A Few More From The Road Home

The Big Yellow Truck on Poverty Beach, Murray Harbour North, PEI on May 12, 2009.
We arrived on the evening of the 11th and drove 4,610 miles from Santa Barbara California.
It was quite a ride.

Our last run was from Bangor Maine to the Border, then on into New Brunswick. The shot above is "Down East" Maine on Route 9. We crossed the border at Milltown and had no problem importing the truck. I had all my papers in order which made it simple. President Obama's picture was on the Wall in the US Customs office, (which looks like a drive up / take out place).
Then we crossed the Saint Croix River to Canada Customs. We chatted a bit and got an earful about US politics, the election of President Obama and George Bush. You don't have to get very far outside the States to find out just how much the rest of the world dis-likes our former president.

Here we are coming over the Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick to PEI. The bridge is 8 miles long. Yup, that's a long bridge. We had been invited to supper with friends so our first meal home was surf and turf (steak and lobster) with Greg and Angela near Montague.

Yes, it's lobster season on the island. But prices have collapsed and the fishermen are in trouble.
The word going around now is that lobster is selling cheaper than bologna.

I got the lawn mowed, the car started up and the tractor ready to work. Next morning (Wed.) I woke to a frosty white blanket in the yard.


Annie confronts the frost. It warmed up into the high '60's later in the day but as you can see, mid May or not - it can still get cold at night.

I showed Peter how to hook up the disc harrow and start a parttern in the front field. He was

doing fine so I left him at it. He "made a good job of it" and so we got our first ground broken for the season. I plan to put in a "green manure" crop in here. Peter flew back to Santa Barbara yesterday (Thurs.) so I went from Charlottetown to York and picked up our seed order at Vesey's then headed back down east to Murray Harbour North.

Our road trip story is over, but now the farm work has begun. I'll keep you posted here, so do check back in and visit from time to time. Visiting is important here on the island. You'll be expected to stay a bit and get all caught up on the news. I'll put the coffee on.

Running Through New England

We started yesterday east of Hartford, Connecticut and ended in Bangor, Maine last night. As we start our daily routine this morning we're heading to the Canadian border and we plan to be home on PEI tonight.

Susan and the boys are back in our home in Santa Barbara. The evacuation orders were lifted for most of the city last night. I spoke to Susan and she's already been busy washing the ashes off the house. She said the fire burned to within a short distance of our home (down to Hwy 192 in two places). Thank you fire fighters! There were crews from all over the state and a full scale air armada of water dropping planes and helicopters.

Thanks to you, our good friends, for your concern and good wishes. We had to miss visits with several dear friends in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. So sorry we missed you.


Sunday, we pulled off the highway for a short stop in Amesbury, Mass. Why? Well, in the 1600's, our pioneer ancestors had a homestead there when Amesbury was out on the frontier.
Our unfortunate predecessor was killed in an Indian raid. His wife shouted and cursed at an Indian attacker, who killed her husband then hit her on the head and left her for dead. She and their son survived...or I wouldn't be writing this.


Amesbury is a nice looking small town on the Merrimac River, just below the New Hampshire border.

The Congregational Church, which would have been home for our family. Amesbury would be a perfect Hollywood location for "small New England Town".


I found some cousins on the Amesbury Civil War memorial.


We stopped for lunch at a locals hangout and talked baseball with the bartender and a couple of local letter carriers. Former Red Sox slugger and now suspended LA Dodger, Manny Ramirez, was a hot topic. The food was fresh and good.

Barry the bar tender at our service.

This morning we're leaving Bangor and will be leaving the states behind in New Brunswick.

History Geeks at Gettysburg!

We did a speed tour of Gettysburg on Saturday morning. Enough to load the camera with snapshots and tell you that the park has undergone a tremendous renovation program. It looks fantastic. There is a new visitor center which houses a specially produced film program and the fully restored Gettysburg Cyclorama - a huge 360 degree painting that surrounds you with the climax of Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863. The sound and light show makes the diorama truly three dimensional. It realy is impressive! Some of these pictures are in large format (which means they will take time to load on your computer). You can double click for a bigger view.


Well on her way to history geek-dom, Annie has decided she loves touring historic sites. She gets to be out of the truck in nice green fields and forest. History smells good too! But it can give you ticks.


