves. Dolphin fins cut the water just offshore as small waves broke on the sand. The water is cool in comparison to the hot humid air blowing from the shore towards the sea. 

 

Evening dinner at The Black Pelican was a seafood lover’s dream. Baked crab and shrimp in a butter garlic cream sauce with green beans Southern style and garden rice was a delight. Shared deserts finished it perfectly. At the beach house we watched a summer thunder and lighten display fill the night sky over the ocean.

 

The next day, we drove to the northern end of the Outer Banks to a restored historic village with an old lighthouse that warned sailing ships off the shoals that claimed many a shipwreck. Descendants of Spanish mustangs washed ashore there still populate the wildlife refuge. A truly magical place.

 

In our isolation over the past year, we missed seeing new parts of this globe we call home. On this trip, we’ve passed through wildly diverse ecosystems and geological formations. It never ceases to amaze me what a diverse and beautiful country we have the privilege to occupy. That diversity certainly includes the people and cultures included in our United States of America. 

 

Visiting our National Parks, Monuments, Seashores, Wildlife Refuges, and other protected places refreshes the soul and provides a unique opportunity to experience how we grew and changed into the vibrant society we have today. Teaching our children and grandchildren the history and how important it is to protect our varied heritages is made easier with each visit.