Elliott Museum & Sikorsky X2 Helicopter

Earlier this month we had seen an article in our local newspaper about the Sikorsky X2, the world's fastest helicopter, being on display this week at the Elliott Museum in Stuart.

From Elliott Museum

The museum also has Leonardo daVinci's Machines in Motion on display and it has 40 operational actual-size working machines made from daVinci's drawings.

We left the house this morning at 9:30 and drove south on US-1 to Ft. Pierce to A1A and then south to the Elliott Museum on Hutchinson Island - a trip of 48 miles. We arrived at the Elliott Museum a little after 10:40 and paid $20 (senior rate for 2) admission.

Just inside the museum entrance was a display of bicycles and machines invented by Sterling Elliott (the museum is named for him and his son Harmon). Among many of Sterling Elliott's inventions was a bicycle designed for women and the egg carton just to name a few.

From Elliott Museum

Our next stop was at the Machines in Motion exhibit which is a traveling exhibit and has been at the Elliott Museum since March. It was great to see

Visit to Pratt Museum at Fort Campbell

This morning we drove on base to go to the Don F. Pratt Memorial Museum.  We parked the car at the museum and walked across the street to see the aircraft on display at the Memorial Park

From Fort Campbell

From Fort Campbell

and the many unit memorials.

From Fort Campbell

We then walked back across the street to the Pratt Museum.

From Fort Campbell

The museum shows the history of the 101st Airborne Division, the “Screaming Eagles,” from the 1940's to the present with displays starting

National Corvette Museum & Driving to Central City, KY

It was even warmer this morning 64°, but it was comfortable while we broke camp. Since we only had electric and water hookups Fishing Creek, we had to drive up to the dump station to empty our tanks this morning. The dump station slopes downhill and the gray water tank wasn't emptying. Mike put some leveling blocks under our front jacks and I raised up the front of the RV so the gray tank would drain. We hitched up the car while we were at the dump station.

We left Fishing Creek Campground just before 10:30 and drove east on KY-1248 to KY-914 and then north to Louie B Nunn Cumberland Parkway. We had driven about 18 miles when we crossed into the Central Time Zone. We were driving through farmland and I managed to get a photo of this barn quilt

From Somerset to Central City

and then a little later we saw a lot of classic cars and trucks driving east on the Cumberland Parkway and I was able to get a few photos of them.

From Somerset to Central City

We were thinking about stopping somewhere around Bowling Green for lunch and saw this sign for

Appomattox Court House

This morning we drove 25 miles up to Appomattox Court House. We had visited Appomattox Court House about 20 years when we rode up here on the Harley. We arrived at the entrance to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park at 10:45.

From Appomattox Court House

Our first stop was at the site of General Grant's Headquarters that was on this little rise.

From Appomattox Court House

A little farther on we saw the Confederate Cemetery where 18 Confederate soldiers are buried who died in the battle here on April 8 and April 9, 1865. Many years later the remains of a Union soldier were discovered and he is buried in the Confederate Cemetery with an American flag by his gravestone (American flag isn't visible in our photo).

From Appomattox Court House

We drove on to the Appomattox Court House, parked our car and then

Patrick Henry's Home, Red Hill & Lunch in Brookneal

This morning we drove 19 miles south through the town of Brookneal to go to Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial. We drove east on Patrick Henry Road and saw a sign directing us onto Red Hill Road.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

A little further on we saw another sign for Red Hill

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

and kept driving on the narrow 2-lane Red Hill Road.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We passed by the Patrick Henry Boys & Girls Homes.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

We arrived at Red Hill at 11:00 and parked the car. We saw signs for the Quarter Place Trailhead and walked down it to the reconstructed log cabin.

From Red Hill & Patrick Henry

The Quarter Place Trail continues on further to some cabin foundations, a tobacco curing barn and an African-American cemetery. It was already getting hot and we just went as far as the log cabin and then walked over to

Dish 500 works and visiting Luray Caverns

This morning after breakfast we connected the Dish 500 antenna again with the switch box and still no satellite reception. There was a Dish 500 a couple of campsites over from where ours was set up and Mike walked over to look at the connections. There were 2 cables connected to the antenna, but only 1 was connected to the RV.

