New York to Chagrin Falls, Ohio to Indy

Alone again, behind the wheel. It felt weird to be without Trish, my co-pilot, and Punk, chief crew member. I pointed Poppy west, and set off. Homeward bound!

Even alone, it was an easy day from Rochester NY to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. I made it in good time, arriving well before dark. I had time to walk the beautiful fields at my host's blueberry farm, Messenger Century Farm.

Blueberry blossoms

Took a walk around the field, with these maple trees bordering. I'm assuming the tubing is part of the maple sap harvesting?

Can you spot Poppy?

I had a pizza and a salad delivered!

The bumble bees enjoyed the flowers. I enjoyed watching them and shooting them.

In the morning, the host left some banana bread and tea for me!

They had massive bushes of my second-favorite flower (my fave fragrant flower!)

So I took a sprig to keep me company.

The next morning, I set out toward Indianapolis, where I was to pick up my friend Claudia. 

Buc-eeeeeeee's!

On the way, I thought about stopping at the Columbus Zoo to say hi to Luka the tree kangaroo for my brother. Luka had resided at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park before moving to Columbus. I even drove over to the entrance of the zoo. But it was raining lightly, and I decided that visiting the zoo wouldn’t be much fun even in a light rain. Would the animals even be out? So, I turned around.

I did recall a museum I had visited years ago during a family reunion in Dayton, The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. It’s a great museum! Just about every type of aircraft the Air Force has flown is within the four hangers, and then some. There are aircraft from the early days of aviation. Orville and Wilber Wright worked in this area, you know! And there are aircraft all the way up to the space age.

(Side note. I am one degree of separation from Orville or Wilber Wright! My Great Aunt Penny, my dad’s aunt, told the story that when she lived in Dayton as a child, would water Mr. Wright's horse as he stopped by her house. Cool, huh?)

Indulge me as I share some of the museum's exhibits.

Monument to the Mighty 8th Air Force

Polebrook, where Jack was stationed in England.

The famous Memphis Belle, the first B-17 to return home after 25 missions.

See the ball turret? I still can't believe a person was scrunched in there for hours and hours on missions over Europe.

Seriously? It's smaller than Poppy's driver's seat area!

An actual piece of fabric from the Wrights' plane!

Carrier pigeons were amazing! Especially this guy, "Stumpy" John Silver

Here's an aircraft I had not known to have existed (nor had many people – it was top secret). The SR-71 Blackbird. Looking at it, all I could say was "Oh my gawd." The engineering!

The SR-71 went high, and it went fast in this low-profile design.

Now we're talking flying saucer. Legit. The Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocar

And there were walk-throughs of some of the Air Force One aircraft:

Truman's: The Independence 

I didn't see a date on this map, but I wonder if Los Alamos would be included on maps during the Truman years, so early after its "discovery." But maybe I'm wrong. 

The inside of JFK's and Johnson's aircraft. It's where Johnson took the oath of office just after the tragedy in Dallas, Texas.

Lego Air Force One!

A quonset hut like Jack lived in during WWII.

A reproduction of a WWII air control tower (England). It and the quonset hut are now closed indefinitely, but years ago I toured the insides.

I spent almost three hours in the museum and could've easily spent three more. If you are ever in the Dayton area, go visit (it's free, too!) 

That night, Poppy and I spent the night in the parking lot of an Indianapolis hotel, where Claudia was staying the night. Claudia was to join as First Mate!

RIGHTS!

After our Randy Rainbow show, we stayed in a Real Hotel in New Haven, Connecticut. In the morning, we made our way to Rochester, New York. It was an easy drive. Toll roads are the nicest roads! Other than the country roads with no trucks. 

While in Rochester, it was mostly a lot of down time. Not driving was priority #1. But we did celebrate our rights. The first couple days were at the house, enjoying rights like:

Our right to snuggle.

Our right to smooch.

Our right to love.

Our right to lounge.

Our right to cuddle.

And of course, more serious rights. Like the right to vote and the right to be free. 

Wednesday, Trish had three meetings throughout the day, so I went off on my own to Seneca Falls, NY to visit the Women’s Rights National Historical Park and to Auburn, NY to visit the Harriet Tubman Home.

The Women’s Rights park consists of a visitor center with exhibits and the site of the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, which was the location of the first Women’s Rights Convention in July, 1848. I made it in time for the ranger talk, and I was the solo attendee, so the ranger and I had a good conversation. 

The building itself went through many iterations over the decades, including a roller rink, a mechanic's shop,  and apartments, but in recent years the National Park Service restored the building to what it was during the mid-1800s. Much of the building is original, but they did have to rebuild the front and back walls. 

I learned a lot and came away with a renewed sense of hope, duty, and inspiration. So many women fought for so hard for our rights, and we are still needing to fight. We mustn’t take the right to vote for granted!

The stair-step paint represents the original stairs. You can see the original holes for joists that held the gallery above (represented by a painting). You can see original brick and some of the original plaster (behind plexiglass).

This is where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott stood and inspired women's rights.

The visitor center held a lot of exhibits about women's rights in all areas. 

This was a gift from a Baha'i organization. Its accompanying plaque is below.

I like political cartoons, so I snapped a pic of a couple at the visitor center exhibits:

Many women were jailed in the fight for our rights. Don't take your right to vote for granted!

Elizabeth Cady Stanton's and Susan B. Anthony's handshake.

Lovely Seneca Canal through Seneca Falls.

After visiting the visitor center, I zipped over to the Harriet Tubman site. It was the last piece of property she owned, and she had deeded it to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in 1903 (I think). The tour guide explained the National Park Service’s relationship to the site, but it was a bit murky. The NPS owns the church itself but the site I visited, consisting of a visitor center and a lecture/tour, is controlled wholly by the AME Zion Church. 

It was an unusual “tour.” After I paid my $7, I thought I was again going to be the only spectator, but others trickled in. The tour guide was a spirited ex-pastor (or current pastor?) who told the story of Tubman’s life with voices, acting, and *pop* *pop* “POP QUIZ!” It was cringe-worthy at times, but during the one the hour lecture, I learned a lot about Harriet. She was an incredible, incredible human being. Wow. 

The final bit of the tour was visiting a building on the property that Tubman used as a boarding house of sorts for the “elderly and infirm.” It was the only building on the 20-something acre property still standing, save her house, which is undergoing restoration. 

The building was outfitted with period furniture that was not used by Tubman, save the bedroom, which had furniture that was gifted by her dependents and we were told that the bed was once she slept in. 

We were told that they were told that Harriet slept in this bed.

Our guide explaining the use of the ice box.

The soup tureen in the middle was gifted by Harriet's dependents. The other china is contemporary.

The exterior of the building, which was used for housing the "elderly and infirm."

The exterior of Harriet Tubman's actual home, which is being renovated.

Afterwards, I celebrated my right to huge soft-serve ice cream cones.

Very berry swirl. Yummers.

The next morning, I was ready to head home, after a birthday hug and a goodbye to Mrs. H and Trish and the the whole gang in Rochester. It was the end of the road for Trish, who is staying in New York with her family. I'll miss her in the co-pilot's seat!

Poppy's Spot in Rochester

Leg Two Stats:

• 2891 miles
• 62 hours of driving
• Avg. 15.9 mpg (according to Poppy)

Total Stats:

• 6457 miles
• 136 hours of driving
• 15.8 mpg (according to Poppy; at the end I'll figure the true gas economy)