Day 37 - The Journey Ends

We arrived home late Friday, October 5, 2011.  As mentioned before, we decided to head home when we learned that our daughter-in-law Shannon had been admitted to the hospital with contractions much too early for delivery, as Elliana's due date was Thanksgiving. Our plan was to regroup, repack and hit the road to North Carolina by the beginning of the week.  We had to wait until Monday anyway, as the registration sticker on our truck had expired while we were on the road,  and we needed to go to the courthouse and get the new sticker before we headed out.  On Friday evening, Elliana began to show signs of distress, and the decision was made to go ahead and do the c-section and deliver her.  She died shortly after delivery, and our hearts were devastated that we were not able to be with Jason and Shannnon through this difficult time. Jason and Shannon did have some precious time with Elliana, and for that we are so grateful. Even though we knew that Elliana would not be with us for a long time after birth due to her diagnosed prognosis, it was, and is, difficult for us to comprehend that she is no longer with us.  She is with Jesus now, and we are comforted knowing that she is no longer in distress and her medical issues have been healed.

 We planned to go ahead and head for North Carolina to help Jason and Shannon get through this difficult time of funeral arrangements, etc., however, on Sunday Jim was not feeling well, and to make a long story short, he ended up in the ER and was admitted to the hospital for three days for treatment of a severe kidney infection.  So perhaps in His own way, God planned for us to head home early, to have the delay in getting on the road, and for everything to fall into place so that Jim was not ill once we were on the road and miles from home. The old cliche that "things happen for a reason", certainly held true for us during this time.  Jim is now home from the hospital, taking his meds and resting. We did go to church this morning and that was a much needed spiritual lift for us both.  Next week is full of doctor appointments as part of the follow-up to Jim's hospital stay.  Jason and Shannon and the family are doing better, taking each day at a time and the healing process has begun, although I know it will take time.......a lot of time............for all of us....

So Part II of The Journey has come to a close.  We had a wonderful time once again searching for lighthouses, visiting with family and friends, and of course, sharing the road with one another and the "girls" (dogs), who have become seasoned travelers and now have the routine down pat!  (I giggle when I read that back - I think they have us trained, and we have the routine down pat!)  We drove several roads less traveled in our search for lighthouses, and as a result, we got to see parts of America we would have otherwise missed had we stayed on the highways..  Visiting Niagara Falls, the Erie Canal and my home town of Cornwall-on-Hudson were probably the highlights of the trip for me.  It had been a long time since I had visited, and long overdue!  Getting to share that with Jim was special..........

Of course, visiting with Jason, Shannon, Elijah, Levi, Seth, Missy and Elliana in North Carolina at the start of the journey was a treat!  What fun it was just to watch the children - they are such blessings to us, and each one of them have their own personality which make them all the more unique and precious! 

We also had a wonderful time visiting with Jim's family in New Jersey and getting to spend time with our nephew Billy and his wife Karen.  They are a very inspiring young couple who have worked hard to get where they are in their life today not so much for themselves, but others, and making a difference!  Billy and Karen, along with Karen's mother Barbara, are wonderful caregivers of many stray and homeless cats!  They rescue cats, spay and neuter them and do their best to find them new homes........even if it is their own house or back yard! And it goes without saying that seeing Jim's brother Rob (and his wife Rita) and sister Penny, was once again another enjoyable trip down memory lane....just wish we weren't so far away from one another.  But they have WINTER in New Jersey!

As always, it isn't so much the journey, but the people you meet along the way.  Our experiences and conversations with people we never knew before we began the journey, have renewed our faith in our fellow man.........everyone has a story, a joke, an experience and a journey of their own to share, and it was fun hearing them and sharing our adventures with them as well.

Of course,  visiting one of the Great Lakes is always an inspiring part of the journey.  I cannot begin to tell you the magnitude of beauty that surrounds the lakes and the small towns that are situated along their shores.  Add a trip to one of the Great Lakes to your Bucket List - you won't be disappointed!

On Part II of the journey, we were gone 37 days, drove 7,692.7 miles, used 510.6 gallons of gasoline and averaged 15.0 to the gallon pulling the RV.   We visited, or saw from a distance,  34 lighthouses.  Add these numbers to Part I of The Journey which we traveled last spring, and we have been gone 88 days, traveled 15,948.7 miles, and used 1,100.11 gallons of gasoline.  We have also now visited, or have seen from a distance, 158 lighthouses.

A special THANK YOU to my sister and brother-in-law, (June and Phil) for taking care of our house, our cat, our mail, and our yard while we traveled!  It was nice not to have to worry about those things while we were on the road!

Part III of The Journey will begin in late January, when we will travel to Key West, Florida.  There are still lighthouses on both coasts of Florida that we have not seen, as well as in the Keys.  We will probably post again beginning in early January 2013............

