The Highways Traveled

This trip will be the biggest trip I have ever taken, at least so far. It was planned to be an 18-week 13,000 mile trip starting in late June. Fourteen weeks spent in Boston mostly doing family history research at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) and Toastmasters. I have been a member of NEHGS since 1986 but the last time I was there was in 2000. When NEHGS is closed for Sundays-Mondays then trips to various places in New England plus New York and Pennsylvania are planned. These weekend trips will be to visit certain places such as national parks, college campuses, US Presidential homes, state capitols (Vermont and Maine need their photos retaken) as well as general sightseeing.

I have two friends that live in the area (MA and NJ) and plan to get together with them at least a couple of times each. I planned to join one or more Toastmasters clubs plus visit several other clubs that have, as members, some of the people that I met at the District 31 annual conference in May.

While in Boston, I will "live" in a furnished hotel suite in the Back Bay that has a full kitchen (minus the dishwasher). This will be my "base of operations" for everything and is only a few blocks south of NEHGS.

After leaving Boston in early October, I drive north to Canada to explore eastern Quebec, northern Maine, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. I have long wanted to visit these places and, for decades, have often taken "mental trips" there while looking at the pages in an atlas. This time, it will be real.

As usual for my trips, other people will vicariously travel with me. I post photos and descriptions after each day's travel.


INDIANA: My first stop on this trip is in Fort Wayne. I was here in the previous month. Both times to do a bit of family history research in the Allen County Public Library. The library has THE largest public collection of genealogical materials in the U.S. On the way home, I finally get to visit Evansville. A science museum there is reportedly to be definitely worth a visit. And, there is a college campus there to photograph its campus sign. Indiana, and particularly Indianapolis, had much highway construction going on. Several places had traffic down to one lane going 55 MPH or less (depending on the amount of traffic). Also, the last stop for the trip is Evansville. It has a college campus sign to photograph and a science-history museum worth seeing (or so I had read in AAA magazine).

Something interesting and unique I saw driving along the interstate in Indiana is a tractor truck bed bearing a subway car. First time I ever saw that!

I always judge a town by how easily and efficiently it is to get around along with how it just looks and "feels". Most cities rate poorly due to their traffic lights -- making traffic stopping at every block. A few towns have their lights well timed so that traffic hits green lights consistently. Fort Wayne is one of those towns with lights well-timed. Yay! As an FYI, the town that rates as my LEAST favorite town: Santa Fe.

OHIO: Several places to visit in this state. Some while heading to New England and some while returning from New England. Have long wanted to visit the national park that is on an island north of Sandusky. It commemorates the victory of Admiral Perry in the War of 1812. On the way home, in the central part of the state, the stops include: Zanesville (to photograph tombstones of the ancestors, I was unable to find these last year but have since learned their location), Columbus (visit a first cousin), Xenia (family history) and Clermont County (east of Cincinnati) for family history research.

NEW YORK: Outside of New York City, the state is quite beautiful. I recall that when I first drove into the state in 1986 I immediately noticed a different "feel". Been impressed ever since. Many college campuses to visit in this state. Would like to someday spend some time doing some family history research in a couple of counties just north of Manhattan Island. On one weekend I met up with a good friend that lives in Seattle but is on an extended visit to family in northern New Jersey. We will tour the Hamilton Grange House (a national park site)) on Manhattan Island. Then, a month or so later, we traveled together up the roads along the Delaware River (a national park -- we both LOVE our national parks and visit many of them) which divides New York and Pennsylvania.
Western New York has mountains and trees and farms. The east has the Hudson River and the many towns along it. Interestingly, I encountered, several times on two-lane highways, those construction points where they close one lane thus put up a temporary traffic light that allows traffic to flow only one direction at any given time. Interestingly, when in the center part of Long Island, especially in the western half of the island, the town looks just like any other US town since no ocean is visible.

CONNECTICUT: In late June, before arrivng in Boston, I made several stops in the western part of the state, mostly for colleges but one national park: Weir Farm. Also saw the headquarters for SS&C, the company that bought DST in 2018 then laid off 1,000+ DST'ers, including me. In late July I visited two campuses in the eastern part of the state. Actually, this state is probably the least pretty of the six New England states. Little here that appeals, especially beyond the coast.

