A Bucket List Journey of Presidents

 If you are just now joining me, here is what is happening.

I am on a month-long quest to visit presidential sites, homes and museums between hope, Arkansas and Caldwell, New Jersey.  Along the way, I am trying to ride my bike (not totally successful, yet) and see some trains.  How many sites?   How many presidents?   You will need to go back into my blogs, as I keep running out of fingers, and I can't reach my toes to count on them! 

This is my fifth major trip since June, 2023.   I use the "Presidential Bucket Journal" as my guide.  I completed the "Presidential Passport" of the 13 National Archives' Presidential Museums/Libraries last fall, earning a very attractive coin for my efforts.

So, Why?   I am not writing a book, although this blog may count as one.   Not doing research.   Not in a competition.    It's just a personal goal.   I have met people who are visiting national parks.   I have read of those who are going to every major league ball park, and I actually met a woman from Houston, who like me, does the president thing, and get this, like me, has visited all 254 Texas county courthouses!

Friends have told me I need to see this and that along the way.   I just nod, as what I have seen has taken me this long.   Time is the most expensive thing, as is my energy.   I used to be able to drive from El Paso to Killeen in a day, but now four hours is about all I can handle.   And, when I was driving from El Paso, the posted speed limit was 55!  The only detour I have made this trip, was this week when my good friend Esther suggested (OK, she told me!) I stop for lunch at the biggest buffet in the country.   I am glad I did, as it was a gastronomic experience! 

I am on my way to western New York.   Millard Fillmore is from there.   I will see my final log cabin replica today.  and it is true, if you've seen one,.....  I have an appointment to visit his home south of Buffalo, on Monday morning, the 20th of May.   This will complete my quest, until the opening of both the Obama and Teddy Roosevelt libraries and museums, next year.    Also this weekend, I hope to experience both Niagara Falls and the Erie Canal.    

Tuesday morning, I guess you could say I will start home, but by way of Ontario!?!   Why not?   I will re-enter the US in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and spend several days with my sister, Kristen, before pointing the Kia south towards home.

What's next?   Next year, my niece is getting married in Wisconsin.   Roosevelt and Obama centers should open, and I have yet to visit Alaska, Washington, Oregon or North Dakota.  There is still the matter of biking the 35 miles of Brays Bayou Greenway Trail in a single day.   There is also a two-week, all-inclusive tour of Swiss railroads beckoning me, but the stock market will have to rebound to Biden levels before I can swing that. 

Grover Cleveland and Joe Biden

 Went to beautiful and historic Princeton, New Jersey.  Grover Cleveland lived there at the end of his life.   The house is privately owned, so I took pictures from the street.   I parked a few blocks away where I knew parking was legal.   Cleveland called it Westland, and it is for sale!   Sotheby's lists it for $5,750,000,   6 bdr, 7 bath, 1.57 acres, and the house is set back from the street.   Not bad considering Cleveland lived there in the 1890s!    

From a house he once lived in, I drove to Caldwell, NJ to see his birthplace.   Much more modest house, on the main drag.   A display said the road was a turnpike during his childhood, and legend says someone saved him from a runaway wagon.    The local group that oversees the house is working on it and the visitor's center.    They are very nice and enthusiastic, but there is just not much to see.   Only a few original artifacts, including Cleveland's office chair from the White House, and we have it because he gifted it to his doctor, and the doctor's estate gifted it many years later, to the birthplace.   No coffee mug, but now I have a simple beer stein that says "Grover Cleveland".

Cleveland was the 5th of 9 children.   When he got older, he had to watch the younger ones.   Story goes that he wanted to go outside and play ball with the others but could not go until his baby sibling fell asleep.   He rocked that cradle every way he think, but baby just kept watching him.   He even tried crawling under the cradle so baby could not see him.   One of his sisters finally relieved him so he could go out and play.    Anyways, as a big brother, I can relate.

The nice ladies in Caldwell warned me away from I-80.   Some massive sinkhole has jammed it up, so I let my GPS give me an alternate route to Scranton, PA.    I have now driven EVERY county road in New Jersey!  And at about 45 mph!

Joe Biden's childhood home actually has a simple sign out front attesting to his having lived there, and invited me to take pictures, from the sidewalk, of course.    Cute little home, nice neighborhood.   Right down the street from a local university.

I think you can make this big enough to read it.    

I am in the Clarks Summit Best Western in the town of the same name.   Lots of dining choices, but I think I will pass on the Tuscan place across the street.   The desk clerk said "Think Ruth Chris's"!   I saw a ristorante Italiano down the street.

The various desk clerks at Best Western make a show that I am important with my platinum loyalty membership.    They act like its a big benefit to comp me two bottles of water.   I buy that stuff at H-E-B for about 12 cents each, but its the attitude I like.   I think I have save a few shekels with my rewards points.

