• 11/03/2012 - Ed and Terry Leonard's Trip-
    Here is Ed's summary of their cross-country trip with some accompanying photos.

    1. USGA Headquarters in Far Hills NJ where every golf ball used in PGA tournaments must be tested and approved. - The home of "Iron Byron"

    2. Charleston WV - 4 Civil War statues on the Lawn of the Capital including Union Soldier, Abraham Lincoln at Midnight in his night shirt, "Stonwall" Jackson & Colonial Patriot defending his home from invasion of Confederate forces- WV became a Union State in 1863 - one half way through the Civil War

    3. Frankfort, KY the capital

    4. Churchill Downes , Louisville, KY ( We thought of you Gerry while driving flat out to get to Indianapolis, Indiana)
    5. Civil War monument -
    Monument square- Indianapolis
    (300 feet tall with a central elevator -
    you can see Lucas Field down the street-
    Lighted at Christmas - beautiful!)
    6. The Brick Yard- Indianapolis Speedway

    7. Lincoln's home, office, Old Capital Building where he spoke often and waited for his presidency announcement, and his Tomb with Civil War statues.(One of the flags in the tomb is Massachusetts because his family descended from there. Maybe the Lincoln's in the Winnecunnet Cem. on Bay Road in So. Easton? - need to check this.)

    8. Seven Civil War statues in cemeteries in small towns west of Omaha, NE.

    9. North Platte, NE - home of the largest train distribution centers in USA -
    automated - 8 miles long and 1 1/2 miles wide.

    10. Chimney Rock, NE (check your state quarter collection) and Scotts Bluff NE

    11. Lincoln Hiway= Oregon Trail= Mormon Trail= Transcontinental RR=Pony ExpressTrail = Rt 30 = Rt80 from Omaha, NE thru WY = Buford, WY

    12. Buford, WY -
    The smallest town in USA - population = ONE = until sold at auction in for $950,000 this year . now boarded up also = Site of Ames Monument
    13. Ames monument - Buford, WY - elevation 8000 ft. - a 60 foot high pyramid made from red stone quarried locally and built beside the Transcontinental RR in the early 1880's. Buford established in 1866 grew to 2000 population when the RR was being built. Oliver and Oaks Ames with a few other wealthy men founded Credit Mobilier which funded the construction at Lincoln's request because the Country could not afford it during the Civil War. I brought back a stone for the Easton Historical Society
    (Gosh Ed, I hope the rock you brought back was not the one under the sign !! Ha! Ha!

    14. The Grand Tetons, Jackson WY - too much smoke from all the fires to see the mountain peaks very well.
    15. Driving the Golden Spike connecting the Central Pacific RR and the Union Pacific RR at Promontory Summit, Golden Spike, UT. We caught the reenactment at 10 am on Saturday when they drove out the CP wood fired Jupiter and UP coal fired #119 (engines) nose to nose on the tracks. Oliver Ames was President of the Union Pacific - I should have worn my OAHS cap!
    16. Lava rock fields everywhere in Southern Idaho and Oregon.
    Many blackened fields for miles due to weeks of fires in CA, ID and OR
    17. The Pacific Ocean in Oregon with large Lava boulders sticking out of the ocean. And my only Bald Eagle - sitting in a tall evergreen tree looking for his next meal in the ocean

    18. Signs along the Pacific Coast Route " Tsunami Hazard Zone" - Debris from Japan is washing ashore.

    19. Mt St. Helens - Awesome to contemplate the magnitude of the explosion - and only one of the many volcanic eruptions evident all over the Northwest. When will MT Rainier explode?

    (Ed, concerning Mt.St.Helens I had the good fortune to witness the 2nd eruption in 1981. I was flying back to Texas from an interview at Boeing when the pilot ascending out of Seattle said "Folks, get out your cameras and go to the left side of the plane- we are going to detour around Mt. St. Helens - it is erupting again". Gerry)

    20. Tour Seattle meet friends at Seatac - Dine in the Space Needle - Tour a Nordic Museum, Meet a relative on Whidby Isle. overlooking Puget Sound.
    21. Cruise to Alaska - 8 day round trip - Glacier Bay, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Hi Tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, Vancouver Island.

    Johns Hopkins glacier with National Geographic ship in the foreground
    22. O'Nite in Coeur d'Alene, ID - famous for its floating island golf green

    23. Billings, MT, And Medora, ND's #1 Vacation spot and where Teddy Roosevelt became a man

    24. Roaring home from there in 3 days and end a 4 week GREAT Vacation

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