We made a wonderful visit to Johnstown, PA with Brian's mother. She is almost 91 and still pretty mobile so we took her out to eat several times and drove "over the mountain" to Altoona for a visit with one of Brian's cousins on his dad's side of the family. Glorious weather and vistas of fall color were very enjoyable. We woke up to "frost on the pumpkin" one morning : 33 degrees. We have been fortunate to be able to get to Pennsylvania four times in the past 18 months to see her. We were able to make video calls with all of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren back in Houston. Saying good-bye doesn't get any easier when we don't know how many more times we will see her.
Brian here. I treasure every visit with Mom, and am thankful that we are able to visit as often as we do. My Uncle Roger loans us his car when we visit because Mom can’t climb into our van, and the seats aren’t installed. She is happy at Arbutus Manor, and is very well cared for, which gives us peace of mind.
maple tree in from of Uncle Roger's house
I love how you can see orange at the top and green at the bottom of this tree in
Richland Cemetery behind the house Brian lived in as a small child.
Any trip to Johnstown is not complete without a visit to the cemetery and
we stopped to replace the geocache we have there.
One of their best fundraisers and these events are often sold out.
Most of the time on this trip, we enjoyed overnight lows in the mid-50s. October is a good month for traveling. We slept in our van every night along the way. It is a challenge when there are 13 hours between sunset and sunrise and we don't make campfires when it is just the two of us in a campground. (Note: we returned to Houston just before the colder-than-normal weather in the eastern half of the U.S. and snow flurries in Johnstown.)
We have logged geocaches in every county in 37 states so far, including Georgia and Virginia on this trip. The return portion of this journey was all about geocaching in new counties in the southern portions of Indiana and Illinois. There were a few locations on our bucket list to stop for, but most of the last week of the trip was spent enjoying the back roads through rolling hills and points of interest we discovered along the way.
Hartman Covered Bridge in Fairfield County, Ohio, and an old lock of the Ohio & Erie
Canal nearby
Rock Mill Covered Bridge, Fairfield County, Ohio
Entrance to the grounds of the Sweet Corn Festival in Millersport, Ohio - this place
must have been quite lively back in September
Clifty Falls State Park, southeast Indiana
End of the growing season at an Indiana pumpkin patch with other kinds of gourds
Mt. Vernon, Illinois - Kris grew up in a small town north of here
with U.S. 45 going right through the middle of it.
Gorilla sculpture made out of automobile bumpers in front
of Cedarhurst Center for the Arts
Last surviving Appellate Courthouse where A. Lincoln argued a case, in Mt. Vernon, IL
One location on Kris' bucket list in the southern tip of Illinois:
Taken from beneath a natural arch
NOT the flat part of the state Kris grew up in!
Camel Rock - what else would it have been named?
Not far from Garden of the Gods is Cave-in-Rock, a very small town on the banks of the Ohio River.
Picture taken from the mouth of Cave-in-Rock (I didn't get a good photo of the cave as I was
interrupted by an important phone call.) I did get this photo of the ferry we took over to the
Kentucky side of the river.
After a night in a campground in Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area in Kentucky, we crossed western Tennessee and saw a few sights in the town of Jackson:
Some Jackson, TN connections to Texas
We crossed the Mississippi River at Memphis and saw firsthand how low the river is this fall - large expanses of sandbars exposed. A news report this week states the river is the lowest it has ever been at Memphis. This is affecting the movement of goods on the river and will impact the supply chain issues.
The last night of our trip was spent in a campground on the Arkansas River not far from Little Rock. After this sunset, we sat on a bench overlooking the river to watch a display of lightning in all directions as a storm approached. We ended up at home one day earlier than planned because, after 17 days of dry weather, it rained on us most of the way between Little Rock and Houston. We had planned on camping at Tyler State Park for the first time, but, luckily, hadn't reserved and paid for a site yet. We did drive through the park and made note of desirable campsites for a future visit.
Willow Beach campground on the Arkansas River
East Texas rainbow - it made us remind ourselves to be grateful for the opportunities and
wherewithal to explore our wonderful, varied county. The trip was short compared to others we have been fortunate to make (only 18 days) but filled with an eclectic mix of experiences - art, history, family, geology, wildlife, quirky places, and, most importantly to us - natural wonders.
Other things seen while geocaching:
Wall art in Tyler, TX
Remembering our niece, Taylor
Photo op with a Bigfoot geocaching travel bug we had with us -
Jefferson, TX
We have seen many unusual tombstones, but this is the first one shaped like a grand piano.
Another Bigfoot photo op - this one near Garden of the Gods, IL
This one looks like the one in Jefferson, TX so I wonder about the
the connection between them.
"Schoolbus Graveyard" in Habersham County, GA
We took a stroll through Hart County Botanical Garden in Hartwell, GA ...
insect house
Asian Woodland section
cool birdhouse in the Botanic Garden
Many towns have themed painted sculptures.
Cartersville, Georgia has carousel horses.
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These pictures are from a car show in Covington, Georgia. It is always fun to come across small-town celebrations, as long as there aren't huge crowds.