RHODE ISLAND: Rhode Island, the smallest state. I recall from 1986 that it took 90 minutes to drive diagonally all the way across the state. I returned a few years ago and spent a night. For my goal of spending a night in at least two different cities in every state, I returned this trip to photograph the campus signs on all of the colleges plus visit a national park and a state park. The coast of the state is very high-class well-to-do and has a special feel to it. Sunrise viewing across a bay is definitely something to do here (and the one I saw was beautiful).

MASSACHUSETTS: Much planned for this state. Family history research, sightseeing (so much history here). US Presidential home. Museums. National parks. A good friend recently got married and moved back to New England. We got together only a couple of times (including Plimouth Plantation) because the day before I arrived in Massachusetts she badly injured her ankle and was "out of service" for six weeks.

VERMONT: I never tire of driving through this state. It is so very beautiful plus I just have a real connection to it though my ancestors. The family of one family tree branch of a great grandparent moved from Vermont to Iowa which is partly the reason why I live in Kansas City. Several things to see and do in this state during this trip: President Arthur's home, re-photograph the state capitol, photograph the sign of a national park I visited years earlier but forgot to photograph the sign (my substitute for the national park passport book which I did not learn about until my 75th park). I entered Vermont from Montreal and left for Quebec city fourteen weeks later. No family history research done here afterall since the New England Historic Genealogical Society and familysearch.org have most everything anyway.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Only a couple of college campuses to visit in the state along with one town in the southwest part of the state to do a bit of family history research. And, I am still considering living in Concord for retirement although that is unlikely because I want to get rid of winter weather in retirement and Concord has a snowy winter that lasts 5 - 6 months. This would be a great place to live each year from mid-April to mid-October!

MAINE: Several college campuses visited in the state. And, I needed to rephotograph the state capitol building. Maine is the state that launched my "photograph all state capitol buildings" when I was here in 1986. At the time, I photographed it only because I thought it looked good. And I FINALLY get to visit northern Maine. For a while, I seriously considered living in Presque Isle during retirement. However, I learned that Maine, although acreage is fairly cheap compared to the rest of the country, has too many cloudy and rainy days. And, after actually seeing the area and how (A) it looks like Kansas farm country, and, (B) Presque Isle is a rundown falling-apart town. The hotel I stayed at is a good representative of that.

PENNSYLVANIa: Two main places to visit in this state. One is Lancaster, where I have been before. However this time, I am hoping to find that my Wilson ancestors were here before moving to the central part of the state in Huntingdon county. The other place to visit is Scranton because it is one of the top 100 largest US cities. Visiting the top 100 largest US cities and the top 100 largest US metropolitans (the two lists do vary by a dozen or so) is yet another one of my travel goals. After this visit, the only city left on both lists will be Honolulu.

KENTUCKY: Only place to visit is Owensboro, a fairly large city in the state that I had yet to visit.

ONTARIO: Toronto is the main stop in this province. Numerous people have told me over the years that this city is absolutely worth a visit. The downtown area was pretty good.

QUEBEC: The French-speaking province. I learned several French phrases, just in case. However, from all I have heard and read, most everyone in Quebec speaks English as well as French. Places to visit in Quebec include Ottawa (the national capital), Montreal, Quebec City (the walled city and some people have told me it is absolutely gorgeous), then all the way up the St. Lawrence River (south side) to the Atlantic Ocean. That last part was the best. In fact, it is now my #1 favorite drive (although it takes six-plus hours to drive it totally from Quebec City to Gaspe).

