Marquette and Coming home

 I have been in Marquette, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula for the past few days.    My sister, Kristen and her husband have a summer home here.   This is a little slice of heaven!    Clean, clear skies, friendly people, and great whitefish meals.   Monday I will point the car south and head home, stopping in Madison to visit my cousin, Victor and his lovely wife Kathy.

Tuesday, I will make a short stop in Elburn, Illinois to get the European Train Store to help me figure out how to operate my new-fangled digital train system.    I am still operating my trains the same way I did 60 years, ago, totally analogue, with a million miles of wire under the layout.    I hope they can teach this old dog something new.

Then I will take about 3 days to drive home to Houston.   I remember in the old days, we might drive 12 or more hours, straight, to get from El Paso to Killeen, and that was at 55 mph!    Now, anything more than 5 hours and you can pour me out of the car!   I will try to be back in Houston before rush hour starts on Thursday, the last thing I want to do at the end of my vacation is to experience Houston traffic!

I will report my miles driven when I get home.

Canada

 I drove from Buffalo, through Ontario, to Sudbury and then west to Sault St Marie.

Anybody know what this is?   I saw a couple of them in Canada, one was even in it's own little building.

Stopped at Parry's Sound to take a break.   Pretty little town on a bay of Lake Huron.   Saw some monuments to Canadian military, including the Algonquin Regiment, that saw entirely too many casualties during WWII

I had high hopes for Canada, especially Ontario, but Sudbury, about 5 hours north of Toronto, was a disappointment.   As I pulled into my downtown hotel, I watched two bicycle cops escorting a man across the street, to the police station.   Yep, he was cuffed.   The downtown park was littered with homeless people, looked worse than much of Houston.   Room was nice but the heater was noisy.

Then, in the morning, I discovered thtat someone had stolen my bike off the back of my car!   Cut the straps holding the rack to my car, so I lost my bike rack and my bike!    The cops were less than helpful.   Suffice it to say, I left Canada not feeling any love.   I called a friend to request prayer that I could control my anger well enough to drive without getting myself hurt.   It worked.   I was rather glad to see the US border personnel as I crossed back into Michigan.

It is Thursday, and sister Kristen and I took a walk in one of Marquette's many forested parks and stood on the shore of Lake Superior.   Cold and the water was choppy.

Check out the sky.

I will be visiting my sister Kristen until Monday morning, when I will point the car south and start back to Houston.   I am ready to be back in my own home, but do not plan to drive until I drop.

Final President, For Now

This happened on May 19, 2025

 Went to Forest Lawn, Buffalo and found the grave of Millard Fillmore.  Old, old cemetery.   Local group posted the US flag.   Forest Lawn is also home to a herd of deer, who were peacefully grazing among the grave stones.   They watched me carefully but were not skittish.

Drove down to East Aurora, south of Buffalo to visit the Millard Fillmore house.   He and his wife lived here 1826 - 30, before he was president.   The house has been moved since he lived here.   There have been 4 owners, including Millard, and the Price family of Fisher-Price fame.  Cathy was our primary tour guide.   The house is currently owned by the local historical society.   Authentic family artifacts are marked with little cards.   

The campaign posters are original, one done by Currier of Currier and Ives fame.   

Fillmore was Zachary Taylor's vice president, and assumed office when Taylor died in DC.  President Fillmore moved to a house in Buffalo when his term ended.   His party did not renominate him.  His most significant work may have been the Compromise of 1850, which the Whigs held against him.  Also, his wife died right after he left office.   He later remarried in Buffalo.

Me and my bud are just chilling in the garden!

From East Aurora, I drove up to Buffalo, to the Teddy Roosevelt Inauguration site.   A friend had offered him a place to stay between downtown, and the Buffalo Exhibition.   When McKinley died, several days after being shot in Buffalo, Roosevelt took the oath of office in the library of the house.   He composed several letters there, including a heartfelt letter that he tossed the first draft into the trash.   Someone retrieved the rough draft and preserved it.   The final draft said what he wanted to say about the tragedy.

                                           The room where he took the oath of office

                                          The very desk where he composed his declaration of Day of Mourning, and a personal letter to Mrs. McKinley.

I was much more impressed by this site than I expected to be.    This was but one small moment in history, but the National Park Service has presented it very well, and tied it all into the times.  This was a worthwhile visit.

Presidential trivia.   The oath of office has only been administered outside Washington DC a few times.  I have stood in the room where it happened (but not when it happened), for two of them  Calvin Coolidge in Plymouth Notch, and Roosevelt in Buffalo.   George Washington was sworn in in New York and we all remember where LBJ took the oath.   And I think that was it, but I may be wrong.