So Mike disconnected the switch box and tried connecting to just one of the cables and it worked! According to the directions we had we should have connected to the satellite 119 cable (that hadn't worked), so Mike connected to the satellite 110 cable and success. We now can get both 110 and 119 satellites and we're finally able to watch all of the channels that come with our Dish package.

We had an early lunch and then drove south on US-340 for 30 miles to visit Luray Caverns. I had a coupon that I had picked up last month when we in eastern Virginia that gives us a $5 discount on an adult ticket to the caverns.

From Luray Caverns

We arrived at Luray Caverns at 1:30, parked the car and walked up to the entrance. We paid $19 for each of our tickets. The regular adult price is $24 and the senior ticket price is $21, so we got a good deal using our $5 discount coupon. After purchasing our tickets, we got in line for the cavern tours.

A few minutes before 2:00 we walked down some stairs and met Hannah who was our guide through the caverns. She told us that the caverns were discovered on August 13, 1878 when Andrew Campbell, his nephew and 3 other men were

Montpelier, Michie Tavern and Monticello

We didn't too much to write about yesterday. I worked on genealogy and we planned our route for sightseeing today.

We left the RV this morning a little after 9:20 and drove through Gordonsville

From Montpelier & Michie Tavern

and then north to visit Montpelier the home of James and Dolley Madison. We arrived at the Visitor Center at 9:45.

From Montpelier & Michie Tavern

We paid $16 (senior price) for each of our tickets and then went in to the theater to watch a 22 minute slide presentation about the history of Montpelier and the Madison's. Then we walked up the path to meet our guide Mike on the front portico of Montpelier.

From Montpelier & Michie Tavern

Our guide Mike was very knowledgeable about the construction of the home and about the lives of James and Dolley Madison. He told us that James Madison could read and speak Greek, Latin and Hebrew. His political career included Secretary of State, House of Representatives, Continental Congress and  2-term President. It was here at Montpelier that

Stonewall Jackson's Shrine and Fredericksburg Battlefield

After lunch we headed up to Fredericksburg to do some sightseeing. On the way we remembered to get a photo of this turtle crossing sign on Fort A P Hill. We've seen different types of crossing warnings, but this is the first one for turtles.

From Fredericksburg, VA

Before going up to Fredericksburg we had to stop at Safford RV to buy a couple of fluorescent bulbs and ended buying a few other items. On the way to Safford RV we saw a sign for Stonewall Jackson's Shrine and decided to stop there first.

From Fredericksburg, VA

On May 2, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville Stonewall Jackson was mistakenly shot by his own men and doctors amputated Jackson's left arm. Jackson was moved by ambulance to Guinea Station, a 27-mile trip, to evacuate him to Richmond. The rail lines had been cut

Museum of the Confederacy and Poe Museum

We left the campground this morning a little before 10:30 and drove up to the Edgar Allan Poe Museum. We parked the car in the small parking lot next to the museum.The Poe Museum is housed in the oldest house still standing in Richmond that was built in 1737. Edgar Allan Poe never owned any property and hadn't lived in this house.

From Poe Museum & Sightseeing in Richmond

We paid $5 each for our senior tickets and was given an information sheet about the museum for our self-guided tour. The museum contains personal belongings of Poe, letters, and manuscripts and other items about his life.

From Poe Museum & Sightseeing in Richmond

After leaving the Poe Museum we drove over to St. John's Episcopal Church that was the original location of the Second Virginia Convention of March 1775. Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington were among the 100 colonial leaders who met here. Patrick Henry's famous "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" speech was delivered on 23 March 1775 inside the church and the American Revolution started a month later at Lexington and Concord.

