tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34229702624908823462012-02-01T00:47:19.719-08:00An occasionally published narrative of our travels. An emphasis on photos and the "offbeat" aspects of Tom and Linda's jaunts around the U.S. and the world. CLICK ON PHOTOS TO SEE MORE DETAILT J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.comBlogger3421100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-43148316928049859432012-02-01T00:47:00.000-08:002012-02-01T00:47:19.735-08:00

So I carefully described the difference between the Florida panhandle counties and the rest of the state in a previous post and then this morning Jonathan Martin of Politico goes on MSNBC this morning and just calls them the "cracker counties!"  That certainly didn't go over well with the conservative blogs or talk radio.  I haven't see the reaction from the local press but that might be

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-29100864620622102612012-01-31T21:38:00.000-08:002012-02-01T00:47:19.727-08:00

I found a decent rental bike in Pensacola and so I've been biking for a few days.  I'm excited to have such an early start to biking in 2012. It's so different from my usual biking route along the country roads of Wisconsin where I see deer, fox, coyote, eagles and red tail hawks.  Here I don't see any wildlife but I do enjoy watching the waves rolling in and the gleaming white sand.  And a bonus

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-9775672967471734092012-01-31T15:09:00.000-08:002012-01-31T15:09:37.511-08:00

One of my projects I planned to pursue while we are in Pensacola was to retrieve a microfilm from the LDS family history library that had information on one of my "Computer History" subjects, Leland Perley Robinson. I headed up to the local family history library here in Pensacola to order the microfilm and discovered that the rules have changed, orders are now placed on-line at familysearch.org

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-61790857375035895462012-01-29T22:43:00.000-08:002012-01-29T22:44:15.630-08:00

I have been following politics since at least 1960.  Say, that's over fifty years!  But this is the first time that I have been in any state with a significant presidential primary election during the heat of the battle.  We came through Iowa two days after their first-in-the-nation caucuses.  I was expecting to see lots of lawn signs for the candidates.  I never saw even one.  Do you suppose

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-1210099639491256262012-01-29T00:26:00.000-08:002012-01-29T00:41:02.167-08:00

On Thursday, a strong rainstorm with some lightning moved slowly through the area.  Nothing really severe, but it did make me wonder what the real gulf storms are like.  We had to put a towel down by the sliding glass door in the condo to soak up the rain that was coming in!  It was definitely an indoor day! I got our scanner set up on the laptop so that Linda could begin scanning more of our

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-81961716393358376582012-01-27T22:50:00.000-08:002012-01-27T22:51:26.728-08:00

It was foggy and rainy on Monday and that called for an indoor activity.  I would have to pay the price, too, for making Linda go to the Flea Market on Saturday.  We headed west along the scenic gulf coast highway into Alabama for Orange Beach and then north toward Foley. Old Time Pottery has a Wikipedia entry that describes it as an "expansive discount home decor retailer, headquartered in

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-30832729600930396102012-01-27T22:08:00.000-08:002012-01-27T22:51:26.725-08:00

Gulf Breeze lies on a peninsula in between our island community of Pensacola Beach and the coastal town of Pensacola proper.  You can see all three towns in this photo taken from the Pensacola Beach side of things. While driving through Gulf Breeze, we noticed the sign for the weekend flea market and decided to visit last Saturday. There is a farmer's market at the entrance with some good

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-82239097296804096572012-01-26T18:46:00.000-08:002012-01-26T19:00:40.038-08:00

When we stopped by the waterfront park commemorating the landing of Spanish explorer Tristan de Luna in 1559, we noticed a tall sailing ship lying at anchor in the bay. This turned out to be the Peacemaker, based out of Savannah, and in port through the middle of March.  Wikipedia has a pretty complete story of the ship and its origins in Brazil.  There is a YouTube video of the ship at sea,

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-55227234276257730042012-01-26T18:30:00.000-08:002012-01-26T18:52:22.172-08:00