NEW BRUNSWICK: Saint John will be the main place to visit in this province. Moncton and Fredrickton are also large cities. There is a national park, Kouchibouguac, in New Brunswick but it would have taken another full day to visit it. Also, when at the recent Toastmasters District 31 conference, the keynote speaker lives in Moncton. He gave me his business card and said to contact him when in the area. However, the planned time in Moncton was under an hour. The interstate-like highway going between Moncton and Houlton, ME was very nice. I actually just drove right on through Fredrickton and Moncton.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: I expected this island to be absolutely gorgeous with a feeling similar to what I have noticed in Princeton NJ. Shortly before going on this trip, I watched (at the urging of a good friend) the movie (made from the book) of Anne of Green Gables. That house is on the north central part of the island and I planned to be there. Actually, I promised the friend to send some photos of the house. There is a national park on the island as well as several lighthouses. While crossing the Confederation Bridge to PEI, I felt an excitement of FINALLY being on that island. However, while driving up through the center of the island, where one cannot tell that it is an island, I felt like I could have been at the farming country of eastern Kansas. And Charlottetown, which I expected to be a really cool vibrant town, reminded me of Boston -- traffic jams everywhere all day long with sitting at every traffic signal every eighth to quarter mile. Took the fun right out of it, and, made me glad that I had decided to cut out four days of my trip by only going to the places I felt I absolutely had to visit then dropping the rest either for good or maybe another time. I did visit two lighthouses and two national parks, all along the north shore, my hotel for the second night was also along the north shore. However, when I got to it, the place looked like a dump. Graffiti all over the exterior stone walls, and, no vehicles at all. No way am I even attempting to go inside that place. It was then that I decided to go ahead and drive to Nova Scotia. I was more than ready to leave Prince Edward Island. Next step was to cross the Confederation Bridge and I knew that getting off the island costs a hefty toll ($47.75 Canadian dollars). During the hour-long drive to the bridge, I thought about how I wanted to handle the rest of my trip. Two nights in Halifax since I would arrive late afternoon that day. Then I decided to skip Saint John in New Brunswick and skip the southern coast of Maine (Eastport and the International Park Campobello along with Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park further west). Basically, I was cutting off three more days of my trip and could be home on Tuesday. I was soooooooo very ready to end the trip and be home on the 116th day of the trip. I now know that about 90 days is the maximum I should have set this trip to be.

NOVA SCOTIA: My original plan was to counterclockwise traverse the perimeter of the entire peninsula. Hoping to see whales in the Bay of Fundy. Couple of national parks to see and really looking forward to being in Halifax. From the northeast part of Nova Scotia is a ferry to Newfoundland which I would love to visit. However, the ferry ride itself takes a full day each way from Nova Scotia. Add to that a full day of driving to get to St. Johns and more days to see the rest of the island meant an additional week. Since it would be getting late in the year, I decided to save Newfoundland and Labrador for another time. However, Nova Scotia was near the end of my long trip and before I got here I had had enough trip and was ready to go home. So I went straight from Prince Edward Island to Halifax, then back out the same way.



MISSED VISITING:
--NB:Kouchibouguac national park in New Brunsick
--NB:Saint Johns sites: Reversing Falls, Rockwell Park, the Bay of Fundy National Park, and, Lower Cape area
--NY:Pound Ridge and Sarles Corner in Westchester county just northeast of Manhattan Island for some family history research
--ON:Allan Gardens and Conservatory in Toronto -- traffic jams were instead how my time was spent
--ON:Ontario Science Center in Toronto -- traffic jams were instead how my time was spent
--ON:Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa -- traffic jams were instead how my time was spent
--ON:History Museum in Ottawa -- traffic jams were instead how my time was spent
--QC:Place Ville Marie Au Sommet Observatory in Montreal -- traffic jams were instead how my time was spent until I ran out of time
--QC:Forillon National Park -- near Gaspe in far eastern Quebec. It was raining all during the day time when I was in the area.
--PE:Summerside PEI -- seemed like a nice town
--PE:Western half of PEI -- mostly it would be driving around although the lighthouse at West Point might be fun to see
--MA:President Coolidge's library museum in Northampton MA. It is housed in the library which is closed on Sundays.
--MA:Boston African American National Historical Park -- I walked there a bit before 9:00 am expecting it to open at 9:00 am only to learn it opens at 10:00 am and I had little desire to stand there for over an hour. I went again two months later when they were open to learn that there is no exhibit but only a guided tour of nearby buildings. Boring!
--MA:Boston Science Museum -- never got around to going there, especially when I saw online the price of tickets
--MA:Boston Old North Church -- quite a walking distance, and, rather expensive ticket just to walk in the door and look around for five minutes
--MA:Boston Tea Party -- unknown what there is to see here but it certainly is historic. Tickets a bit high for maybe just looking at a couple of ships.
--MA:Martha's Vineyard -- the original plan was to go with my former co-worker friend and her husband. However, they decided at the last minute that it was quite a long drive from where they live in Massachusetts, and, she was just recovering from a badly sprained ankle and Martha's requires much walking.
--VT:Brattleboro Vermont -- this place has much family history for me. The ancestors moved from here to Iowa which is how I came to be living in the Midwest.
--NS:Cape Breton on Nova Scotia -- heard it is a beautiful area
--NS:Sydney and Glace Bay on Nova Scotia -- supposed to be great beach with maybe whales
--NS:Halifax -- greater area, especially on the peninsulas, the day was cold, windy and cloudy
--NS:Digby on Nova Scotia -- whale watching
--ME:Eastport and Lupec in the extreme southeastern corner of Maine along with the adjacent International Park, Campobello on Deer Island in New Brunswick
--PA:Southeastern Pennsylvania -- several counties to do family history research: Lancaster, Chester, York, Adams, Franklin, Huntingdon

