"Mother of God"

June 22, 2006
somewhere near Columbus, OH

First, I wanna give a shout out to my old co-worker, Margaret, who has just embarked on a cross-country journey of her own... by bike. Crazy woman - but power to her! She's even lugging a computer on her trip to blog, and is already better at keeping up than we are: (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/?o=lt&doc_id=1386&v=9y)! Go, Margaret! We're hoping to interset with her somewhere in the Midwest on our way back.

I just read her blog and her account of her first night camping out, which was (thankfully) a somewhat different experience than ours. As we left you at the end of the last entry, we had set up our campsite, had some good dinner, and were writing from the spacious, dry comfort of our tent (thanks for the loan, Aunt Patty!). We then went happily to sleep. Until about 3.30 am, when the flapping of the tent and ominous tree rustling woke both of us just to be sure that we were fully aware of the fury and damnation that was about to literally rain upon us. I thought for sure that the tent was going down. There’s just no way a piece of nylon and some metal poles could take it – but it bent and twisted but did not cow. Beth and I were freaking out – lightning and cracks of thunder like a million rifles – sweet Jesus. And it didn’t stop for over an hour… We finally managed to fall into an exhausted nap state for a bit and woke up with only minor dampness in the tent because we didn’t bother to properly fasten the rain fly, but rather just kind of stuck it on there. Frankly, I was amazed. And also grateful that Beth waited until morning to tell me that her dad was once struck by lightening while in a tent. Lordy.

The Morning After - Our Exhausted Tent in a Mild Breeze

After breaking our wet camp, we paid a daylight visit to the nearby Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville. Following that, we headed for Fallingwater. Luckily, the day got a little brighter, but was very hot and humid – we kept the lid up as we had been damp enough and yesterday’s sunburn was smarting even through the car window.

The mini-Milano theory holds true - these horses were adorable!
But what do they serve at the restaurant???

Fallingwater - "The Hatch"

Fallingwater was magical – what an amazing feat! The entire home really is a work of art, and blends in so uniquely with the landscape. The water literally runs through the house and the abundance of windows and built-in wooden desks, furniture, shelves and headboards really brings the outdoors in. What I would not have given to be able to just layabout and read a book or take a nap (especially after our sleepless night!) in one of the rooms with the windows open and the cool misty breeze and rushing water sounds flowing in. Beth is convinced that the staff lounge around in their off hours. Our guide, Matt, was particularly enthusiastic, dressed in 40’s era trousers and tie (the other guides wore khakis and white polos – boring!). Definitely aim to go back for a more in-depth tour!

At Home with Beth and Kelly

Come on in and have a pickle!

We then drove onward to Fort Necessity, where we bought a National Parks Pass and watched a video detailing George Washington’s role in establishing the fort, instigating the French-Indian War, and contributing to the idea of the first National Highway, running along or near U.S. 40, which we’ve been following since. We had a tasty lunch at the Sun Porch Inn, where they had some wicked good butter pickles. They were so good that after polishing off the three that came with her lunch Kelly jumped at the chance to pilfer a plateful from the salad bar while the waitresses back was turned. People are always asking if we’re from outta town (granted, we were the only folks in the restaurant at 3 pm). The waitress said “How’d you get enough time off of work for a trip like this?” Beth replied “I’m a school teacher”. I said “I quit.” Well, that’ll do it.

Not much else happened except for us trying to be the opposite of storm chasers – ominous black clouds, lightning bolts, and heavy rain. Enough! We decided to hotel it and, with no need to set up camp before nightfall, cruised the National Highway through West Virginia, and into the middle of Ohio, where we are enjoying the luxurious Super 8.

Um... hotel tonight.

Along the road we had yet another "oh, my god, pull over" moment. Right there on the National Road in a quaint, very American town we saw....Castle Blood. Imagine Jamie's Dream House. It wasn't for sale, but strangely enough most of the houses surrounding it were. Hmmm.

Castle BLOOD

Also, we noticed that Midge, our handy GPS tool (wicked cool!) tracks trip details as well... max speed acheived thus far? 92.1 miles per hour. Uh-oh... top that Margaret!

We don't know who this guy is, but thanks for the wifi!