Our first weekend here, we visited the downtown area of Pensacola. Besides the building associated with a county seat, the town has a couple of nice "town squares" and a waterfront area.  Live Oaks are the evergreen attraction in the squares. At various points around the city, there are painted pelicans, part of the Pelicans in Paradise project.  The local minor league baseball team is

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-23439419121930018962012-01-21T20:05:00.000-08:002012-01-21T20:05:37.065-08:00

The white sandy beaches here are great for walking.  At this time of year, they are fairly deserted since locals find temperatures in the 50's and 60's to be cool. There is an occasional fisherman out when I walk down the beach. The front side of our building faces the bay looking north toward Pensacola.  That is the "Pensacola Beach Boardwalk" with the long pier.  Several restaurants and

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-75846550039009793382012-01-21T19:36:00.000-08:002012-01-21T19:37:06.627-08:00

We are staying in a rental condominium here in Pensacola Beach.  This beachfront community is unique along the Gulf Coast.  It lies on a narrow island which is primarily preserved as national seashore and state park.  It also lies rather directly south of the good-sized city of Pensacola, population 55,000. Pensacola Beach developed as a community back in the late 1940's when the Department of

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-73225127345768749872012-01-20T23:24:00.000-08:002012-01-20T23:24:22.261-08:00

Today we traveled over to Panama City and Panama City Beach.  These are about a hundred miles to the east of us here in the Pensacola area.  If you haven't heard about Panama City Beach, just ask your teenagers.  They are probably right now plotting a way to get to PCB for Spring Break. When we crossed over the bridge from Panama City Beach to enter Panama City, we noticed an airplane on a stick

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-48072852208234467822012-01-20T22:07:00.000-08:002012-01-20T22:08:25.353-08:00

On our first morning, after we left home, we stopped in Owatonna, MN for breakfast.  I was tempted to photograph the "airplanes on a stick" along I-35 but recalled that I had already done so. But I had never blogged about them.  Seeing other planes reminded me that I should do so. As you drive down through Owatonna, Minnesota, on I-35, you'll probably notice a cluster of three T-38 jet trainers

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-50065963062737426102012-01-12T21:46:00.000-08:002012-01-25T17:49:03.016-08:00

It's an easy two-hundred mile drive from New Orleans along I-10 to Pensacola.  We took a few detours as we crossed Mississippi and Alabama to look at the Gulf but entered the Sunshine State early in the afternoon.  The Welcome Center greets visitors in multiple languages. Update, 1/25/2012: Linda, senior editor of this blog, noted that I didn't ever show the welcome center so that there was

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-85028229269918287602012-01-12T20:27:00.000-08:002012-01-12T21:47:39.911-08:00

Our route through New Orleans was mostly due to my curiosity to see how the French Quarter was doing, six years  after Hurricane Katrina.  We spent several hours visiting the usual tourist highlights and found business pretty much as it had been during our last visit. Our first stop was at Jackson Square which is best viewed at night. We stopped in to visit nearby Cafe DuMonde for coffee and

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-85784665957737037542012-01-11T00:25:00.000-08:002012-01-11T00:28:47.862-08:00

I had planned on arriving in  New Orleans on Monday night and spending two nights there.  This turned out to be a case of poor planning.  I didn't check the sports calendar and was unaware of the fact that the BCS college championship football game was to be played in New Orleans on Monday night. If a game between the number one and number two ranked college football games wasn't enough to bring

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-31917433207924944392012-01-10T23:56:00.000-08:002012-01-10T23:57:10.698-08:00

U.S. highway 78 runs from Memphis to Birmingham.  Not quite halfway to Birmingham lies the town of Tupelo, Mississippi, with a population of about 35,000.  Tupelo took on a significance beyond its size in 1935 when Vernon and Gladys Presley became the parents of Elvis Presley. Naturally, there is a tourist museum dedicated to "the king."  While it certainly isn't as significant as Graceland,

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-27248120041319753332012-01-08T23:58:00.000-08:002012-01-08T23:58:29.992-08:00