Thanks to all our family, friends and blog followers for traveling with us on our Journey!  See you again down the road.................God Bless................

Jim and Joan
Lacy and Penny
"Speedy"

 

 

 

Home..........

 

Texas Welcome Center

 

Houston Ship Channel

 

Final numbers are in.........

 

Sunset on Part II of The Journey........

(Lake Erie Sunset )

Day 35 & 36 - Heading South

Our plans per our last blog was to go to Branson, MO. and "play"  However, after talking with our Son Jason in North Carolina, we decided the best action to take was to head home, regroup, fulfill our medical appointment obligations, and be prepared to head to North Carolina when needed. 

Our Son and his wife (Jason and Shannon) are expecting our ninth grandchild - a girl whom they have named Eliana.  She is due around Thanksgiving.  This in and of itself if not unusual, people have babies every day......however, Eliana will not live for a long period of time once she is born.  It may be just minutes, hours, or a few days, but the prognosis is the same, regardless of the time we have to spend with her.  At their 18 week ultrasound in July, Jason and Shannon found out that Eliana has a very rare chromosomal disorder - Tetrasomy 9p.  The survival rate of children born with this disorder is poor, at best. This past Sunday, Shannnon began to have contractions and other issues, and she has been hospitalized to slow down/stop the contractions and to eliminate the chance of her or the Eliana getting an infection or developing any other form of distress.  She is in the hospital until the baby is born, which depending on how things go, may be earlier than anticipated or she may be allowed to go full term.  So we have made the decision to be available to them as needed, and  to head home.  We did get to visit with Jason and Shannon and their children including Eliana (she's quite the kicker!) at the beginning of this journey, and we feel blessed to have had that time together.  We ask that you lift our family up in prayer and for God to give Jason and Shannon the peace and comfort needed to get them through this difficult time. Thank you...........

So Part II of the journey is almost over.  Yesterday the weather was beautiful for traveling, and we were glad not to have to deal with rain, fog and dismal weather conditions!  We left the Benton KOA Campground and headed south via Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.  We spent the evening at the Movietown RV Park in Canton, Mississippi.  I haven't researched it, but they say that several movies have been made in this area, thus "Movietown" is used on many of the businesses in town.  The only major city we went through in our travels this day was Memphis, TN which we highlighted earlier in this blog.  We did cross over the Mississippi River twice on this day - in two different states! 

Today we left Canton, MS and headed south, passing through Jackson, MS,  Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Lake Charles, LA - and once again crossed over the Mississippi River (in Baton Rouge)!  We are spending the night in Westlake, LA, and will begin our last leg of Part II of the Journey in the morning!  As we drove further south today, the temperatures rose and the gas prices dropped! (YES!) 

We are staying at a very nice RV Park called Whispering Meadow RV Park.  It is one of the nicest RV Parks we have stayed at, and the owners are very accommodating!  The dogs have been the center of attention here, and have received many visitors - as has "Speedy".  When we first arrived, the owner jokingly asked us if we had any dogs traveling with us.  He said he had a doctor and his wife arrive at the park in a small RV like ours, and they had two Great Danes!  He wondered how they all fit in the RV. We did inform him that we had dogs with us, and that we did indeed fit comfortably in the "Turtle" - all of us!  He just shook his head and laughed.  That was probably the most asked question on our journey - funny when we think back on that..........

We will blog again once we get home and are settled, and try to give you a final tally on miles traveled, states we traveled through or visited, and of course the number of lighthouses we saw along the way! 

Thanks for following us all these miles.......we are blessed to have had the opportunity to share our journey with you!.

Here are a few pictures from the road..........

Bridge just before entering Missouri on I-57

Welcome to Missouri

 

HUGE Cotton Gin in Missouri

Cotton could be seen for miles! Looked like snow!

 

Cell tower (built to look like the Washington Monument)

Jackson, Mississippi



Baton Rouge, LA and the mighty Mississippi River

 

"Speedy" enjoying the ambiance of the RV Park

Day 33 & 34 - Travel Days X 2

We left Geneva-on-the-Lake mid-morning after sleeping in and having a leisurely breakfast.  It was very cold when we got up yesterday (48 degrees), and the hint of winter was definitely in the air!  We really hated to leave the Great Lakes region, but knew we didn't want to hang around and wait for old man winter to show his face!  We traveled through three big cities today - Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio.  The weather warmed up to 62 degrees and the sun followed us all the way until we got to Cincinatti, then the weather and the traffic deteriorated quickly!  It was only 3:30 PM in the afternoon, and traffic was bumper-to-bumper and stop-and-go all the way through the city.  The amazing thing is that we took the by-pass as there is a tunnel in downtown Cincinnati, and we cannot go through tunnels as we have propane tanks on our RV. I'd hate to see what downtown traffic looked like!  Some of the cities had some amazing architecture and I tried to take some pictures of interesting building for the architects in the family.  Remember, my pictures are taken on the fly as it is difficult to stop on the interstate to take pictures and the driver doesn't make stops either! (Nor does he slow down!)