It was great to see so many kids at Gettysburg. This picture was taken during the Cyclorama presentation (no flash photography please!). The video generation has just discovered an oil painting.


The First Minnesota regiment saved the Union position on July 2nd. While Chamberlain and the 20th Maine held the Union left at Little Round Top, this one regiment staged a bayonet charge into Longstreet's Corps. That's why they get this bitchin statue!


Incredible story. Being Minnesotans I'm sure they came back saying, "ya, it coulda been worse."

Virginia monument, the starting point of Pickett's Charge.

GK Warren, a signal officer on Little Round Top, watched Longstreet's attack shatter the Union line directly below and realized he was in deep doo doo. He called for re-enforcements to hold the line. The statue represents the moment he realized that the entire Federal position was in danger. Missing are his famous first words, which must have been, "Holy Shit!".

The view from Warren's statue on Little Round Top. The Park Service has done a tremendous job of restoring the "view-scape" of the battle. They cut down 150 years of trees and brush so that you can see the battlefield as it was in 1863. The lines of sight make it possible to understand what happened here much better.


Peter stands next to the monument to our Great Grandfather's regiment near the Wheatfield.
Sgt. Thomas Stephens was in company K of the 20th Indiana on July 2nd. His regiment was posted at the far left of the line. During the day, he records that there was little activity, though both side were skirmishing and probing through the woods and fields in his front. He records that some artillery fire was passing overhead to his right and he was relaxing and writing.

At about 4:00 PM, Lee opened up an assault with Longstreet's corps along the front. In about 15 minutes, half of the 20th Indiana was shot down. Colonel Wheeler fell, mortally wounded by a ball through the head. The regiment broke and ran for the rear. Thomas was hit "in the side" as a rifle ball pierced the brass "US" plate on his cartridge box. Having worn one of those as a re-enactor I can tell you that his "side" was a lot closer to his butt. No shame though - he was being pursued by a lot of people who were trying to kill him.


The Wheat Field and the Peach orchard.

By the way, Thomas survived his wound at Gettysburg. He also survived the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. He mustered out of the army in August of 1864, went home and got married a month later. Ghosts of blue and grey definately walk among the living at this place. The video below of the 114th Pennsylvania Zouaves evokes that ghostly feeling.

Tennessee to Virginia to Gettysburg

We've had a couple of long travel days. We stayed in Northern Virginia last night at the home of my step daughter and her husband. Brian is a Major in the US Airforce stationed at the Pentagon. He's pretty busy these days.

Travel was beautiful through the Shenendoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains. We loved the green mountains and the sweeping views.

Today we lingered in the DC area listening to the fire news streaming from Santa Barbara online from KTYD. I posted my latest podcast for The Homecast Show. By the time we got back on the road we discovered just what a nightmare the traffic around Washington can be on a Friday. It was gridlock on I-95. We ran east to an alternate route north and arrived in Gettysburg, PA. tonight. I'm writing this just a few blocks from the new National Park Visitor center. The photo above is the main street of Mercersburg, Pa., a beautifully preserved and lived-in old town. We saw a bit of what the area looked like when Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia invaded the north in July of 1863.

The modern approach to Gettysburg is quite different. The modern buildings and retail centers have covered the route that part of the sourthern army took into town.

Sisnce we were in the area, we made a side trip to the birthplace of 15th president, James Buchanan. He was born in a log cabin at the foot of Tuscarora Mountain. It's a beautiful spot.

So how do professional historians rate Buchanan? I happen to be traveling with one so I asked him. "He stank" was the verdict. Buchanan was the 15th president. Lincoln was the 16th. I was thinking of all the comparisons between Lincoln and Obama. Ironic that in those terms, Buchanan compares to Bush. Peter added, "Buchanan is now the second worst president".


Peter explains the legacy of James Buchnanan to Annie. My dog loves history. Whenever we stop at places like this, she gets to run around and chase squirrels.

Tomorrow morning we have a few hours to visit Gettysburg. Then we have to streak north.
We're running out of time!

Podcast From The Road

CLICK - HEAR Podcast 03

Sorry I didn't update pictures last night. No internet until today. I'm in a Starbucks in DC listening to Santa Barbara fire news live on KTYD Click on the link for live coverage.