We arrived in Memphis around 6:00 p.m.  We are staying downtown at a Comfort Inn.  We have previously seen the changing of the ducks at the Peabody so didn't need to do that.  But no visit to Memphis is complete without an evening on Beale Street.  And, I emphasize evening.  It is an interesting place during the day, but life begins on Beale after sundown. Even if you are not a big blues fan,

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-49565739127750782262012-01-08T23:19:00.000-08:002012-01-08T23:19:34.443-08:00

We first ran into Lambert's Cafe back in 2004 when we spent the winter in Orange Beach, Alabama.  There are three Lambert's.  One is in Foley, Alabama and the other two are in Missouri.  We had never been to the one in Sikeston, but it was lunch time, so... Sikeston is about halfway between St. Louis and Memphis and that alone demands that a good restaurant be built in whatever lucky town

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-1140427141197907012012-01-08T22:29:00.000-08:002012-01-09T08:14:02.839-08:00

Interstate 55 runs from St. Louis south to Memphis.  About a third of the way down this stretch we noticed one our favorite places to explore, a "concrete casting" sales room.  For some reason, these are more popular in the South than in our area of the U.S.  As Linda was scanning the castings from the car, she noticed a moving camel.  And a donkey! We pulled off at the next exit and looped back

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-28458354188452617402012-01-08T00:22:00.000-08:002012-01-08T00:34:36.994-08:00

We spent the afternoon in Springfield, the capital of Illinois.  The Illinois Capitol building is both large and ornate. Saturdays are always a good time to visit Capitol buildings. The streets are usually pretty deserted and so are the interior hallways. We were fortunate enough to arrive just before the last tour at 3:00 p.m.  While we were waiting for the tour to begin, we took a look up

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-89816045731600753002012-01-07T23:27:00.000-08:002012-01-07T23:27:27.420-08:00

A few miles farther down the I-55 from Shirley and Bloomington, we came upon the town of Atlanta.  I was in search of another fiberglass statue.  Readers of this blog might glance at the face and feel that it is familiar. Yes, he might be a Paul Bunyon in Minnesota or a coal miner in Utah but you always recognize the face and the outstretched arms.  IT'S MUFFLER MAN!  The creators of this

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-86344868564707096542012-01-07T22:32:00.000-08:002012-01-07T22:37:21.323-08:00

About forty miles southeast of Peoria, there is a tiny town of Shirley, Illinois.  It lies on I-55 about 7 or 8 miles from Bloomington and Normal.  Nearby, is the unincorporated community of Covell. On the night of November 3, 1926, Charles Lindbergh was flying the mail from Springfield to Peoria and found himself trapped above the clouds.  With only ten minutes of gas left in his tank, he

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-56226962383345519242012-01-07T22:09:00.000-08:002012-01-07T22:10:10.764-08:00

Peoria brings to mind a couple of things for many people.  One is CATERPILLAR.  Another is "Test Market." CAT's presence in and around Peoria is amazing.  Peoria is a city of about 115,000 with close to 400,000 in the metropolitan area.  Caterpillar employs around 15,000 in the area.  We noticed some of the largest manufacturing facilities that I have ever seen.  No matter where you go in the

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-90027122257356208812012-01-06T23:43:00.000-08:002012-01-06T23:43:38.656-08:00

We are headed for Springfield, Illinois to photograph the State Capitol building.  Naturally, I am easily diverted when something interesting comes up.  Now even though the Tourist Information Center at the border was closed, the Town of Tampico managed to put a brochure near the state maps that alerted us to the fact that we were pretty darned close to the birthplace of president Ronald Reagan.

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-14185412482014846042012-01-06T22:49:00.000-08:002012-01-06T22:50:07.018-08:00

We followed I-80 out of Iowa City and soon reached the border of Illinois.  A stop at the Visitor's Center gave us both an Illinois map and a great view of the Mississippi River.  I couldn't choose between the view that emphasizes the bridge and the view that emphasizes the river, so here are both of them. Here is another view of the bridge and river with a bit of a riverboat motiff.