From Poe Museum & Sightseeing in Richmond

During the summer a re-enactment of Patrick Henry's speech is given at the church on Sundays, but we were traveling last Sunday and will be leaving here tomorrow morning. We didn't spend much time looking around the church

Virginia Historical Society and Library of Virginia

We spent Wednesday and Thursday here at the campground. We had taken so many photos Tuesday at the Virginia Aviation Museum and sightseeing around Richmond, that it took me until Wednesday morning to get the photos labeled and uploaded to our Picasa Web Albums. Then I was able to finish our blog post for Tuesday and publish it. I spent the rest of the time working on our Neale genealogy in preparation for our visit today to the Library of Virginia.

We left the campground this morning at 10:30 and drove up to the Virginia Historical Society's Museum. We found a parking place in back of the Historical Society and walked around to the front entrance.

From VA Historical Soc Museum & Richmond

We stopped to look at The War Horse sculpture that is a memorial to the 1½ million Confederate and Union Army horses and mules who died or were wounded in the Civil War.

From VA Historical Soc Museum & Richmond

We were greeted by one of the volunteers and she directed us to the room where the 100 year old Military Memorial Murals are being restored. Most of the room was roped off and there were 3 people up on scaffolds cleaning the murals and they were using Q-Tips to

Cape Henry Lighthouses & Fort Story

We called American Home Base yesterday and told them to send our mail here to General Delivery. We drove up to Lowe's to get some sediment filters and stopped at a Post Office to mail a package. While we were out driving we saw two more decorated dolphins for A Dolphin's Promise.

From Around Virginia Beach

This afternoon we drove north to go to visit the Cape Henry Lighthouses at Fort Story. On the way there we passed by the Cavalier Hotel that was built in 1927.

From Around Virginia Beach

We arrived at the entrance to Fort Story a little after 1:00. There was a dolphin just outside the entrance to Fort Story and I took a couple of photos of it and a couple of the entrance to Fort Story. Well - I can't show them because the guard at the gate told us that photos weren't allowed and that we would have to delete them. Mike held the camera up so the guard could watch as Mike deleted the photos.

The guard told us that because Fort Story was a training base for Navy Seals that photos of the base were not allowed. We could take photos of the lighthouses and the other historic sites and markers on the base.

We drove on through the base and parked at the entrance to the old Cape Henry

Virginia Beach Boardwalk

We left the campground this morning at 11:30 to go to the Boardwalk on Virginia Beach. We saw this dolphin sculpture on Atlantic Avenue.

From Virginia Beach Boardwalk

We were looking for a parking place near the Cancun Fiesta Restaurant where we planned on eating lunch and found a parking lot in back of the restaurant. We paid the attendant $5 (all day parking) and parked the car. There was a coupon on the parking slip that was good for $5 off meals at Cancun Fiesta restaurant.

From Virginia Beach Boardwalk

We went to the restaurant to have lunch before we walked over to the Boardwalk. I ordered the lunch Chicken Quesadilla and Beef Taco and Mike ordered the Burrito El Primo with beef and we had sopapillas for dessert. We really liked the sour cream dip that came with the salsa and chips.

After lunch we walked over to the Boardwalk and walked north. Oh yes, the Virginia Beach Boardwalk is concrete and not boards.

From Virginia Beach Boardwalk

Today was a great day to be at the beach since the temperature this afternoon was in the mid-70's. The beach area is large and there were a lot of people enjoying the beach, but not

Olde Town in Augusta & Laurel & Hardy Museum

Last night I set our alarm clock for 7:00 so we could get an early start this morning. Well ----- I didn't notice that the time on the clock was wrong and we actually got up this morning at 6:00! I guess that when the electricity went off the other night that it messed up time on the clock and we didn't notice it. So we got to see the sunrise this morning over the lake.

From Augusta, GA

We left the RV around 8:45 and stopped to look at a historical marker and rock foundation that is just inside the entrance to the RV Resort. It turns out that the rocks surround the Hardin Cemetery. The Hardins were one of the founding families of Columbia County, Georgia and 4 members of the family are buried there. And no, they are no relation to either Mike or I.

