Last Day in Lancaster, Ohio

Saturday, Sept. 27, Day 110 of Trip

This has been the most restful week of our trip, I believe. Partly due to having a campsite at the lake's edge... I enjoyed the reflections as they changed throughout the day and night, the geese flying in and taking off, the ducks paddling in the water and waddling up the bank, and the cormorant spreading his wings out to dry even while floating in the water. 

But another contributor to the peacefulness was the decision to stay over until we knew more about my brother Dale's condition. Much time spent in prayer for his strength for the fight, and for comfort for Linda and all 5 of their kids, and for the wisdom of the doctors... In spite of our concern for Dale, a sense of peace prevailed, knowing that God is in charge of all things.

Because of our extended stay, and a need to be still, we didn't have our usual compulsion to dash out and see every local attraction. We got out some, but we also spent lots of time sitting quietly. Curt and I both took time to practice out long-neglected music. For my singing and guitar playing, I chose to be Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.... (Or lake, in this situation) ...

...and Curt whistled along to his baritone ukulele while holding down the doorway of the trailer:

In the afternoon we moseyed into town to visit the pride of Lancaster: the birthplace of General William T. Sherman.

There was an historical symposium going on when we arrived, so our tour was somewhat piecemeal. But it was great, because we got to spend time with two different tour guides, both of whom are well-known local historical scholars, and who had fascinating insights and stories to share. 

William Sherman's father was a judge, and he had quite an affinity for the Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh, so Tecumseh became Sherman's middle name. As a child his family called him "Cumpy," and even as an adult his friends continued to call him "Cump." He was the middle child of eleven. Here is the room where he and some of his ten siblings slept and played as children:

Next door was his parents' room:

The little bed off to the side of the big bed is a "nursing crib," so Mom didn't have to get all the way out bed for the nighttime feedings. Sounds like a great idea to me!

The stenciling was done by an itinerant craftsman who went from house to house. While he worked in a house, he roomed and boarded with the family and participated in their family life. Our guide told us that to stencil a room this size with this much detail would probably take about two long days. There is more stenciling downstairs, so the craftsman probably stayed with the Shermans almost a week.

Ten of the eleven Sherman babies slept in this cradle. It's almost exactly like one that was passed down in Curt's family, made by his great-grandfather. Curt slept in it, as did all four of our children. Now it resides at the home of our daughter Kelly and her husband, Tim, who have twelve children! I'm sure this cradle has seen at least as much action as the Sherman cradle did!

Another exhibit I really enjoyed was a reproduction of General Sherman's battle campaign tent. Several of his original belongings (two trunks and a writing desk) are actually displayed inside. 

These next two photos are especially for three of our grandchildren. Patrick, Rebecca and Robert, you are right in the middle of a large family just like General Sherman was. Last week when we talked, you told me about your studies of the Oregon Trail, and how your teacher made hardtack for you to try. Well, here is some genuine Civil War hardtack. Be sure to read the sign underneath if it's clear enough to read. Your hardtack may not have been super flavorful, but I bet it was quite a bit better than this!

I didn't quite get the reflection in the mirror, but on the very edge on the right hand side, you can see a few insect holes. Yum!

Lancaster is a very historic city, with much local pride in their heritage. There are 5 well-known museums. We only got to two of them (Sherman, and the Glass Museum), so the others will have to wait till a return trip, if we're able to do that sometime. But we did get to see some of the beautiful downtown parks and sights.

The Veterans' Park honors all veterans in all service branches, but naturally, it especially commemorates General Sherman, their Native Son.

L

Our guide at the museum told us a fascinating story about this cannon. 

It was brought to Lancaster and placed downtown (I don't remember the year). Everyone was excited about shooting it off at community and patriotic celebrations. Perhaps a little too excited. Somebody didn't do their homework in researching how much gunpowder to use. The first time they fired it at a celebration, they used between 3 and 4 pounds of gunpowder and consequently blew out the windows of almost all the downtown buildings!  Before they fired it again, they towed it out not the country where it couldn't do any damage, and tried different amounts of gunpowder to "dial in" the proper quantity. 12 oz. and 10 oz. were both far too much. 2 oz. and 4 oz. didn't create a very impressive bang. They found that 6-8 oz. was a perfect amount for safety and festivity, so that's the amount of gunpowder they use today.

The streets of historic downtown Lancaster offer a wonderful opportunity to honor today's servicemen and women. On every lamppost (4-6 per block, on both sides of the street), there is a "Hometown Hero" banner which displays the photo and branch of service for current-day and recent service personnel. Look past the first nor here and on down the street, and you can see several more. What a great way to thank those who sacrifice so much for our freedom!

Across from the Veterans Park is another beautiful park, shady and flower-filled.

The sculptures in it are done by local high school art students.

Along one side of the park are several permanent chess tables. It reminded me of several scenes in the film, "Searching for Bobby Fisher."

Note the chalk art on the sidewalk beyond the chess table. There were some beautiful pictures there! The one below may not have been the most beautiful, but it's the one that made me laugh!

This was a wonderful last full day in Lancaster. Tomorrow, Sunday, after church we will head southwest toward Louisville, Kentucky. So we have officially made the turn in our trip and we are headed in the direction of home. What a wonderful place this has been for us!

Staying in Lancaster, Ohio

days 107 and 108 of trip, September 24 & 25 (Wednesday and Thursday)

Yesterday (Wednesday) we stayed here in camp, attending to lots of details and paperwork. Not much excitement for photo shooting, so I'll spare you the piles of papers I had stacked all over the trailer! 

We had a late breakfast by the lake to break up the tedium of paperwork. How's that for dining atmosphere?