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-51893536275221123122012-01-06T22:23:00.000-08:002012-01-07T06:51:57.193-08:00

Iowa's two major state universities are separated by a 140-mile drive.  While Ames, in the West was developing engineers, the University of Iowa in Iowa City was busy developing people with Computer Marketing skills during the 1930s.  One of these people was Edwin S. McCollister.  McCollister held senior marketing and management posts at IBM, ElectroData, Univac, RCA and Burroughs over the course

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-18471095166780977022012-01-06T21:01:00.000-08:002012-01-06T21:01:56.120-08:00

When John Atanasoff was designing the equipment that earned him the title "Father of the Computer" (see previous post) it was physics graduate student, Clifford Berry, that was holding the soldering iron and doing the heavy lifting. Cliff Berry was born in Gladbrook Iowa in 1918.  We visited that town last year.  When Cliff was eleven years old, the family moved the 56 miles south and east to

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-67411365095171329952012-01-05T22:33:00.000-08:002012-01-06T19:15:38.860-08:00

We spent our first evening on the road in Williamsburg, Iowa.  Located on I-80, about 90 miles East of Des Moines.  Williamsburg features a population of about 2600, has a few motels and is located about ten miles South of Marengo, our next stop. We were delighted to find that it also has a fantastic home-grown restaurant know as Myers Grill and Catering, located at 303 S. Highland St., about a

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-31502095202188822772012-01-05T22:14:00.000-08:002012-01-06T06:40:25.492-08:00

Iowa is responsible for a large number of people who contributed much to the growth of the computer industry in the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s.  Wait a minute, did I just say "the 1930s?"  Yes I did! Iowa State University at Ames houses the state's major Engineering school.  Back in the 1930s, a math and physics professor by the name of John Atanasoff was looking for a better way to calculate

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-21749344695371845022012-01-05T21:19:00.000-08:002012-01-05T22:34:26.445-08:00

We decided to skip the winter in Egypt experience for this year.  We didn't want to take another trip to Cairo and find it interrupted as it was last year.  (See the links to "My Posts From the Revolution in Egypt - January, 2010" on the upper left side of this page.) We are renting a condo on the beach in the Pensacola, Florida, area for a couple of months beginning on January 11.  We headed

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-48403605304102821312011-12-30T23:02:00.000-08:002011-12-30T23:03:10.170-08:00

Our trip back home from Bucharest took us through Amsterdam again, where we spent several hours between flights at Schiphol airport.  I've blogged about Schiphol a couple of times before.  We probably have logged more time there than at any other airprort in the world.  There is always something new to see or do. We exited our KLM flight from Bucharest and headed into the main lobby near the

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-88837699919157379092011-12-30T18:46:00.000-08:002011-12-30T22:05:40.212-08:00

It's getting close to the time we will be leaving Minnesota for a warmer area, and I still haven't finished with our visit to Romania.  I had better catch up. Edward, our guide and driver for the previous ten or so days provided a driving tour of Bucharest and then a walking tour of the older part of the city.  After that, we were on our own for another two days. Bucharest is an attractive

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-38010996695751085132011-10-22T02:04:00.000-07:002011-10-22T02:05:09.660-07:00

Our hotel in Bucharest is just a few steps from Calea Victoriei (Victory Avenue) in the downtown area.  It is about a three block walk to the Athenium concert hall. Our tour guide, Edward, from Medieval Tours was able to find tickets for us to the Thursday evening concert there. Now, ordinarily, I wouldn't spend an evening at home listening to Beethoven and Brahms.  But, what's that old

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-71298339287525193712011-10-22T01:14:00.000-07:002011-10-22T01:14:23.055-07:00

From Cluj, we continued south to the city of Sibiu, Romania.  Sibiu, with a populations of around 150,000 lies almost exactly in the center of Romania and lies just to the north of the Carpathian Mountains.  Driving into town the first view is not encouraging. But it turns out that there are three public squares in the older part of the town and some nicely restored buildings. These town

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-56366592361949254292011-10-20T16:14:00.000-07:002011-10-20T16:14:23.544-07:00

