Home

Since the car was already hooked up, it didn't take long to get on the road.  We pulled out of the campground at 8:15 headed west and Decatur, Illinois.  We drove steady having no trouble through Columbus and Indianapolis.

This was our last camp site.  Unusual for a KOA to have tall trees at the sites.  

A quick picture of the capitol building in Columbus, Ohio.

I missed this picture on the way out but I was quicker as we left Ohio.

This may look like every other "Welcome to Illinois" sign but the difference is that I took it headed west instead of east.

The big reunion.  Keegan was so happy that Hunter was home.

We pulled into our driveway a 3:00 p.m.  I quickly unpacked so that we could pick-up Sandy from the kennel.  She was very excited to see us again.  We drove the motorhome 1,785 miles and the car  855 miles. We must have walked about 50 miles each day. Thanks to Jason we were able to hook up the car without any problems.  The motorhome performed well although we were so busy, we didn't spend much time in it.

It was a good trip.  We visited all three of the 911 sites and saw several of the major historical sites in Washington, D.C.  We enjoyed Hunter's company and hope that he had a good time.  He and papaw played several games of chess.  I think each won the same amount of games.  The weather cooperated.  We had a couple of days that were overcast but no rain to bother us.  The temperatures were great until we got home.  Temperatures here for the week will be in the 90's.  It's summertime!

Heading West

We wanted to be up early to get the car hooked up and on the road early.  I was up by 5:15 and Carol at 6:00 a.m.  We hooked up the car and finished the other things necessary to get on the road by 7:15 a.m.  We hoped that because it is Sunday, the traffic will be lighter and it was.  We took I-97 to I-695 to I-70.  We plan to drive I-70 all the way back to Indianapolis.  It was a nice day to travel.  We stopped for lunch and gas at the last travel service station on the west end of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  Turnpike food is not that good and is expensive but it will tide us over until supper.  We were not able to get gas because the fuel area was on the opposite side of where we parked and we couldn't access it.  Fortunately, the station we had filled up on the way east was just 10 miles down the road so we filled up at Smithson, PA at a Flying J which has an RV pump.

We pulled into the Buckeye Lake KOA around 4:00 p.m.  This is a nice KOA.  Hunter says it is the best one  We have a nice long and level spot under tall trees.  What Hunter likes are all the things for kids to do.

We saw this garage/light house combination just outside the campground.  I really don't know what possessed the owner to put a light house on the top of his garage.  It looks like a newer house.

The KOA had a jumping pillow.  Hunter enjoyed bouncing/jumping on it.

I kept trying to get a picture of him in the air.  I managed here but without his head!

Hunter got a free game of mini-golf so papaw and I played a game with him.  Hunter won.

Hunter got 15 minutes free riding this bike.  He said it was hard to pedal.

Of course, the best amenity was the pool.
This is heads and tails of Hunter.

The temperatures are considerably higher today so immediately after setting up, we turned the air conditioner on. While we were on our trip, summer arrived.  Tomorrow we will be home. 

Washington, D.C. - Day 3

Today we spent our last day in Washington D.C,  We finally got getting to the New Carrollton station, riding the transfer bus, getting on the Metro, and buying tickets to ride down pat.  Too bad this is the last day.  We made it to the blue line of the Big Bus and got on the bus to the Pentagon.  Getting to the Memorial was very easy.

There is a tunnel from a parking lot going under the six lane highway above.  

These are the names and birth years of  those in the Pentagon and on the airplane.

Around two sides of the memorial is a short marble wall with the birth years of those killed.  Between those dates are benches over a small water feature of the people born in that birth year..  At the end of the bench the name of the person is engraved.  

Th

 This is the bench for the youngest victim.  He or She was only three years old.  It was so sad to see the age of this one. The older person was 71.  On this trip we visited all three of the 911 sites.  I would say that the Memorial at Shanksville impressed me the most.  Hunter says it is because the people on the plane were able to be heroes and give their lives to save the lives of possible hundreds of others.

Lunch on the bus.  This kid loves ice cream.  As we traveled the streets of Washington D.C. on the bus, we wore ear buds and a guide told interesting facts about what we were seeing.  We really enjoyed that.  Did you know that Thomas Jefferson is know as the 1-2-3 President?  He was the first Secretary of State, Second Vice-President, and third President.  He also invented ice cream and macaroni and cheese.  Hunter liked these last two facts!  That is the kind of stuff we would hear as we traveled around.  We also heard that the men who were originally identified as having lifted the American flag over Iwo Jima was for a time in dispute.  A mother filed a law suit to have her son named as one of the men because she identified his "butt."  She said that she had diapered that butt for two years and should know what it looked like.  After an official study of the "butts,"  it was decided she was right and the names were changed.  This change lasted a few years before another official study, changed the names back to the original ones.  Now that is a fun fact.

This was taken from the bus as we passed through  Arlington.  There are over 420,000 men and women buried in this cemetery.  They are making plans for another piece of land that would allow for 20,000 more.

We had planned to take the Big Bus to the Spy Museum but because of a large parade, the stops were rearranged and we ended up walking several blocks;  Along the way, I saw this building and thought it was quite pretty.