Our friend Steve had brought some local fruit, paw paws, for us to try. I'd never heard of them, except for the song from childhood, "Way down yonder in the paw paw patch." They were delicious! Kind of a cross between a mango and a banana, with about 6 good-sized seeds in each fruit. Yum!

We did enjoy watching a flock of Canada Geese on the lake throughout the day. They reminded us of our days in Montana and Idaho where they were a common sight, but one we never tired of watching and hearing.

We wanted to sit tight in camp so we'd be available for any news on my brother Dale's condition. I want to thank all of you who have contacted me to let me know you're praying. And many of you have added Dale to your church's prayer chain. Thank you so much!  It's been a difficult two days for him and for the family, considering the need for a feeding tube and one doctor thinking he may have had a heart attack as well as his other concerns. But I got a brief message tonight that there was no heart attack. We're thanking The Lord for that, and we thank you for all your prayers. Keep them going...he has a long ways to go back to health!

Here's the most recent photo I have of Dale, taken with much of our extended family last December. That's Dale's companion dog, Tessa, there in the front with him. 

We have decided to stay here for a few more days than we originally planned. That way, if we need to make a trip to California, we can just park our trailer and truck here down at the end of the line of campers, and Steve would be able to take us to and from the airport.

Today we headed into the nearby town of Lancaster and visited the Glass Museum of Ohio. The New York museum was all about Corning glass, and it's Anchor Hocking that's big here in Ohio. This was a much smaller museum than Corning, but it was fascinating because we got to watch a terrifically informative demonstration of glass blowing. I'll show you a few photos of the process:

He's heating the glass in a 1200 degree furnace.

Then rolling the ball of molten glass around to get it somewhat centered on the pole...

Just a puff of air is all that's needed to open up the inside of the molten ball.

He rolls it on a cool metal table to elongate it and further center it.

And now it's being shaped and centered even more with this bowl-like tool on a short handle.

Those steps are repeated after adding more molten glass to the ball. Then he rolls the hot ball in several different shades of turquoise of glass chips. It's dark now because of the added color, but it's glowing hot underneath! He has also added a disc of glass for the "foot" of the bowl.

Now he attaches a handle to the foot so he can de-attach the open part of the bowl from the original pole and begin enlarging the opening.

And he adds some more glass to the opening for a "lip."

After he has enlarged the opening, he turns the bowl upside down and spins it to form waves in the glass.

Then he breaks off the pole that's attached to the foot and smooths out the spot on the bottom where he broke it off.

At this point the bowl has cooled down considerably. It's about 800 degrees now, and very hard. He puts it in a cooling furnace and overnight the temperature gradually drops to about 100 degrees. He'll be able to remove it tomorrow morning and place it in the gift shop for sale.

What a fascinating demonstration! This glass-blower was not only a skilled craftsman, he was also a very effective teacher. I could watch his presentation again and again!

While we were out, we also went to WalMart to pick up a few things, and Curt ran into some of his buddies there:

(I never know what's going to happen when I go shopping with that man!)

As we returned to camp this evening and had our dinner overlooking the lake, we were treated to the sight of a man fishing, backlit by the gold trees. What a beautiful scene!

Now compare those photos to a picture I took from about the same angle at the same time of day on Monday, only three days ago:

 I would say fall is moving in fast here in Ohio, wouldn't you?

Central Ohio...And Fall Is on the Way!

Sunday morning we packed up camp at Geneva State Park (have I mentioned how much easier and faster it is to pack up Lucy than it was the pop-up?). Before we left the area, we attended church at Geneva  First United Methodist Church. 

It was a wonderful, uplifting message and such a friendly congregation. It was especially meaningful to me that the pastor took time at the end of the service to pray with us for my brother Dale. Dale is a pastor himself, and he has been a quadriplegic for 21 years. He's in the ICU in California with sepsis. So any of you reading this who are inclined, we would surely covet your prayers for him!

Then we headed south for several hours toward Lancaster. Curt found a wonderful campground situated on a lovely little lake. We'll probably spend at least 5 nights here. 

The first evening's view from our campsite:

This is the first time on the trip that our campsite has been right on the water. We even have a little dock right below the site. I hadn't realized how much I would enjoy being on the shore. The first night here I wasn't sleeping real well, so I got up several times and went outside to just enjoy the beauty of the water, the cool night air, and to pray for Dale. it was lovely!

That's Lucy on the left there. You can see how close we are to the water.

Even though we now have a luxurious kitchen in the camper, I still love cooking outdoors when conditions are right. And conditions were right Monday morning for sure...how would you like to cook up eggs and bacon while looking at this?

The highlight of the day (and the reason we came to this part of Ohio) was seeing our old friend Steve. Curt and Steve worked together when we lived in Boise, starting about 18 years ago, and we've kept in touch and have had many wonderful visits since then. It was so much fun to watch and listen to these two old friends... The never-ending stories, the laughter, the easy companionship...what a wonderful all-day visit!

These guys LOVE to tell stories!

And they're STILL telling stories!

And some views from our afternoon walk...

Steve was our first dinner guest in our new travel trailer. 

What a perfectly lovely day!

This morning, Tuesday, we headed for Steve's town to see where he lives. We had a wonderful day just hanging out together. Here's a shot from our walk through a Civil War era cemetery:

And lunch outdoors from a local coffee shop...

We drove through Ohio University's campus, and stocked up on groceries at a huge, beautiful Kroeger store. Then back to camp and our little lake for the evening. I don't know if it actually got down to freezing here last night, but today has certainly felt like fall. I love it; it's a glorious season!

Tomorrow we plan to stay in camp most of the day to get some paperwork done and take care of some details of living. We'll have dinner with Steve tomorrow evening, for one last round of storytelling. And then off to the next adventure!