Our first day's journey south ended at Cluj-Napoca, a city of around 400,000.  Cluj is back in Transylvania and is definitely big-city living.  It holds a large cathedral, Saint Michaels in a square at the heart of the town. We spent the next morning walking some of the streets near the square.  Satellite television means that the Discovery channel is on in the restaurants.  That in turn

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-22143467212104695302011-10-20T15:50:00.000-07:002011-10-21T01:38:07.059-07:00

After leaving Sighet and beginning our return to the South we stopped in a couple of larger cities.  This meant leaving behind much of the rolling hill country, the sheep farms and horse-drawn wagons.  One of my favorite countryside sights is the distinctive Romanian haystack.  We stopped and took several more pictures of those. And we stopped for one more flock of sheep on the hills, too.

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-7704194352609218102011-10-20T15:02:00.000-07:002011-10-20T15:42:57.834-07:00

The small city of Sighet Marmatiei has a population of around forty thousand.  It has, as one mark of distinction, the birthplace of Ellie Wiesel, holocaust survivor and author. A much darker distinction is the presence of the Sighet Prison where the former communist government held political prisoners. It is probably unknown to many younger Americans just what life behind the Iron

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-56461815466287366422011-10-20T14:29:00.000-07:002011-10-20T14:29:29.594-07:00

Our trip over the mountains and into Maramures brought us to the city of Sighetu Marmatiei. This is a town that borders on Ukraine.  The next morning, we headed a few miles west to Sapanta, home of The Merry Cemetery.  For anyone traveling in the northern part of Romania, this is a "must-see." Begun by a local artist in 1935, the cemetery features wooden markers carved with an image and a

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-57991999961679549292011-10-17T16:08:00.000-07:002011-10-17T16:09:05.401-07:00

It's probably time to pause and recap just where we are.  This map shows the current political boundaries of what you might think of as "counties" in Romania.  You might notice that the Moldova "county" sits adjacent to the country of Moldova.  Country boundaries are not always drawn to take into account local ethnic backgrounds.  It is worth reading the Wikipedia history of Romania and the

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-39673072524482018402011-10-17T00:01:00.000-07:002011-10-17T00:01:32.605-07:00

Yesterday's trip was about 125 miles to the east from Gura Humorului to Sighetu Marmaţiei.  Google maps thinks this is a three hour trip but they haven't seen the potholes!   The scenery was beautiful but photos will have to wait. Sighetu is on the border with Ukraine.  This is in a very traditional area of Romania.  So where better to try the traditional Romanian Tripe Soup?  I had been putting

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-3343452294645320862011-10-15T15:35:00.000-07:002011-10-15T15:35:49.931-07:00

We are situated in the very north of Romania at the moment.  It is just about thirty miles north to the border with Ukraine.  Moldova lies about seventy miles to the east.  As we have moved away from Bucharest, there have been more horses and horse-drawn carts showing up on the highways.  Most of the cars are fairly recent models.  There are a few of the Communist-era Dacias on the road but they

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-82776711720767448942011-10-15T15:00:00.000-07:002011-10-16T23:37:46.139-07:00

Not far from our overnight stopping spot of Gura Humorului are several "painted monasteries."  These date from the 15th and 16th centuries and are considered historic enough to be placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.  We spent the day touring four of them, all within about a thirty mile radius of our "bed and breakfast" location.  The buildings are actually churches and are painted on

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-29512898865775369432011-10-14T16:21:00.000-07:002011-10-14T16:21:38.894-07:00

We spent last night in Sighisoara, about 70 miles to the northwest of Brasov.  We left around 10 am and spent most of the day in the car. Our route took us about 70 miles Northwest to Gheorgheni. We did stop along that part of the trip at a gypsy flea market and found a lot of good merchandise.  I bought a great pastry filled with cream cheese and raisins, guide Eduoard bought a nice winter coat

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-54873030119375495632011-10-13T15:36:00.000-07:002011-10-13T16:00:24.228-07:00