I'm posting this week's podcast from the road. Includes our stop in Winslow Arizona and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tenn.

Thanks to Danny and Liz at The Homecast Show in Los Angeles, CA for getting this linked in at the last second this morning.

Day Six - Memphis to Knoxville TN

This is Peter doing all the work while I look for an artistic angle in a slightly out of focus photo which evokes the spirit of movement, travel and adventure. Hey - I must create my art dammit!

Last night we had an early call from a line of thunder showers at about 3:00 AM. The southeast US is being flooded by rain. We heard there were 6,000 lightning strikes in one hour from the storm that moved south and east of us. Poor Annie jumped into bed with me - shivering and whining. The motel was nice but the night was not too restful! By the way, we're finding good motel rooms to be fairly inexpensive right now.

Yesterday, Bobby Robinson at the Cozy Corner in Memphis told us that he went to college in Nashville. He said that if we had time, we should stop in Nashville at Monell's. It's real down home southern cooking in an old house in a nice gentrified old neighborhood. So we looked it up and made plans to stop for lunch.


We Found Monell's pretty easily from I-40 on 6th Street and parked on the street. Inside we were greeted and seated at a large communal table loaded with fresh hot food.


People are seated together. You pass dishes family style and help yourself. When a dish gets low the waitstaff brings more to the table. There's no chance of leaving hungry. As you can see, we ate until we were blurry. The menu today included pork chops with baked apple slices, baked chicken, delicious fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, fresh broccoli salad, green beans,
home made biscuits, fantastic peach preserves in a brown sugar and vanilla sauce, cucumber salad, corn pudding, savory sage dressing and banana pudding (with vanilla wafers) for dessert. There were also generous pitchers of brewed sweet tea. This isn't lunch - this is what farm folks call dinner (Supper is the evening meal).


I ate as much as I could hold and then some. Cost? About 10 bucks per person plus tax and tip. It's all you can eat - and in the style of traditional southern hospitality they encourage you to eat more. Tennessee has been very good to us. Needless to say we didn't eat supper tonight.


We followed behind the storm front that moved through Tennessee today. We dodged most of the heavy rain and it looks like we'll be in good shape for tomorrow as we head east again.


We stopped tonight in the beautiful green mountains of Dandridge, just about 35 mile east of Knoxville and were rewarded with this beautiful view and a rainbow from our hilltop motel.

I'm listening to the Santa Barbara fire coverage streaming online from KTYD and thinking of our loved ones at home who are preparing to evacuate. Not much we can do but follow along and send our best wishes to all of you back home.

Our trip has been safe so far and I feel we are being led to good people, good food and good weather. 2400 miles on the old truck so far and she hasn't missed a beat - thank you Ayers Repairs for getting us ready.

I hope the hand that is guiding us will protect our good friends and firefighters at home.

Good night from the road.

Eating Memphis BBQ and Holding Elvis' Mic

Before I left Santa Barbara, Aron Ives told me to go to Memphis. I said, "really?" He said, "Yeah man, you get the best BBQ you've ever had and my brother has a record store". I added it to the trip plan. At Aron's suggestion we found the Cozy Corner restaurant. Let me tell you, it's the real deal. Now, I like a burger and fries but this is slow cooked, smokey - tangy delight.



They were out of ribs after the lunch hour but they had two orders of pork "rib tips" sandwiches.
So we ordered and dug in. Words can't do this justice. It's messy. You eat with your fingers
and you get covered in sauce. And you just don't care.



They opened the BBQ so we could see the ribs cooking in the smokey confines of the grill.



Great grand daughter is two years old and already charming the customers! And Grandma Val Robinson works there too!



Desiree Robinson and her grandson stand in front of the BBQ. She started the business with her husband. She and her daughter Val, grand daughter and grandson were all there working when we arrived. Grandson Bobby Robinson was on the BBQ when we came in. He asked - is that your yellow truck? I said yes. He said, "Wow". I had parked the truck next to his 1962 Chevy Bel Air. Turned out we are both classic car guys! Wonderful people and delicious home cooked food - a real local delicacy. Be sure to link to the Cozy Corner website and see Desiree talk about her story. And y'all come to Memphis. The food is great and the people are friendly.