Tomorrow I am looking for Fillmore Glen State Park in upstate New York, log cabin replica number ??   By the way, Garfield was the last president born in a log cabin.   I have seen many, and I think all are replicas.   By the way, those manufactured log cabins you can buy today with perfectly straight logs that fit perfectly on top of each other . . . . . The ones I see on display are crooked logs with massive gaps filled with mud / adobe / something.    

Eisenhower, Buchanan and LUNCH

Thursday, May 15, 2025

General Eisenhower's farm is just south of Gettysburg.   It is the only home he and Mamie ever owned together.   The country side is serene.   The PGA put in a putting green for him and he had a helicopter landing pad in front of the house (First president to ride a chopper, he liked the convenience)   The house itself was not open, and the visitor's center has just been redone so there is nothing there, but I enjoyed the tranquility.   He hosted dignitaries there, and loved being a gentleman farmer.

From there, I drove to Lancaster to see Buchanan's Wheatland.   The signage at his birthplace tried to ease his reputation, the film at Wheatland was pretty blunt, but they also questioned whether anyone could have kept the union together.   Indeed presidents from the very beginning kicked the can of slavery down to the next administration.   There were hopes for James Buchanan.    He was likable, got along, and held a whole slew of elected and appointed positions.   He claimed to know slavery was wrong, but was very pro-slavery to the southern states.  He was no help during the Kansas statehood problems

Nice tour of the house.   Buchanan never married, so his niece functioned as first lady, a role she relished and the country loved her.   

                                           Desk in his office where he conducted business after the presidency

Acting on advice of my church wife, Esther, I detoured (not much) to East Earl to Shady Maple Smorgasbord (banquet).   I can believe this IS the largest buffet in the country.    I counted seven tour buses, and the place did not feel crowded.   GPS put in the the back parking lot, so I walked through what felt like a convention center hotel, past banquet rooms and a screen that offered reservations for parties of 50 or more.   My hostess emphasized my table number three times, so I took a picture of it so I could find it.   Good thing.   I saw two ladies who were lost, and the two ladies across from me came back and sat at the wrong table.   Did not go over well with the other occupants.   

I had ham balls in some kind of sauce (YES) and the creamiest saurkraut ever.   The lobster bisque had real chunks of meat, and I could almost stand my spoon up!    I build a salad to write about (I am) that included a red egg (pickled?).  I guess there were 200 food items, to include Shoo Fly Pie!   My server said they served 10300 last Saturday (breakfast, lunch, dinner) as prep for Mother's Day,  The gift shop downstairs was indescribable.   I was expecting a small room with magnets, mugs, T-shirts.   It was a full toy store, Amish outlet, art center and chocolate store.    

The Pennsylvania Turnpike is not much fun.   The good news is they are doing a lot of work to make it better.   The bad news: they are doing a lot of work!

I am in Bordentown, NJ and will visit two Grover Cleveland sites in New Jersey, tomorrow.

I have room reservations for Sat-Monday nite in Buffalo and plan to enter Canada Tuesday morning arriving at sister Kristen's in Marquette Wednesday night.   I'm starting to wind down.   The good news is that I have not begun deficit spending, yet!    But that day is coming.

South Central Pennsylvania

 Monday and Tuesday, May 13 and 14, I was in Connellsville, Pennsylvania.   Monday nite I dined at an upscale bistro next to my hotel, right on the river and the trail.   Had a delicious Chicken Avocado salad.   Excellent.    Tuesday, after my wet ride and subsequent shower, I went to Bud Murphy's on the other side of town.   The whole town was there!   Good ole boys live up north, as well.   Sat at the bar.   The bartender knew everyone.   Had a Philly Cheese Steak, maybe the first.    Excellent.

This morning I traveled to Horseshoe Curve, site of a massive railroad curve, both up and down, and side to side.    I thought it was kind of a requirement for a train buff.  Rode a funicular from the visitor's center to the viewing point, then waited almost an hour for a train to come rumbling up the steep incline.

Then I made it to the Broad Top Railroad, an old narrow gauge railway.   They were closed, but I got to see 3 foot gauge track and some small rolling stock.

Drove to James Buchanan's birthplace.    It's been raining all over, and the state park was almost under water.   I was careful where I parked and walked.  The information signs at the state park tried to make Buchanan look much better than the historians paint him.    

                    Stone Monument at site of Birth

Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg has a replica of Buchanan's log cabin.   Bigger than Lincoln's or Garfield's.   Pleasant trip. 

Chambersburg has a Bonanza Steakhouse!    Haven't been to one of those in maybe 40 years!    Ribeye and baked potato, side salad.   Brand new server who was among the best!    Food and service were top notch.