When we left Brasov and headed Northwest, Eduard asked if we liked fish.  We explained that we weren't great enthusiasts but would be happy to try the local varieties.  We soon stopped at this fish restaurant. Eduard and I ordered up the fish soup for openers.  We both had the local specialty, Carp, as an entree.  Notice the unusual spelling on the title of the menu page. Linda wisely

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-87557280646163019312011-10-13T15:21:00.000-07:002011-10-13T16:00:24.233-07:00

We left the Brasov area this morning but made a couple of quick visits to local sites first.  We began by taking the funicular to the top of the hill overlooking the city.  The cable run up the hill takes only a couple of minutes to reach the summit, but then there is a steep up and down trail of perhaps a quarter mile over to the observation point next to the large BRASOV sign. The view is

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-91837521016920900112011-10-12T23:41:00.000-07:002011-10-13T16:00:03.338-07:00

I took a few photos from our hotel window here in Brasov.  Here is one that shows most of the town square. My own cultural observations are usually limited to things like the telephone poles and parking spots as in the previous post.  Fortunately, I have Linda to draw on for more in-depth analysis.  Here are a few of her recent notes on the countryside and towns.  (UPDATE Thurs PM - I changed

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-21895273830493349672011-10-12T16:14:00.000-07:002011-10-12T23:52:07.449-07:00

We backtracked about thirty miles to the South from Brasov this morning to visit the Peles Castle at Sinaia.  Unlike, yesterday's defensive military castle, this one is more a palace, fit for a king.  King Carol, more specifically, who had it constructed as a summer retreat in the mountains in the late 1800s. It is a bit difficult to get a good photo of the whole castle.  Both this one and

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-72674607798447877112011-10-12T15:03:00.000-07:002011-10-12T16:15:08.264-07:00

I had a few photos I wanted to include but they don't really fit with posts I have in mind so here they are, with associated descriptions. I always love to take pictures of "interesting infrastructure."  We noticed this utililty pole across from the hotel in Bucharest.  This might top anything I have seen in Egypt.  At least they seem to be labeled. Parking seems to be short in most of the

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-1620179154606267942011-10-11T14:13:00.000-07:002011-10-11T14:14:08.530-07:00

We headed northwest from Bucharest this morning.  It is a bit over a hundred miles to our destination, The city of Brasov. Along the way, we passed through farmland for about thirty miles to Ploiesti, home of one of the world's largest oil fields.  There were two allied bombing attacks on these fields and refineries during World War II.  One was launched from Egypt, the other from Italy.  Put

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-84102733149601556632011-10-11T13:05:00.001-07:002011-10-11T13:07:46.625-07:00

I always like to check the price of fuel in any country that we visit.  The prices at this station are pretty typical.  The price is in LEU which is abbreviated as Ron.  No, I can't explain that.  LEU is the name on the currency but RON is what you frequently see on a price tag.  They are worth about 31 US cents at the moment. Diesel and 95 octane both are selling for 5.53 Leu per Litre. 

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-79253986550690672582011-10-10T13:25:00.000-07:002011-10-11T13:07:46.621-07:00

We are off to Romania for a two week tour of this ancient kingdom. We left Minneapolis at about 4:00 pm on Sunday and headed out on a seven-hour flight to Amsterdam.  One nice thing about this route is that it takes us almost directly over our lake cabin in Northwest Wisconsin.  Here I am, monitoring the trip on the in-flight navigation system.  I  added the red arrow to the photo to point out

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-65408158750900554312011-08-18T19:40:00.001-07:002011-08-18T19:51:13.525-07:00

I have a link on this site to the English Language edition of Al-Ahram, Egypt's most widely read and largely government owned newspaper. I saw a link yesterday to a Ynet News story originating from Al Ahram that I hadn't seen in the English Language version. The essence of the story is this accusation: 'Mossad agent Ofir Harrari' instructed Jordanian Ibrahim abu-Zaid to set up a company in

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-60446793792414543212011-08-03T12:12:00.000-07:002011-08-04T08:05:20.608-07:00