Cincinnati is just before the Kentucky border, and once we crossed the border into Kentucky, we located a RV Campground and pulled in.  We stayed at a quiet RV park called Oak Creek RV Campground.  The minute we finished setting up the RV, the rains came tumbling down! Perfect timing for sure! It rained on and off all night, and this morning when we awoke (almost 9 AM!) it was still drizzling, and it rained on and off all the way to the KOA Campground in Benton, IL, where we are staying this evening.  We arrived early - mid afternoon - as we were tired of the rain, and we wanted to be able to catch up on laundry (note to self: driving down the interstate in the buff probably would cause some issues, and would not be a pretty sight, so it is important to do the laundry on occasion!).

Our plans are not definitive as yet, but we are thinking of heading to Branson, MO from here. That would be a fun thing to do, and would be the final stop for "fun" on our way south.  We need to be home by the 10th, as Jim and I both have Doctor appointments the following week. 

Enjoy the pictures from the road.........just wish it hadn't been so gray outside - the pictures would have been better........

 

 

 

 

 

 

Columbus, Ohio

Church Steeple, Columbus, Ohio

 Interesting Skyscraper in Columbus, Ohio

 

Bengals Football Stadium- Cincinnati, Ohio

Unusual architecture on the center building - Cincinnati, Ohio

 

Another State down.....

 

Pet Resort just across the border in Kentucky

 Penny and Lacy were sleeping so missed this opportunity.....

 

I told you they were sleeping!

 

 Really? Y'All in Kentucky?  

 

Louisville, Kentucky

 

 

 Interesting building.......

 

Downtown Louisville, KY

 

Paddle boat on the Ohio River

Mohammed Ali Center, Louisville, KY

 

Bridge just outside of Louisville, KY

 

 Santa Claus in Illinois?  Hmmmmmm

 

Day 31 & 32 - Obstacles Overcome!

We left Lockport, N.Y. with a heavy heart as we had such a wonderful experience there, and fulfilled life time dreams! We will remember our trip to Niagara Falls and our cruise up the Erie Canal for years to come!  We have seen and visited many places in our travels, and all of them were special, but not as much as this particular segment of our journey. 

After leaving Lockport, we stopped in Dunkirk, N.Y. to visit the Dunkirk Main Lighthouse.  To our surprise, there were two other lighthouses on the property.  An un-named tower and and un-named bottle light.

Our last stop before leaving New York, was Barcelona, N.Y. where we visited the Barcelona Lighthouse.

We then headed to Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, which is located on Lake Erie.  It was a beautiful day and the drive was uneventful.  We did see some fall colors along the way, but the hightlight of the drive was having the opportunity to once again to drive through those wonderful quaint lakeside communities.  Some of them were already preparing for the winter months and many of the attractions and campgrounds were already closed for the season. 

We are staying at the Indian Creek RV Resort, right on Lake Erie.  It is a wonderful campground with many amenities - except for wi-fi!  You have to purchase the service on a daily basis.  So we chose not to blog last night and to blog tonight in an effort to save $$$$ and get two days of lighthouse hunting posted at one time!

Yesterday after setting up, it was still fairly early in the day, we headed out to begin our lighthouse search. 

The first lighthouse we visited was Ashtabula Lighthouse.
During WWII, Ashtabula received more iron ore than anywhere else in the world.  This port still ships and receives goods from across the globe, including limestone, taconite, coal and agricultural potash.  Lighthouses underwent many changes as technology advanced and boat traffic on the Great Lakes increased.  This lighthouse was the last one manned on Lake Erie and was built in 1905.

The second lighthouse was the Conneaut Lighthouse.  The current lighthouse was built in 1936 and features a 60 foot steel tower with a black band that serves as a navigational aide during the day. This lighthouse was automated in 1972.  It is not the first lighthouse to guard Conneaut Creek, Pier lights lit this harbor until 1885 when the first lighthouse was built.

On the way back to the RV park, we saw the most amazing sunset on Lake Erie, and were able to catch this on camera for your viewing pleasure!

Since darkness was upon us, we deferred the next lighthouse at Fairport until the next day, and instead, stopped at Alessandro's Authentic Italian Cuisine Restaurant for dinner.  The place was packed so we anticipated an amazing meal, but we were disappointed.  The ambiance was null, and the food was mediocre.