Ford Theatre was a neat place.  The park ranger was very good in retelling the story of that night and what happened to all involved in that night.  I didn't know this but Robert Lincoln was also present when Garfield and McKinley.  were assassinated.  He was the only surviving son and is buried at Arlington.  At the end of his talk, the ranger said the Lincoln Family has so much tragedy. Even his dog Fido was killed by a drunk man about a year after the assassination.

The box were Lincoln was assassinated.

Lincoln was carried across the street to the Peterson House where he died 7 hours later.  

The bed where he died.

After this tour, we went to the  International Spy Museum.  This is the place Hunter has been waiting for all week.  It was a neat museum with displays of every type of spy imaginable.  There were also several interactive things that Hunter was able to do.  I didn't get any pictures.

We then walked a final few blocks (city blocks) to a Metro Station for the ride back to the end of the line, our shuttle bus and eventually our car.  We ate at a Wendy's which was the first thing other than the ice cream we had had all day.  This is the way it has been these last few days.  We have been so busy and ice cream and drinks was mostly what was available.

We have done so much walking this week.  Every night our feet were tired.  There is so much to see and we hardly scratched the surface.  We didn't go into any of the Smithsonian's other than the new one at the Dulles Airport.  We didn't go into the capitol or see the Declaration of Independence and Constitution at the National Archive.  We didn't go to the National Zoo to see the pandas.  My list could go on and on.  Hunter says he wants to come back with his parents and we hope he gets to.  Tomorrow we hook up our toad and turn the motorhome west and Illinois.  I figure it is an 800 mile trip which we will drive in 2 days.  We have no plans to stop anywhere except where we camp.

Washington, D.C. - Day 2

What a day!!  It was another dawn to night day.  On the road by 7:15 a.m.  We decided to go to the station that we were bused to.  We asked for directions from the campground people.  However, when we followed their directions, we couldn't find the station.  Since we had an 10:00 tour at the Capitol scheduled, we decided to turn around and go back to the original station.   We also decided because we couldn't take the I-pad or my big camera, we would go on the Metro to Union Station where there are lockers, put that stuff in a locker and then go to Rodney Davis' office to pick up our tickets.  This little change made the Metro ride even longer.  To make a long story short, we didn't make the 10:00 tour.  They rescheduled us for 2:00 p.m.    We had tickets for the White House for 12:30 p.m. so we decided to head that way and stop at a few memorials on the way.  Bad idea!  The traffic was horrible and the only stop we made was at the Jefferson Memorial.  We got off at the White House stop but most of the blocks surrounding the  White House had been blocked off.  We don't know why, but it made us have to walk several blocks out of the way.  Finally, made it to the White House at 12:35, got in a long line, and began the security process.  There were four security checkpoints we had to pass through.  Again, long story short, it took us an hour before we even got into the  White House.  We walked out of the White House at 2:15.  We missed the Capitol tour again!

We decided we needed to retrieve our cameras and eat and we knew Union Station had restaurants so we headed back to Union Station.  We had pizza and got back on the bus to go to Lincoln Memorial and the rest of the memorials.  We finally got back on the Metro at 7:00 p.m.and home by 8:15.  It has been a long, and sometimes frustrating day.  The traffic has been intense and all the extra security measures combine to really slow things down.  There is no way we can see all the things we wanted to see.  Our goal tomorrow is to see the Pentagon 911 Memorial, Ford Theater, and the Spy Museum and then call it quits.   With the way things went today and even yesterday, I won't be surprised if we can only fit in two out of the three.  We have been to Washington, D.C. three times before and have never experienced the long days to see so little.  911 surely changed the way we live and visit the Capital.

This outside view of the  Capitol was taken from the Big Bus and we won't see the inside this trip.

We really like the Korean Memorial.  These soldiers represent all the different positions a soldier may have in the Army.  The soldiers are set in a trianglar piece of land.  From any point in the triangle, you can see one of the soldiers looking at you.   A reminder to us not to forget them.

This statement was on one of the walls of the memorial.  The Korean War was a United Nations conflict and the United States was just one of many countries who sent military to fight in the war.

This was taken from the Lincoln Memorial.  The Washington Monument is being renovated and is not open.  Just our luck.

The Lincoln Memorial.  It seemed like every school group was at the Memorial.

The Vietnam Memorial.  Charles E. Crutchfield went to school with Carol.

The World War II Memorial.  It is so huge that it is impossible to get a picture of the entire memorial in one shot.

Hunter resting after a long hike from the Lincoln Memorial.

The buildings here are so beautiful.  Even the front doors are magnificent.  These doors lead to the EPA.  It looks like there was no expense spared.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  As you can see, this memorial is not as popular as the Lincoln.  No crowds.

This and the pictures which follow were taken from inside the White House.  

This picture was taken from the bus.  It shows the Trump International Hotel which was the renovated old post office.  For $400 a night you can have a room.

Hunter has already fallen asleep.  It was a long day with lots of walking.  We should all lose weight.  The weather has been perfect.  Tomorrow it is finally supposed to get into the 80's and then into the 90's for Sunday and days following.  We will be heading for home just in time.  Tomorrow will be our last day here.  Hopefully, we will be able to see the Pentagon 911 Memorial, the Ford Theater, and the Spy Museum.  The city has a big parade scheduled and some kind of race through the streets so we may not be able to see all three.  We have already been told that the buses may not be able to stop at all it's scheduled stops.  Oh, well, we can only do what we can do.