Thursday, September 22

Just left Cincinnati area after spending four days in there with my wonderful cousin.

I was fortunate enough to get enough of a tour of Cincinnati to get a feel for it. Several interesting things there

First, the underground railroad freedom Center which is devoted to primarily the underground railroad was used during the Civil War for slaves to get to freedom in the north from the south. And I think it was somewhere between 30 and 100,000 that came through Cincinnati

I also came across some streets are named after names that I recognized and could not understand  why they were named after the people that they are. The first one was John James Audubon who is the natural listed many of you may recognize his name particularly well known for his paintings of birds which are exquisite. If you're not familiar with him if you Google him you'll see some of those painting  which are just terrific. I found out that he spent the last year's of his life living in the Cincinnati area and serving as a naturalist at one of the museums there.

The next name was Ezzard Charles. I immediately recognized him as a one time heavyweight champion of the world . Charles spent about 10 years of his life or maybe the last end of his life in Cincinnati. The third one was Dave  Cowens. He's a Hall of Fame basketball player that Bonnie and I saw play in Honolulu in 1969 I think it was. He then went on to have a distinguished career mostly with the Boston Celtics. So I looked him up and found out it it was Newport Kentucky where he went through high school. And then went to the University of Florida. Newport is right next to Fort Thomas where I was staying ,so saith the muse

 Saturday, September 17 about noon

Spent about 36 hours in the St. Louis area visiting with relatives from Bonnie side of the family. Nice to see them.

 However Thursday night after arriving there just about the time I was retiring for the night I started feeling feverish and developing the chills. That led to a very unrestful night. I didn't take anything that night  nor did I even take my temperature. However Friday morning my temperature was 100.3 which is a little high. So I took three aspirin and within an hour or so my temperature had dropped to a normal range . I also was able to nap during the day so that by evening time I felt normal again.

That put me back on the road driving through downtown St. Louis where I was able to see and take a picture of the famous St. Louis arch . And now I'm onthe outskirtsof Indianapolis heading toward Cincinnati.

Sept 14/15

leaving Fayetteville/Springdale area this morning.  intend to stop at Crystal Bridges  in Bentonville.  It is listed as one of those 'must see' places.

travel yesterday was subject to a couple of ferocious rainstorms....hard enough to impair visibility.....ah well

Houston to Dallas

uneventful day driving to Dallas EXCEPT  for  the south bound traffic.....freeway construction closed a section and all vehicles had to go off at an off ramp to a stop sign.....at least a 3mile backup with hundreds of 18 wheelers dwarfing all the cars in the line....glad I was going north

Mon. 11pm
I left Austin about 10 o'clock  heading for the lake Conroe area north of Houston. After wandering through the back roads between Austin and my eventual destination I arrived about 3:00 PM.  My journey took me through the small Texas towns of Lexington, Caldwell, Navasota, and on into Montgomery. One of my first thoughts on the beginning of the journey  was to stop at snows barbecue in Lexington. The idea was good the result was not. To my chagrin I discovered that snows is only open on Saturdays.
 Driving the back roads is really a very pleasant experience. For the most part it was just a 2 Lane Highway rolling through I guess South Central Texas. The sky was full of puffy white clouds which are beautiful. The towns are full of older houses and buildings which are equally beautiful in their own way

 Got together with cousin Colleen, and whose house I am sleeping, and we went and visited her older sister Judy followed by a stop at cousin Anita's house in the Woodlands in Texas. Anita is the artist that did the charcoal drawing of Bonnie that many of you have seen.

9/11/01...a very auspicious date....9/11/07 another one, this time it was for my last radiation for my cancer...obviously worked well as I am still here with no recurrence....knock on wood...

AND NOW

Tomorrow begins my latest road trip which will include many stops to visit family and friends.  My plan is to return to Austin at the end of October.EASTERN U.S. ROAD TRIP – 2016

My plan right now is to leave Austin on September 12. My initial stop should be somewhere in the Dallas area. Actually Montgomery Tx

ON THE LIST-

COLLEEN=MONTGOMERY TX

ROSE- GARLAND TX

GRANT WILLIAM/MEG/PAT -SPRINGDALE AR

SONNY WHITE- SPRINGDALE

BARBARA NIELSEN- ST LOUIS

LYNETTE/CHRIS- CINCINNATI

ANDREW/LAURALEE AND KIDS -CINCINNATI AREA

TANI ROSE- CLEVELAND ???

PAT/BERNIE-ASHEVILLE

JOHN/JAN-ATLANTA

LARRY/JENNY/LEIGH -GREENVILLE/greer

?

NELS/KRIS- ATLANTA

JERRY/BARBARA- NO. VENICE

JOHN SAUCIER/KORI -NICEVILLE FL

Sandy Morrow....Mooresville No Carolina

Jason/Jennifer....Wilmington

PLACES

SAVANNAH AND CHARLESTON

Gettysburg

5 p.m.
Car is clean  and gas is full....just remains to load and organize.....