From Augusta, GA

We then drove down to the Augusta Genealogical Society in downtown Augusta. We passed by some beautiful churches and houses and drove around taking some photos before going on to the Genealogical Society.

From Augusta, GA

The Augusta Genealogical Society's Library is house in the old Georgia Railroad Bank and we found a parking place right in front. I rang the doorbell and one of the volunteers let us in. After signing the guest book and storing my purse in one of the lockers, I told them I was

Genealogy research in Ashville, AL

We spent yesterday here at the RV and I worked on genealogy to prepare for today's trip to Ashville. Mike and I (Tinker, too) took naps yesterday afternoon. It felt good to have a day with no appointments.

We left the campground this morning a little before 9:00 and drove south on I-59 to Ashville to go to the St. Clair County Archives and Museum. Ashville is a small town with about 2400 people. The county was established in 1818 before Alabama became a state in 1819.

We arrived at the Archives about 10:00 (it was a 60 mile trip). The archives had moved from the courthouse to a building across the street and is housed in an old bank building.

From Ashville, AL

We met Charlene who is the archivist and explained to her the families that we were researching.

From Ashville, AL

Mike's 3-great-grandparents, William Milton and Anna Scott, had lived in St. Clair County in

Antique Archaeology & Buffalo Bill Museum, LeClaire, IA

We got up at our regular time this morning and left Wal-Mart at 9:45 and drove east on I-80.
We stopped at the BP station at Exit 292 in Davenport just before 11:00 to get gas in the RV (39.87 gal for $3.349 a gal).

At the I-80 Exit 306 we drove north on US-67 to LeClaire, Iowa. We found a place to park the RV in front of this beautiful home which was a block away from Antique Archaeology.

From Antique Archaeology & LeClaire, IA

From Antique Archaeology & LeClaire, IA

We walked back to Antique Archaeology to look around their shop. We enjoy watching their show, American Pickers, on the History Channel. Since we were in Iowa we decided to plan our route so we could stop in LeClaire.

From Antique Archaeology & LeClaire, IA

We browsed around the shop and recognized several items we had seen on the TV show like this Philip Morris bellhop. 

From Antique Archaeology & LeClaire, IA

We had hoped to see Mike & Frank and found out that they were in West Virginia "picking". We learned that Danielle generally comes in to the shop in the evening since so many fans want to talk with her & take photos with her that it's hard for her to get any work done. After looking around and buying some souvenirs, we headed back to the RV.

We drove through downtown LeClaire and over to the riverfront to visit the Buffalo Bill Museum. We found a place to park the RV and since it was a little after 12:00, we decided to fix lunch before walking over to the museum.

We walked over to the museum at 1:00 and paid the $4.00 senior admission.

From Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire, IA

We saw exhibits showing the history of LeClaire, antique household items and tools and a desk that belonged to Abraham Lincoln according to a letter found in the desk.

From Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire, IA

There was an exhibit of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody's memorabilia. He was born on a homestead near LeClaire.

From Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire, IA

We walked through some doors to view The Lone Star Sternwheeler that was in service on the Mississippi River from 1869 to 1968. She is the last running and only intact wooden-hull paddlewheel to travel the Mississippi.

From Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire, IA

We left LeClaire around 2:00 and headed east on I-80 and crossed the Mississippi River

From Driving from Coralville, IA to Carlock, IL

and then we entered Illinois.

Then at the I-80 Exit 46A we connected with I-74 South to Peoria. We stopped at the Five Guys Burgers in Peoria at Exit 88 for an early dinner at 3:45.

After dinner we drove south on I-74 to Carlock. We took Exit 120 to CR-53 west and then north on N 600 East Road to Kamp Komfort RV Park and Campground. We arrived here at 5:00 and checked in at the office. We paid $14 with our Passport America membership. We are in site #69 with full hookups (50 amp elec) and free wi-fi. We drove a total of 191 miles today.

From Driving from Coralville, IA to Carlock, IL