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

The Bests:

  1. Edwards botanical garden in Toronto -- dozens of volunteer workers keep this place looking, and smelling, reaaaaalll Goods
  2. CN Tower in Toronto -- great views on a clear day
  3. Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal -- it is a MUST-SEE
  4. The covered bridge to drive through between Vermont and New Hampshire near Cornish NH.
  5. Springfield MA is very nice, it just felt right
  6. Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield MA -- so fun to see all the kids having so much fun there
  7. Boston Commons -- a peaceful and beautiful place
  8. Learning more about Frederick Law Olmstead whom I knew little about
  9. Cape Cod -- what an incredible area. It was full of spring bloom colors at an abundance hardly matched anywhere. Beaches and seashores beautiful. And, temperatures are mild all year long. I got to sit for over two hours at a home along the shore visiting with friends. Niiiiiiccceeeee!
  10. For some reason, it "feels" so cool to be in Maine!
  11. Family history research at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. I joined this group in 1986 and have always been very impressed with the organization. Many staff members from 1986 are still there. They know Soooooo much about genealogy and are very willing to share it. I added at least one more "branch" to most of the family surnames that I have yet to discover the immigrant ancestor. And, in fact, I DID discover the immigrant ancestor for many of those surnames. Very productive trip from this standpoint alone.
  12. Concord NH is a very nice small town with plenty of shopping, restaurants, small downtown, easy traffic and navigation, parks, scenery and more. IMPRESSIVE!
  13. New England suumer weather has been outstanding. Warm but not overly so plus humidity acceptable. Mostly sunshine, only about one rainy day per week.
  14. The naval ceremony for the burial of ashes of my aunt and uncle Knudsen at the naval academy cremaburium. Naval crewman to fold the flag and carry the ashes. Officer to direct them. And, naval chaplin. Someone played taps in the distance then saluted when done then marched away. Stirring!
  15. The New England Historic Genealogical Society -- I have long known that the organization is absolutely top-notch. The staff is quite knowledgeable and willing to share it.
  16. Family tree discoveries made -- the main focus of this trip was family history research. I have been able to extend almost every branch that still needed to know the immigrant ancestor. On many branches, I DID find the immigrant ancestor.
  17. Being a part of the Toastmasters District 31. Met many good people because of it and learned a few things too.
  18. Seeing Stony Brook University. Two years ago I learned about the special communications center (in the library building) for which Alan Alda donated the money and is a "visiting professor" there. The campus has a good feel to it but was undergoing much construction during the summer time, thus, the library was closed.
  19. Watching the sunrise from Sandy Point Beach in Rhode Island
  20. Enjoying the peace and serenity of Colt State Park in Rhode Island early in the morning
  21. The three clubs I joined all meet on Monday or Tuesday. That means they get done early in the week and the rest of the week along with the weekend can be non-Toastmasters! I like that!!
  22. New Englanders have great taste. VERY, VERY few PT Cruisers were seen anywhere, especially in Boston.
  23. The people I encountered regularly -- hotel staff, NEHGS staff, fellow Toastmasters -- all were very nice people (vs. the mentions I heard in KC of how New Englanders are unfriendly and gruff) AND many got to know me by name
  24. Plimouth Plantation and Plymouth MA in general. A near-perfect weather day, great sights and smells (at the 17th century English village), fun lunch places (Sam's Diego), and, was with two friends
  25. Learning about the genealogy research tool called "FAN", an acronym for Friends, Associates, Neighbors. The idea is to gather information about all people around the elusive person you are trying to find. Something might be said about Mr./Ms. Elusive in the information for those other people. For finding my elusive ancestor James Wilson of Pennsylvania (a contemporary of the famous James Wilson who signed the Declaration of Independence and died in debt in 1798 after being in debtors prison), I decided to gather EVERYTHING about every Wilson in Pennsylvania between the years 1700 and 1830. That could take years and I likely will ultimately not need/use 99% of it. But it would be worth it if it leads to finding more about James -- where he was born, where he died, where was he buried, name of his wife, names of his parents.
  26. Overall, being in Boston was a worthy experience. At least 100 people now know me. I quadrupled the size of my family tree. I found some clues going a bit further back in time for my actual paternal line and into the Pennsylvania counties of Lancaster, York and Chester. I earned four Toastmasters awards by giving nine speeches. And, maybe best of all, the Boston summer weather is liveable (whereas I "hibernate" during the unbearably hot Kansas City summers by going outdoors only if I must).
  27. The drive in Quebec province along the St. Lawrence River between Matane and Grand Vallee (while the rain had stopped) was the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. It beat out western Colorado and Moki Dugway in southeastern Utah and along the Pacific coast in California. And this Quebec drive was on a rainy, total cloudy day. I can only imagine it if the sun had been shining. Oh My!!!
  28. Gaspe, the town in the southeast corner of Quebec. Cute little town that is actually a big town when compared to all other towns for miles north and west of it. Very few towns in eastern Quebec that are not along one of the coasts.