I'm in Gettysburg.   The breakfast room in my hotel overlooks the battlefield.   I will drive around Eisenhower's farm in the morning.  Hope to be at Buchanan's Wheatland before lunch.   Esther tipped me to the biggest buffet anywhere, plan on lunch there.   Then on to New Jersey, Bordentown.

 

A Name for my home?

 I need some input.   I have been visiting all these presidential homes.   Many are named, such as Wheatland, White Haven, Monticello, Mt Vernon, Poplar Forest, even John Tyler's Sherwood Forest.

I think my humble abode on Huntington Place Drive deserves a name.   Esther thinks it should reflect my train hobby, with the word "depot" somewhere.   

Please offer suggestions in the comments section below.

I am in Pennsylvania.   This morning I am heading to Horseshoe Curve, by Altoona, to see the famous railroad tracks.    Then I will head for Mercersburg to see where James Buchanan was born, followed by Gettysburg, a former home of the Eisenhowers.   I will skip the battlefield, I went there as a child.

Great Allegheny Passage, Day 2

 May 13, 2025

The Comfort Inn shuttle took me to Ohiopyle this morning so that all 20 of my bike miles would be one way.   Great Allegheny Passage from Cumberland, Md to Pittsburg is mostly lightly downhill, so I made a conscious decision to travel west.   Ohiopyle has a very nice state park with excellent visitor's center right on the river and falls.   I'm told the Youghiogheny River is not this full much of the year, but right now it is raging!

The only trouble is, it rained all day.  I headed out on a very firm crushed gravel trail.   I crossed the river on two converted railroad bridges and got moving.   Everything is so green and lush.   The former railroad route runs along the south slope of the gorge, with little waterfalls cascading down and disappearing through culverts.     There are benches and mile markers along the way with only a few shelters.    I got wet!   Esther had given me a car survival kit that included a one-size-fits-most, but we all know I am not most!   It did help for a bit, but I took a long, warm shower when I got back to the hotel.

I

Great Allegheny Passage, Day 1

 Connellsville, Pennsylvania.   May 12, 2025

I am Connellsville because: 1.  It is on the Great Allegheny Passage Trail.   2.  The Comfort Inn will drop me and my bike about 20 miles away, tomorrow morning, so I can do all 20 miles one way, instead of having to double back.

I got to the hotel early this afternoon.   When the ad says the hotel is on the river, and on the trail, they were not kidding!  So far, this trail follows the Youghiogheny River, which flows Northwest, to the Monongahela just south of Pittsburg, which then flows into the Ohio.

The Great Allegheny Passage is an incredible hike and bike trail along the former Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railroad.   The trail runs from Cumberland, Maryland, to Pittsburg, about 150 miles.   I plan to cover about 25 of that.   From Cumberland, the C & O Tow Path Trail can take you on into Washington D.C.   What I like is that there is a lot of support here, I can stay in a hotel and get shuttle bus to drop me off along the trail.   I also passed a very civilized-looking campground, and there is drinking water and occasionally restrooms.

I headed Northwest this afternoon and went about 6 miles before turning back to the hotel.   I passed an old railroad bridge that has been converted to an observation deck over the river.

A sign pointed to Coke Ovens.   On the way back, I saw a very well-done trail sign describing the coke ovens, which many years ago were all along both sides of the river.    I saw remnants of ovens, dug into the hillside, about every 15 feet.   Coal was sealed in these ovens and burned until all that remained was almost pure carbon, which was then loaded onto trains and taken to Pittsburg where it was added to iron to produce quality steel.   The sign was researched and made 30 years ago as an Eagle Scout project!

This trail is well traveled.   What I have seen is mostly crushed and compacted gravel.   As a former railroad roadbed, it is fairly level.   I saw families walking and biking, runners, bikers, and even a recumbent three wheeler.   I felt like I was seeing a piece of cycling Heaven!

This artwork is across from the hotel, as the trail enters town.   It is titled "From Coke to Spokes" showing how the area's function has changed.

Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water" is somewhere in the area, I may try to find it.

CSX trains run along the other side of the river, as does Amtrak, but I have yet to see it.    

The Great Allegheny Passage is what is called Rails to Trails.   Abandoned Rail lines are repurposed into linear parks, some stretching hundreds of miles.   Houston has several, including the Katy trail that goes through The Heights, and the Columbia Tap Trail which goes through Houston's Third Ward, ending at the soccer stadium.    Anyways, some people bike the entire distance over a period of days, camping along the way.   Others, like me, just want to bike about 20 miles.   This is recreation, everyone should do it they way they like!    

Stay tuned.