The Big Yellow Truck at Sun Recording Studio. Yes friends - Sun is still a recording studio. But they record at night and tour people like yours truly through the studio during the day. I loved it. I can't even tell you everything I loved about it. But I stood in the same studio where Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins and BBQ King and Howlin' Wolf And U2 recorded hit records. Some of the most famous sound in America's Music History. And without totally geeking out - the ROOM - sounds like those old records...



Gear piled in the corner from last night's session.



Yes, you can take him anywhere and he'll find a microphone. This is a mic Elvis recorded vocals on. It's not one like it...it's an original mic Elvis used. OK now I'm totally geeking out.

After Sun we went across to Goner Records. What can I say, I'm an old DJ and I love classic vinyl. We got there too late to meet Aron's brother, but we selected a few sweet sides to play
on the turn table. Some jazz and some very weird country. Plus an original copy of The Guess Who, "Shakin' all Over".

That's all from Memphis - we'll be heading east again tomorrow. It's raining in Memphis (sounds like a song title). I'll send you another dispatch from the road.

Dog Murderers and Hangin' Judges - OK to ARK

Greetings from the road...

It was a long stretch of Interstate today from El Reno Oklahoma to our stop in Memphis, Tenn. And while we are trying to keep the miles flyin’ by, Peter and I have a hard time passing up a good landmark. We like to visit with people along the way too. Then we realize that we've got hundreds of miles to go and we’re behind schedule again. Sometimes we change the schedule.

This morning was clear in Oklahoma. We packed the truck and visited with a couple from Germany who were touring America. Wolf liked my truck and showed me pictures of his restored MG. They were following the old Route 66 from Chicago to LA. He asked me what I thought of Obama. I said that I like him a lot. He asked if anyone had a problem with his color. I said that some people did but I didn’t. Big smiles. He and his wife both indicated that they were pleased with our new president.

We rolled onto Interstate 40 East from El Reno, through Oklahoma City and into the green rolling hills of eastern Oklahoma. More trees more water and more dead armadillos. We’re never more than a few seconds away from a long haul trucker going eastbound and we talked to a driver from St. Louis at a truck stop this morning. I asked him if he had work. He said it’s been steady. He said he’d been on the road for over a month and he was heading home for two weeks with his family. “That’s the hard work” he said. I said that it seemed to me that things we’re terrible on the news with swine flu and the economy and all. He said, “Yeah, that’s why I don’t watch it any more.” Out here on the road people are just doing the best they can to keep going like they always do.

Then there was the surreal visit of the day with a guy who waved us down in the Wendy’s parking lot just outside of Ft. Smith. He wanted to tell us all about a dog murdering dog catcher in town. He told a grisly tale of dog death and how nobody could get the guy who went around killing dogs. We expressed proper concern. He also mentioned he was a veteran of the first Gulf War and that he had to take “anger pills”. I hoped he had remembered to take them and that they were working.

We rolled across the Arkansas River under heavy skies and made our way into old Forth Smith, Arkansas.



Ft Smith had been a frontier army post established in 1817 to help keep the peace between Indian tribes who were being relocated from the east. Basically it was the military base at the end of the "Trail of Tears". It was there to enforce the government policy of Indian relocation to western lands. During the Civil War it was abandoned by Federal forces and used by Confederate troops in the Trans-Mississippi.

In 1871 the borders of Indian country had been pushed farther west. The Army moved out and Fort Smith Became the Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas. The Court had jurisdiction over Indian Territory. Federal Marshals were sent into Indian country to apprehend outlaws. The accused were then brought to the Federal court for trial.


This is Federal Judge, Isaac C. Parker. He was known as the hangin' judge and his appointment was for life. He was the final authority on all legal matters in the territory and there was no court of appeal until the 1890's. If you were convicted of a capitol crime in Parker's court - you went to the gallows.


The accused waited for trial in holding cells underneath the court room. Up to 50 men held in each of two cells. Desperados from Indian territory were men of every description.


Judge Parker's court room.


After a "fair trial" the guilty were hung from the neck until dead. As you'll note this gallows allowed for multiple counts of "justice" to be done. Spectators needed tickets to watch the proceedings. Because of Judge Parker's authority - only the President of the United States could issue a pardon.


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