So, I gonna say I'm done with presidents, until Obama opens his massive center next year (maybe) and North Dakota finishes the Theodore Roosevelt Museum and Library sometime next year.   That one should be interesting as he was not a fan of Native Americans and the center is being built on or near tribal lands!   The tribes have been given equal time at the exhibits.  Could be interesting.

 

Several Ways to Get Wet

 Here's a great idea:   Drive to the Erie Canal on a cold, Sunday morning and ride your bike on the tow path before taking a two hour tour of the canal.   Then, go to Niagara Falls and take a boat ride to the very base of the biggest leaky faucet you have ever seen.    What could happen?!?

Lockport, New York is the home of several locks on the Erie Canal.   Two hundred years ago, this canal connected the east coast to the mid-west, allowing for massive expansion of our country.   Today, it is primarily used for recreation, the railroad and the automobile having lessened the impact of barge and boat traffic into this part of the country.   Some of the original locks can still be seen in Lockport, and a few of them actually still work.     Later a bigger set of locks was built to accommodate barge traffic.  The canal stretches across New York state, from Albany to Buffalo.  But, I've always been intrigued.   

                                                Original locks.   Not very wide.

I went for a bike ride along the canal.   And it started to rain.   I passed young people fishing on the banks.   I didn't see anyone else walking or riding.   I came to the mighty locks of this 200 year old transportation system.   It rained.   I rode through the town and took a wrong turn.   It rained.   After about six miles, I returned to the car, found a dry, clean, public restroom along the trail, and changed into dry, warm clothes.   Now I could look at the world a little better.   I still had time until my boat tour, so I drove slowly through Lockport.   A diner.   Tom's Diner.   And they were open!   And they serve hot chocolate with whipped cream!   And I can get some outstanding French Onion Soup.   Life is better.

I took a very informative cruise through the locks and a few miles either side of Lockport.   On a cool Sunday afternoon, this was a very relaxing  and beautiful ride back into history.

                                              model of the original locks

                                       Replica of the long boats.   This was top of the line!

I figured as long as I was in the area, conventional wisdom demanded a very wet cruise to the base of Niagara Falls, with the requisite walk along the banks.    Lot of water.   Lots of international visitors.   Part of the trip is my souvenir raincoat, made, I believe, from Saran Wrap, but it got the job done.   This is why all passengers were clothed in blue.   Passengers in the Canadian boats are all in red.   These boats are now all electric.   First benefit is there is no diesel smell, nor engine sound to drown out the running commentary during the ride.   They charge the boat for a few minutes between each cruise.     

The American Falls look like they could use a good stone mason.   There is a lot of rock junk at the base, causing the falls to look more like a cascade than real falls.    The Canadian side, Horseshoe Falls, is the spectacular sight.   Our boat got so close all we could see was spray, and that causes some pretty stiff winds.  The raincoats only protected so much.

I short drive down the Niagara River is the Niagara Whirlpools.    Nice park.  

I have an appointment for a 10:30 tour of the Fillmore home in East Aurora.   I plan to visit several other presidential sites in the Buffalo area, before retiring to my room to prepare for my dash across Ontario and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.   By prepare, I mean I may need to do some laundry.

Millard Fillmore's Birthplace

 Saturday, May 17, 2025

I drove north from Clark's Summit, PA into New York.   Beautiful drive.   Millard Fillmore was born in Moravia, in the finger lakes region of New York.   I called Fillmore Glen State Park several weeks ago for information on his birthplace, and they almost did not know what I was talking about.   "Oh, yeah, there is a replica log cabin here."   Same thing when I got to the entrance of the park.    This is a beautiful little state park, but the main events are camping, picnicking, hiking, and when the swimming hole is repaired, swimming.    But there, on the edge of the meadow, is one of the nicer replica log cabins.

You can actually go into this one.   Glass separates the tourist from a collection of furnishings.   It gave me a pretty good picture of life at that time.

The information sign on Fillmore's life says he was born in 1800, lawyer, state assembly, congress, NY state comptroller and by age 49 was Vice President.  A year later, he became president in 1850 with the death of Zachary Taylor.   He signed the Compromise of 1850, which only bought some time with the slavery question.  After the presidency, he moved to Buffalo and was active in local affairs.   He died in 1874.

From Fillmore Glen Stat Park, I drove over to Watkins Glen to a bike trail I had read about.   Rails-to-Trails.   Rather rustic, but firm surface.   Finally saw an ice cream shop at the same time I wanted an ice cream!    I couldn't remember why I had heard of Watkins Glen, so I googled it.  OK, duh, auto racing.   On this Saturday, it was full of tourists.    Corvette show, and the state park, right in town, had the place crawling with tourists.

Long drive to Buffalo / Niagara Falls.   Weather was iffy all the way.

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