This has been a bad summer in the upper Midwest for storms. While things were calm here in Bloomington on May 22nd, North Minneapolis was struck by a full F2 tornado. Across the Mississippi river and a bit further north, another tornado struck in Fridley.Both of these storms had connections to us. The house on the right in this photo was the site of one of Terry's first apartments:While the

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-75784431384745496072011-07-14T18:12:00.000-07:002011-07-14T19:43:29.499-07:00

Where are the Sawyers going next? How is your place in Egypt? When are you going back to Egypt? What are you doing right now?So many questions!We spend most summers right here in the Twin Cities area, dividing our time between our home in Bloomington and the cabin near Gordon in northwest Wisconsin. This, after all, is where many Americans come to vacation. Land of 10,000 Lakes. Mild

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-60994130751900317612011-04-22T22:54:00.000-07:002011-08-04T08:06:41.622-07:00

Sitting at home today, I was browsing a blog that led me to a controversy about the members of the board of trustees at a community college in Northwest Montana. That soon led me to a Google Map of the area and I realized that it was not terribly far from Whitefish, Montana.That, in turn, caused me to remember my last train ride in the United States.The year was 1968. I was a graduate student

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-34343162665004216702011-03-17T17:06:00.000-07:002011-03-17T17:25:04.470-07:00

We pulled up into our driveway on March 16. We had begun to see snow patches in the fields around Mason City, Iowa. By Albert Lee, the ground was pretty well covered with snow.But the thermometer indicated that the snow won't be here long.And a quick glance at the snow pile out front shows progress from February 22nd when we left until today, March 17. .No, I can't pull the Christmas

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-74130143970948614132011-03-17T16:48:00.000-07:002011-03-17T17:05:47.630-07:00

Driving north from Little Rock, we passed through Kansas City, Missouri and saw a sign for the James Farm near Kearney. We turned off the Interstate and headed for the farm. Since we had seen one of Billy the Kid's possible final homes, why not check on Jesse James too?At least there wouldn't be any controversy over who was buried here. That is the original footstone on the grave. The

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-10156960456860224442011-03-17T16:27:00.000-07:002011-03-17T16:39:11.628-07:00

When we first arrived in Texas on February 26, we stopped at the Visitors Center in Texarkana and took a picture of one of the ornamental pear trees that was just budding out. Now, on March 13, we returned to check on progress. And, in fact, the redbud trees are now the center of the show.The weather has been so nice even here in northern Texas that the local gardens have been planted out in

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-14920746773409045172011-03-17T15:31:00.000-07:002011-08-04T08:08:34.494-07:00

The next morning brought us back to Little Rock to visit the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library.This newest of the presidential libraries brings modern video technology to the table. Yes, finally, a historical site with a 16:9 high-definition presentation! I confess to being spoiled as an HD pioneer.Here is a picture from the orientation video:The public exhibits begin with a

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-67905008969980897142011-03-17T13:44:00.000-07:002011-03-17T15:34:20.292-07:00

Our next destination was Little Rock where we had missed touring the Clinton Presidential Library on our way down. Our most interesting driving route would take us around the Dallas-Fort Worth area and across the northern part of Texas where Linda had spotted the birthplace of Dwight Eisenhower in Denison. That sounded fine to me since Denison also held a Pillsbury refrigerated dough plant that

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-12773574700670158162011-03-17T12:34:00.000-07:002011-03-17T13:29:52.388-07:00

At the end of our tour of the Billy the Kid museum in Hico, our hostess pointed out a large brass cash register on the counter. I'd missed seeing it when we walked in.National Cash Register plays an interesting role in my interest in the history of computers. Thomas Watson, Sr. who was virtually synonymous with IBM through the middle-1950s became a successful salesman working for National Cash

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-54968818334105623402011-03-17T11:14:00.000-07:002011-03-23T11:38:53.447-07:00

Our trip north from the Texas Hill Country took us along U.S. 281 through Hamilton and Hico. We noticed a small "billy the kid" museum in Hamilton but were headed for a similarly named museum in Hico that was mentioned in the Texas tourism book.The Hico museum has a video and numerous exhibits centered around the local claimant to the title of Billy the Kid, one Brushy Bill Roberts. Billy the