This morning as we began our travels in search of lighthouses, we passed some unusual sights, including another very yellow house,(what's with the bright yellow color?) a caboose, a city wide garage sale (which we had to detour around), arts and crafts fairs and parades! (Did we miss a holiday somewhere?) We didn't get to see one lighthouse in Vermilion, Ohio, due to a parade which had the street where the lighthouse is located blocked!

So on to the lighthouses......

Today's first lighthouse was the Fairport Lighthouse located in Fairport Harbor, Ohio.  There are actually three lighthouses in this location.  The Old Fairport Main, sits on a hill overlooking the harbor.  The Fairport West Breakwater sits at the entrance to the harbor, and there is an un-named tower on the museum grounds.  The museum was not open, so we aren't sure what role it played in navigation.  The museum was the keepers house, but it was closed for the season. The Old Fairport Main was built in 1871, and leads visitors up a spiral staircase to the top of its' 60 foot sandstone and brick structure.  The Fairport West Breakwater Lighthouse was fabricated in Buffalo, N.Y., and transported by the steamer WOTAN to it's location and began operations in 1925. 

From Fairport we drove to Cleveland, Ohio.  In our effort to find a decent vantage point to view lighthouses, we ended up in the Cleveland Browns Football Stadium parking lot!  From here we were able view the Cleveland West Pierhead lighthouse, the Cleveland East Pierhead light, and the Cleveland East Entrance Light.  The Cleveland West Pierhead Lighthouse is 67 feet high and built of cast iron.  It was constructed in 1911.  The original 4th Order Fresnel lens was removed in 1995.  This lighthouse still operates as a U.S. Coast Guard Station. The Cleveland East Pierhead Light was built in 1910 and once housed a
5th Order Fresnel lens.  At 30 feet tall, this light now operates  with a 300mm plastic optic and is an active Coast Gurad Station.  The Cleveland East Entrance Lighthouse is 47 feet tall and is constructed of steel and is still an active navigational tool.  The original structure was a skeletal lighthouse built in 1915.

From Cleveland we traveled to Lorain, OH. to view the Lorian Breakwater Lighthouse.  This light is located at the mouth of the Black River in downtown Lorain.  Lorain's first light was a lantern hanging from a pole at the edge of Lake Erie.  Today's lighthouse was constructed in 1917.  This concrete building with steel walls was built to withstand Lake Erie weather.  The walls are more than 10 inches thick and even baseboards and window frames are made of steel.  Originally outfitted with a 4th Order Fresnel lens, the beacon was replaced with a small red Coast Guard warning light before the lighthouse was decommissioned in 1965.The lighthouse was replaced with an automated light at the west tip of the harbor breakwall.

Across from the Lorain Breakwater Light on the east pierhead, is another light called the East Pierhead Light.  There is no information on this light that we can find, so we will research more on this "unknown" light when we return home.

On our attempt to visit the Vermilion Light, the whole town was blocked off, for some event, and we could not find an alternate route to view the light. 

We proceeded to a small town called Elyria, Ohio.  This is the town where Jim's Grandparents raised their son William Muir Auld, Jim's Father.  Jim's Grandfather was a minister in the First Congregational Church, and baptized Jim in his home church (First Presbyterian Church) in Bound Brook, N. J.. (Picture posted in a previous blog).  We attempted to find the home that his Grandmother had lived in after his Grandfather passed away, but it had been too many years and Jim couldn't remember the street name.  It was nice to see where Jim spent his summer vacations. Jim fondly remembers flying in a Piper Cub, with his Father piloting, from Middlesex, N.J. to Elyria, for a visit.  Memories........

We headed back to the RV to catch up with family and to watch football, and of course, to blog!  A long but pleasant day!

 

Leaving Lockport, N.Y.

 

Dunkirk Lighthouse,Dunkirk, N. Y.

 

Un-named Tower Light at Dunkirk Lighthouse

Life Boat

Bottle Light, Dunkirk Lighthouse



 

Barcelona Lighthouse, Barcelona, N. Y.

 

Pirate Ship (?) at Barcelona Lighthouse

The "Turtle" on Lake Erie, Dunkirk, Ohio

 

Ashtabula Lighthouse, Ashtabula, Ohio

 

Ashtabula Lighthouse

 Drawbridge at Ashtabula, N. Y. 

 

 Conneaut Lighthouse

 

Sunset on Lake Erie

 

Old Fairport Lighthouse, Fairport, Ohio

 

Un-named Tower Light, Fairport, Ohio



 

Fairport Breakwater Lighthouse

 

 

Cleveland West and East Pierhead Lights



 

Cleveland Browns Football Stadium 

 

Lorain Breakwater Lighthouse

 

Lorain East Pierhead

 

First Congregational Church, Elyria, Ohio

 

Lacy and "Speedy" (Can you find him?) at the RV Resort

 

Penny wondering where everyone went.......