The Worsts:

  1. Canadian speed limits -- and I thought U.S. speed limits are too slow!
  2. Toronto drivers
  3. Traffic in Hamilton-Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal
  4. The streets and the traffic of Manhattan Island
  5. Boston streets, period. Uneven, potholed, zigzag every direction (like New York City). Traffic lights are designed to stop traffic at least 80% of them, even at 5:00 am. And the pedestrians and bicyclers make driving around even tougher.
  6. My Garmin GPS sometimes gets confused or gives totally false/inaccurate information. Sometimes it says to turn the wrong way on a one-way street. Other times it reports that traffic on my route is light while I am sitting in bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go traffic, and, to turn onto streets that are either non-existent or restricted. And Garmin has a penchant for selecting small hardly ever used back roads to transfer between two highways. Sometimes those back roads are interesting and even helpful. But sometimes they are 5 to 20 miles along curvy narrow two-lane roads that have a speed limit of only 25 MPH and I am thinking that there surely was a better route.
  7. New England traffic has "cured" me of thinking I would ever want to live in this area. Just on the way back from Cape Cod to Boston, between the hours of 11:30 am and 2:30 pm on a Monday (when I would expect light traffic because people should be at their workplaces), I encountered FIVER different traffic jams that each lasted at least ten minutes each. Incredible! And going from Concord NH to Boston took an hour longer than expected thanks to traffic between 9:30 am and noon. When do these people actually go to their offices to work?
  8. Weekend traffic in Maine and New Hampshire is as bad as weekday traffic in Boston -- Massachusetts folks go north on Friday evening and return on Sunday
  9. Budget car rental -- they have a penchant for overcharging. First, in April it was over $48 in tolls for a few hours in Chicago and this time it was over $100 for six hours 62 miles of car usage.
  10. I will never again take for granted how easy we have it living in Kansas City. Even the simple things like grocery shopping is a major hassle in Boston, for several reasons. I eventually learned to leave the car parked as often as possible.
  11. Quebec City. For various reasons, so many things went wrong in this city. That, coupled with all signs being in French and people mainly speak Frends, which made me feel out of place.

The Totals:




Just to list this as of November 2019: