Thank You!

We spent 71 nights on the road.  We stayed in hostels and hotels.  We camped in tents and cabins.  But mostly we stayed with friends along the route.  Thank to you all for the hospitality and gifts, for the food and shelter, for the special times seeing sights and talking.  Each of you has contributed to the success of our trip and to our healing.  Here they are....... in order of our appearance.

 Scott, Sandra, Haragwan, Melese, Tesfahun, and Teya in Cornwall, Ontario.

Don, Fay, Craig, Brett, and April in Uxbridge, Ontario.

Chris, Michelle, Jacob, Lucas, and Jack in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 Ed and Irene in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Gary and Pam in Edgemont, Arkansas.

Wendy, Debbie, Greg, and Pete in Memphis, Tennessee.

Glen and Fran in Poplarville, Mississippi.

Melissa, Isabelle, and Duncan in Atlanta, Georgia.

Alan and Tricia in Greenville, South Carolina.

 Chris, Stephanie, Sam, and Lily in Boone, North Carolina.

David, Margaret, and David Jr in Washington, DC.

Dalina in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Days 69, 70, 71 The Last Factory

We know our trip is coming to an end because we visited our last factory -- the Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.  This was an amazing walk along the production line watching people craft a guitar.  The factory produces about 200 guitars each day and, while some of the work is computer-generated, much of it is still done by hand.









 The C. F. Martin and Company guitars have been called the "most coveted acoustic guitar on earth".  The walls of the factory and lobby museum are lined with photos of artists and their Martin Guitars -- Johnny Cash, Elvis, Hank Snow, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Gordon Lightfoot, Peter Frampton, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney.  The Beatles actually recorded most of their songs on Martin guitars but did not use them on stage for fear of damaging them.

 Martin guitars sell for as little as $300 (the backpackers model).  They do custom orders and we saw one guitar being made with inlaid pearl and valued at $13000.  The most popular model is the D-28 which sells for about $3000.





 
These last three days of our trip have been getting colder and colder as we get closer to Nova Scotia.  We spent one night in Hartford, Connecticut then on to shopping in North Conway, New Hampshire.  We bought very little.  After being in Africa for two years and living among people who have so little, we are not as self-indulgent as we used to be.  Consequently, "Outlet Shopping" has lost some appeal......  Our last night in Bangor, Maine was bitter cold and windy.

 But we warmed up to a turkey dinner with friends!  November 25 was the day of our return and American Thanksgiving.  After spending weeks with Americans talking about Thanksgiving and Black Friday, we did feel like we were a part of it.  Thanks Paula and Brian for including us!  (The last DVD the boys watched on the road was about the Pilgrims.  It gave us a great understanding of the very first Thanksgiving.  The DVD series called "Drive thru History" is produced by Focus on the Family and we highly recommend it.)

Now time to unpack.  Things don't look quite as organized do they?  But we have arrived back in Nova Scotia safe and sound.  WE ARE THANKFUL!!

Days 66, 67, 68 The Sweetest Place on Earth

The sign welcoming you to Hershey, Pennsylvania claims it is the "sweetest place on earth".  We had to stop -- for educational reasons, of course.  We took a factory tour of how Hershey chocolates are made and then learned about taste-testing chocolate!  It was a challenging course but we all passed!  Actually, we did learn about cacao beans, how the plants and fruits growing around a cacao tree infuse the beans with flavour, and how to tell the amount of cacao in a chocolate bar by looking, listening, smelling, and tasting the chocolate.

The other reason that Pennsylvania is the sweetest place on earth is because our friend, Dalina, lives there!  She was Simon's Grade 3 teacher in Kenya and we were so happy to see her again.  Simon has grown since he saw his teacher last -- Dalina has not.....

Tim, Max, and Simon had the most fun visiting the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.  The Rolling Stock Hall has 115 real locomotives that we could walk through and inspect (even from underneath).  There was a large hands-on center for the "kids" to play with a variety of train sets (including Lego, Rokenbok, Thomas, and Steam Engines).  We also saw a display of movies featuring trains and watched "The Great Train Robbery" (1903 American Western, no talking, black and white).

We stayed in Lancaster County and we saw many Amish people.  The boys were fascinated by these simple people and their horse and buggies.  We visited several shops selling Amish furniture and crafts.  One store has a working kitchen making jams, jellies, salsa, and butters.  They also have tasting....

 

Days 63, 64, 65 Washington DC

We left North Carolina in the FOG -- "as thick as pea soup", my mom would say!  We stopped in Staunton, Virginia at Woodrow Wilson's Presidential Library and continued to Washington, DC for a few days of sightseeing.  We had visited the U.S. capital in 2007 so we tried to make this visit different by visiting new sights.

Our first stop was the International Spy Museum.  We spent hours reading about real spies and their covert operations.  There was lots of information about the Cold War -- a new term for Max and Simon to understand.  We tested our own skills of observation and surveillance.  There was a gallery of real spy technology -- tiny bugs, button cameras, and a real spy car that rivals James Bond's tricks.  There was an interesting display on how the secret of the atom bomb was lost.  But the most fascinating display was on "Weapons of Mass DISRUPTION"  -- how the Cyber War is being fought today.  This is an amazing museum with lots of variety in media and lots of secret information now revealed.

Two other places that we visited for the first time were the Library of Congress and the National Archives.  Both of these facilities have historical significance and present day usefulness.  The Library of Congress has 145 million items and is the copyright center for the United States.  Any book requiring copyright needs to come to the Library of Congress for processing. There are also displays of President Jefferson's library collection, and maps dating back to 1400s.

The National Archives has three important documents on display in the building's Rotunda -- some of you may remember this from the "National Treasure" movie staring Nicholas Cage.  There is a copy of the American Declaration of Independence (the original from 1776), the U.S. Constitution (original from 1787), and the Bill of Rights (original 1785).  And there is one copy of the (original 1297) Magna Carta -- really!! There are also copies of top secret documents and hand written notes from various Presidents (such as Jimmy Carter's draft of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, and Ronald Reagan's letter to Mikhail Gorbachev concerning his personal thoughts of ending of the Cold War ).

We also took a stroll down The Mall past a few of our favourites:  the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building.  One thing we had not noticed before was the spot on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King Jr gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.  After visiting the  Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, this had more significance to us all.




In keeping with our goal of touring factories on this trip, we visited the Bureau of Engraving and Printing where U.S. paper currency is made.  We saw sheets of 100 dollar bills being made the day we toured.  We literally saw millions of dollars in sheets, bundles, and stacks.  The Bureau makes about 900 million dollars daily.  95% of this is to replace worn out bills currently in circulation.  Most of the bills produced in America are one dollar value.  We were surprised to learn that paper currency is actually a blend of cotton and linen -- that is why it survives the laundry.  We also learned about the security enhancements that are being made to further protect from counterfeiting -- this includes colour just like Canada!  There is also a move to produce one dollar coins, but Americans aren't going for it!  Max measured himself against a stack of 100 dollar bills and discovered that he reaches almost to 1.5 million dollars.

Our last stop in Washington was the ZOO.  We go to see the Giant Pandas.

Just before leaving Washington we spent the evening with some more friends that we met in Kenya who are now living in Washington.  Thanks David, Margaret, and David for a lovely evening! 

Days 58 through 62

We just spent a sweet time with friends!!  Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains is the town of Boone, North Carolina.  We spent the weekend with Chris, Stephanie, Sam and Lily and experienced some of the natural wonders of the "High Country".

On Saturday we ventured into the state of Virginia and biked 25 km on the Virginia Creeper Trail.  The trail is an old train track and the Virginia Creeper was the name of the train that traveled up the mountain.  A bike rental company shuttled us up White Top Mountain and we rode the trail down for 25 km.  It was a beautiful day in the outdoors.

On Sunday afternoon we traveled on the Blue Ridge Parkway to reach the Rough Ridge Trail.  It was another warm day and we hiked up for a spectacular view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  A picnic on the summit was the perfect reward for our climb.

 

Boone is the international headquarters for Samaritan's Purse.  We toured the facilities and learned about many of its ministries:  World Medical Mission, Haiti Rebuilding Program, Sudan Rebuilding Program, HIV/AIDS Prescription for Hope program, Relief and Development.  Before our visit, we were most familiar with the Operation Christmas Child program.  We saw the collection site for shoe boxes and had a lesson in how to pack a shoebox with practical items for children in developing countries.  Since the program began in 1993, children in 130 countries have received shoeboxes.  Last year alone, over 8 million shoeboxes were donated.

Days 51 through 57

On this last leg of the journey it has been good to spend some extended time with family.  Tim's brother, Alan,  and his wife, Tricia, welcomed us despite our germs.  We have rested and shopped in preparation for our final push northward. We spent evenings talking, playing games, and watching movies.

The first couple of days of our visit to South Carolina were unseasonably cool.  We attended a Clemson University Football game and had to wear hats and mittens!  American College Football is a new and wild beast to us!  The amount of money, time, and theatrics spent watching 20 year-olds play sport is surprising to us.  Since beginning our road trip, we have watched several games on TV but there is nothing like being there!  Whew!  The marching band was so cool! As the day progressed the sun warmed us, especially since we were sitting HIGH in the stands -- truly the nosebleed section of this 80,000 seat stadium!

We spent one afternoon walking at the Reedy River Park.  It has a unique bow-flexed single cable suspension bridge over waterfalls.  This just means that the bridge has a curve in it and is suspended from two towers.  It is the only one of its kind in the world.  We enjoyed strolling along the water and playing in the river.  These are the exposed roots of a very large oak tree.

In keeping with our theme to visit factories, Tricia gave us a tour of her workplace.  Immedion is a new company that offers managed hosting and colocation services.  For those who are not tech-savvy, this new type of company provides computer services for businesses needing consistent power, band width, and network security for their computer systems. We saw the data center where businesses keep their computers in locker-type cabinets.  It was a cool and noisy room.  Interestingly, Tricia's son, Richard, also works for a similar company in Canada.

 Another exciting part of our South Carolina visit was being able to see our nephew, Philip.  Just two weeks ago Philip returned from Afghanistan where he has been serving with the US Marines.  Max and Simon were very interested in Philip's ten medals and we peppered him with questions about his tour of duty.  Welcome Home Philip!!