Missouri - part 1

November 19, 2019 - November 29, 2019

Drove from Meredosia, Illinois to Hannibal, Missouri - childhood home of Samuel Clemens (more commonly known as author Mark Twain)

Looking down the main street of Hannibal as duck comes on.

These quips are from Mark Twain's autobiography.

His boyhood home as seen in later years.

Bust of Mark Twain

Sam with his wife and 3 daughters.

From Hannibal we drove to Fulton, Missouri to see the National Churchill Museum.  Why is there a Churchill museum in Fulton, Missouri you ask?  It turns out that Winston Churchill gave a speech at Westminster College in 1946 in which he warned about the coming menace of Communism, referring to an "iron curtain" falling across the European Continent leaving Eastern Europe under the influence of  Russia.  His speech heralded the start of the cold war.  The museum provides a thorough accounting of Churchill's life.

The quote by Joseph Stalin reads:
"A powerful and cunning politician...he was the strongest personality in the capitalist world"

This is picture and a quote from the day Churchill delivered his speech at Westinster College in Fulton, MO.

The Iron Curtain in actuality.

Sculpture of Churchill in front of the museum.

The Churchill museum sits below the church of St. Mary Aldermanbury.
Built before 1181 the church was destroyed in the great fire of London in 1666.  It was rebuilt by Christopher Wren only to be partially destroyed again in the blitz of London in 1940. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Churchill's speech at Westminster College the college raised enough funds to move the damaged church from London and rebuild it on the Westminster Campus as a tribute to Winston Churchill.

Although the individual blocks were numbered prior to shipping them, they were used as ballast on ships which essentially gave them a free ride from England to the U.S.  When they arrived in Fulton the builders described the process of finding the blocks they needed as the worlds biggest jig-saw puzzle.

Illinois

November 14, 2019 - November 19, 2019

From Grosse Ile we drove over several days, to Meredocia, IL to see our friend Sandy.  We saw field after field of beautiful farmland with lots of corn and soybeans as yet unharvested due to the wet weather.

Our friend Sandy

While Sandy was driving us around the area we decided to check out a cemetery she had never visited before.  The cemetery was located on a hill up a steep incline with a lot of loose gravel on the road up.  The wheel's spun and dug in. We went nowhere.  Sandy tried backing up.  Here's the result in three pictures.

Car + 

Local farmer with his cool new tractor =

The car made it up to the cemetery but we didn't!

Sandy took us into Springfield, the capital of Illinois, where we visited the Lincoln museum.

Beautiful bronze statue of Lincoln and his wife Mary in downtown Springfield.

Abe Lincoln lived in Springfield for about 25 years prior to becoming President.  He was elected to the Illinois General Assembly, later worked as a lawyer there and was brought back to Springfield in a casket to be buried there.  The museum does a fabulous job portraying Lincoln's life.

Young Abe outside the family's log cabin.

Young Abe reading by the light of the fire.

Lincoln and the 8th Judicial Circuit.  The information at the bottom of says:
"Over the course of twenty years, the lawyer Lincoln my bi-annual, two-and-a-half-month trips around
the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Illinois.  The area covered  fourteen counties and over 10,000 square miles.
Lincoln traveled by horse, and later by buggy and train, to fourteen county seats.

Lincoln and his family at the White House.

One by one the southern states leave the union.

Lincoln presents the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet and later to all the citizens.

Lincoln ages dramatically in 5 years.

John Wilkes Booth - about to shoot President Lincoln.

Lincoln lies in State at the Capitol.

Lincoln long route home to Springfield

Michigan

October 21, 2019 - November 14, 2019

NORTHPORT AND THE LELANAU PENINSULA

From Auburn, Ontario we made our way up to Northport, Michigan where Cara Lee, my old college roommate, now lives.  Northport is located on the Leelanau Penninsula - Michigan's "little finger".

Lake Michigan on a cold windy day.
The island in the distance is North Manitou.

This funny little stick figure was dressed and left on a bench in a park we visited.

You have to admit - she/he's got style!

Cara Lee and I with our new friend.

Fall Color around Leelanau Penninsula.

High water on the Leland River in the Fishtown area of Leland, Michigan.

PETOSKEY AND CHARLEVOIX

From Northport we drove south then north around Grand Traverse Bay up to Petoskey, a charming town where two of my cousins live.

Lunch with Shirley whose husband Kirke was my 2nd cousin.  That makes her my 2nd cousin-in-law.

Kirke and Shirley's daughter Beth (my 2nd cousin once removed) and Shirley.

Fall in Northern Michigan.  I don't know what kind of tree this is but the bark is beautiful.

Scene from our campground in Petoskey.

While in Petoskey we drove south to Charlevoix to see the famous "mushroom houses."  Some of their roofs make them look the part but in general the common theme is they are all made of rocks.  They were all designed and built by Charlevoix native Earl Young and they are all very charming.  Below are some of the most mushroomy of the houses.

LUDINGTON

From Petoskey we drove to Ludington where, believe it or not, I visited yet another cousin.

My second cousin Jill and Lilly one of her two dogs.  Her mother and my father were first cousins.

Jill owns and runs the Lighthouse Motel in Ludington!

The front portion of the motel.

The back portion of the motel.
You can see our motorhome and car on the left.

GRAND RAPIDS AREA

 From Ludington we drove to a campground near Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Grand River which flows through Grand Rapids.

While in the Grand Rapids area we visited Klass and Goldie, some friends of Laura's Dutch cousins.  Klass and her cousin Koert worked together many years ago in the Netherlands.

Klass and Goldie

 GROSSE ILE AREA

From the Grand Rapids area we drove to my hometown of Grosse Ile, an island in Detroit River.  As you might expect - I have family still in the area.

My brother Rich and his wife Phyllis. 

My cousin Warren, his wife Sue and their two boys, William and Warren. 

My cousin Andrew, aunt Marie (mother of Warren and Andrew) and Collie (Andrew's mother-in-law)

Andrew's wife Yvette and two of their son's Caleb and Landon.

Oh Oh! We're lucky to be parked in Marie's driveway.  At times like this you just hunker down and wait it out.

When we were finally able to leave I had to push the heavy wet snow off the awnings
 that cover our slide-outs before we could even begin to get the slides in.