Going Walkabout

We had worked out the plan and met up with Meghann in Mebane just as she was finished packing the trailer to head back to her quilt shoppe in Fayetteville with her and Mom trailing soon behind. I was supposed to head to RDU to drop of the hire car and meet Nicholas who would have my Traverse to take us back to the house. All that actually happened. A certain Camel decided that I needed some bonus driving in the Traverse to pick up my favourite "Nobody From Nowhere" and do dinner in Fayetteville with Mom and Meghann before returning Katie back to Campbell. The best laid plans... :)

We're heading back through the mountains to meet Meghann in Mebane where Mom and I will part ways as they head back home to Fayetteville and I'm off to Raleigh to return the hire car. That sounds almost too easy, doesn't it?

You never truly appreciate a boring hotel check-in process until you've had recent ones that were anything but! This one was truly boring indeed and we were *THRILLED*!

Along with being a consummate musician, Grandpa Williams was a turbine operator at the CIPS coal-fired electricity plant just north of town. The plant is long gone and all that stands in it's place is an electrical substation.

After a lovely (and *HUGE*!) breakfast at the cafe, we headed a bit north of the village to visit some of the family from Mom's side including the grandfather I never knew and one of the kindest gents I actually did meet long ago.

With all of the excitement from the night before, we decided an early morning was not for us and that actually worked to Mom's advantage as she got some bonus reunion time before we left the hotel in Robinson IL. This morning's activities included another stop at the cafe in Hutsonville, a stop at the cemetery for Mom, a manhunt, and then we were off for another night in Georgetown KY just north of Lexington.

We've made it to a farm outside Annapolis IL just north of Hutsonville for Mom's 60th HS Reunion and it truly did not disappoint. I've never attended one of my reunions and honestly don't care if I ever do. Mom's really neat friends made sure I probably won't miss reunions at my old Florida high school any more than I have these many years. :)

We're back in the Land of Lincoln and Central time and now it's time to beat feet for Hutsonville and a lovely cafe in downtown. But before we get there, we'll be passing through Palestine and passing by a farm full of fond memories.

We're over the Wabash River and into Indiana on our way to Vincennes where we'll cross back over the river into Illinois. We're really messing with the ability of automatically updating clocks to recognise which side of the time zone dividing line they are! The hire car usually took about five minutes before it noticed and the phone sometimes even longer which made sorting the pictures in chronological order a bit more exciting than usual!

We're going to duck into Indiana as we follow the Wabash River to Hutsonville. Not only will that make keeping time a bit interesting as we'll bounce from Central to Eastern and back again but it's also a very beautiful and easy drive from Southern Illinois. First stop is at Maplewood Cemetery in Marion to pay a visit and our respects to my father's side of the family...

We're crossing the Ohio River into Illinois at Metropolis! From there, we're going to wander round Harrisburg and meet up with my cousin Cindy and her husband who will be our tour guide to our family's stomping grounds in Saline County before we have dinner and find our hotel in Marion IL!

After a lovely night in metro Lexington KY, we're heading through beautiful horse country down the Western Kentucky Parkway to Paducah where we'll cross the river near Metropolis! Yes Superman fans, you read that right... :)

West Virginia says on their signs that they're "wild and wonderful". The scenery truly is! One particular toll collector on the West Virginia Turnpike certainly fulfilled the wild requirement and then some! ;)

I'm heading off to Fayetteville to collect Mom and then we're heading toward the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. At some point we'll figure out where we're staying for the night. The anticipation and wonder adds to the excitement, don't you think? :)

Who knew getting the hire car would be far more of an adventure than anyone would have imagined? Maybe I should have flown to RDU just to make it a little easier... ;)

We're off to my mother's 60th (!) high school reunion in Hutsonville Illinois that will take us on a scenic trip through the mountains and completely round Western North Carolina and Tennesee to get to the Midwest for a few days. Come along with us in "The Tales From The Lincoln Trail"!

I was hoping that the Airbus A380 that I'd bagged on the way from Dulles to Arlington was a sign that I'd be able to put my foot down and fly down the road to the Outer Banks via Norfolk to get the kids and Mistletoe for a three-hour run home to Raleigh. After all, it's a Sunday morning and there shouldn't be a whole of traffic out there until the afternoon, right? Ah, yes.…

It's time to head out and make the grand circle tour from Dulles to the Outer Banks and then finally on the way to Raleigh. But first, it was finally time to tank some petrol for the short run to Arlington National Cemetery to visit Dad before heading off to get the kids and Mistletoe. At the petrol station, I'm sure I scared the hell out of the guy at the pump next to me…

After a lovely kielbasa and some pop (yeah, I know...haute cuisine in our nation's capital!), I've made it down the mall to the National Museum of American History and sit down on the bench to get a feel for what's on display. I was really interested in visiting this museum for one artifact in particular...a 1948 Tucker Sedan. The Tucker is a special car amongst petrolheads as only 51 of them were ever built thanks…

After making it round the Capitol Building, I arrived at the National Gallery of Art. The Gallery is actually split into two buildings so I started with the smaller East building which is connected to the West building via an underground tunnel with a fascinating light display. The architecture of the buildings is stunning but the treasures of artwork on display even more so. I've always liked Henri Matisse and Auguste Renoir but I'll confess…

We're now into the "bonus" day which is going to find me wandering round the north side of the Mall starting at the Supreme Court and Capitol Hill and then working my way down the Mall toward the White House. I will say that finding Weihle-Reston East station via the surface streets does still tend to be a bit more of a miss than hit...today I missed a turn and ended up overshooting Weihle-Reston East…

After a whole heap of walking through the galleries and now having an extra day to play with, I decided it was going to be a early trip back to the hotel and some more quality time with the Jacuzzi tub in the room. Between me and the blissfully warm water and the jets was a hour-long trip on the Silver line back to the Weihle-Reston East terminus. One thing that struck me as I…

After finishing the wandering round Hirshhorn, it was time to tackle the final museum of the day...the Freer Gallery on the other side of the castle. The first impression one gets looking at the entrance to the Freer Gallery is that it seems pretty small compared to the other museum facilities along the National Mall and indeed it is. But that appearance is very deceptive indeed because the Arthur M Sackler Gallery is physically connected…

I've made it to the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art and I must say that it was well worth the effort even with the building undergoing a fairly impressive amount of renovations. It appears that a lot of the Smithsonian facilities along the Mall (including my favourite National Air and Space Museum which was unfortunately closed during this visit) were taking advantage of the pandemic to push forward these big renovation projects to prepare the…