McKinley's Birthplace

 Monday, May 12, 2025

Made my way to Niles, Ohio, Northwest of Youngsport, to the birthplace of President William McKinley.  Another massive structure.   To the left is the very nice city library, to the right is the visitor's center, closed on Monday.    So was the home itself, a block away, on Main Street.   That's OK, I may have seen enough homes.

Followed the Ohio Turnpike to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, hoping for a Pennsylvania Welcome Center so I could do a few pictures for my Houston friends who are originally from Pennsylvania.    Jeff, Sandi, and Esther, this glass of sweet red, in my hotel, is for you!

By the way, I stopped at one of those Turnpike rest areas, with food and gas.   I had a Whopper for lunch that was one of the best ever!    Everything was fresh, and I swear that is the biggest Whopper I have had.

Anyways, on to my next adventure.

William McKinley

 Sunday afternoon, May 11, 2025

I drove down to Canton, Ohio to the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum.  Good sized building, but not what I expected.    The museum is at the foot of the hill where the McKinley tomb and monument stands.   I wussed out on trekking up all those steps to the monument, although many runners were bounding up the steps.

So, here is what you get:   The museum and library (I never saw a sign pointing to the archives) is on the upper level of the county historical museum.   The building includes science, a planetarium, a wonderful set of exhibits on county history and industry, but only one large room, less than the size of a basketball court, devoted to McKinley, and much of it is loose furniture.   There are a couple of displays leading into the main gallery.   I did note that McKinley, first president of the 20th Century, declined to ride an automobile in the inaugural parade because he feared it would break down.   The requisite film of his life was in a small room off of the main stairs, and featured a not-that-big flat screen.   The film, of course is favorable towards McKinley, and I just recently finished "The True Flag," a book that does not put our American imperialism of his time in a good light, so I guess I was exposed to both viewpoints.  McKinley was the last Civil War veteran to become president.   He served with Hayes in an Ohio regiment and went from private to major.

Nice HO train layout beyond the hall that shows life in the old days.   I question the presence of Santa Fe and Union Pacific engines on a Ohio tableaux, but, hey!

I traded my drivers license for the ability to drive up the hill to the monument.   I was not doing the steps!    It's a nice tomb, as far as tombs go.

Downtown Canton is home to the Saxton-Mckinley home, which houses the museum to First Ladies.   Walked around, took a picture.  This was Mrs. McKinley's home, and where they stayed during his governorship.  By now, I'm ready for dinner and back to the motel.

It's Monday morning, and I am caught up on my blogging.   This morning I will travel to the McKinley birthplace in Niles, Ohio, and will then steer into Pennsylvania, past Pittsburg and hopefully make arrangements to ride part of the Great Allegheny Passage.    The book says I can get a shuttle to help me get around on the trail.   We'll see.   I also need to resolve my tollway bill this morning.

James A. Garfield

 May 11, 2025

I find it interesting and sad that both presidents from this part of Ohio, were assassinated!   

Garfield's home in Mentor, Ohio, started as a two-bedroom single story home, but with 3 kids and Garfield's mother, he started expanding it.   By the time he was done, it was quite a mansion!  Garfield started the Civil War as a colonel in the Ohio volunteers, but he had to recruit his own regiment.   His oratory skills were well used to convince mothers to send their sons to the war.   
Just inside the visitor's center is Garfield taking the oath of office.   People, the oath really says the president swears to uphold and defend the Constitution!

This was a farm shed out behind the house.   Garfield rebuilt it, himself, into his campaign headquarters.   He had gotten tired of having to run every two years as a congressman, and the senate just didn't fit, so he thought he might just retire from politics.   But he went to the convention where no one could get nominated, longest convention ever, and after a few days, someone from I think, Wisconsin, gave one vote for Garfield.   He immediately jumped up and protested, but was called out of order.   The next vote, everyone voted to nominate Garfield!   That is the best kind of candidate, one who didn't aspire to the job!

After Garfield was assassinated, Mrs Garfield had a fireproof vault built in the home library where she stored all his papers, and visited them every day.   The Library of Congress really liked this idea.   Queen Victoria sent a sympathy wreath that touched Mrs Garfield so much, she had it dipped in wax, and it is still in the vault!

Garfield's mother lived in the house.   When he died, she had pictures of him all over her room so she would see him morning and night.   I really like the stained glass!

Mrs Garfield did not like the esthetic of the original windmill, so she had this one built behind the house.   500 gallon storage tank and fed running water into the house.

Moreland Hills, some miles away, is the birthplace of James Garfield.   Last president born in a log cabin.   This replica is a short distance from the original site, and now sits on the grounds of city government.

I am out of energy for the evening.    I will talk about McKinley in another post.   I have now visited five Ohio presidents.   I passed on the birthplace of Grant, it was out of position, and besides, I have been to four of his sites in three states!