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-35397705826995004452011-03-17T09:44:00.000-07:002011-03-17T10:46:43.213-07:00

We dipped into the Texas Hill Country long enough to visit a cousin of Linda's in the Austin suburbs. That put us close to the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge, so we stopped in to check the wildlife.A stop at the headquarters gave us some touring information and the ranger said that there had been some sightings of the Golden-cheeked Warbler in the area that day.The area offers a

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-40479983885315031062011-03-16T22:56:00.000-07:002011-08-04T08:09:18.613-07:00

It's pretty easy driving the backroads in Texas since the speed limit is 70 m.p.h. And the scenery in the hill country from Austin north to the Oklahoma border makes it quite worthwhile. We stopped at several county seats along the way and I took a few pictures of the county courthouses.I suppose you could get a pretty good education in Texas History just by driving from seat to seat and

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-61434777493971898362011-03-10T22:06:00.000-08:002011-03-16T23:39:53.282-07:00

We were passing through Belton, Texas, this morning when we spotted the Shipley Do-Nuts sign advertising Kalaches. Kolaches are a delightful Czech pastry. They are usually sweet and filled a poppyseed mixture or prunes.We stopped in and asked what flavors they had available. "Just sausage, ham and cheese and jalapeno," replied the lady.I tried one of the Jalepeno. It was, admittedly, very

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-91457737073717130982011-03-09T22:37:00.000-08:002012-01-06T23:46:09.473-08:00

The Bush(41) Presidential Library on the Texas A&M campus is worth at least two or three hours to visit. The museum has major exhibits on the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War and a great deal of personal family history. As with all the Presidential Libraries that we have seen, there is a replica of the Oval Office. This one allows you to walk in and sit in the president's chair. As you

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-63218553134506759272011-03-09T22:23:00.000-08:002011-03-09T23:02:48.084-08:00

If we hadn't had the big Texas Visitor's Guide, we could have missed Calvert. We had to go a couple of miles beyond the junction of Texas 6 and 485 to get here. Calvert has a population of only 1426 but boasts of 37 full blocks in its historic district.The main street through town is well preserved.A drive through many of the streets in the historic destrict on the East side of the city

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-81299687506536691552011-03-09T21:47:00.000-08:002011-03-09T23:06:16.057-08:00

After spending the night just East of Houston, we headed out for central Texas. Our destination was actually Temple Texas where we lived for a few months in 1971 while I was stationed at Fort Hood. We planned an intermediate stop for the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, on the Texas A&M campus.Of course, we found a couple of interesting places to see along the way.The first

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-8505692726446449412011-03-08T22:26:00.001-08:002011-03-09T07:38:00.543-08:00

On my state map, I had noticed a road highlighted in green along the Southwest Louisiana Gulf Coast during our previous week's trip across the state. An uncle of mine once told me that after he retired, he "just followed the green lines" whenever he traveled. It was good advice.We headed south from Lafayette after just missing the queen's parade on Monday night and the king's parade on Tuesday

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-12669715423357484062011-03-08T21:55:00.000-08:002011-03-29T22:29:06.369-07:00

We returned to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Monday. I finally had the chance to do my research at the Louisiana State Library where I went through the Baton Rouge newspapers for February of 1955.Louisiana has a unique resource in its State Library dating from 1920. It is a bit of a combination of Genealogical resource, state document archive and large research library with open stacks. Besides

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-43886698142425723512011-03-08T20:20:00.000-08:002011-03-29T20:30:28.572-07:00

On Sunday evening, we returned to Louisiana after our excursion to Gulfport, Mississippi. We decided to stop in Covington, due north of New Orleans. We programmed a hotel name into the Garmin for guidance and Miss Garmin took us off the interstate and up U.S. 190 and then announced, "Turn right on "LEWIS PRIMA drive."LEWIS? She obviously meant LOUIE. But, why is there a Louis Prima Drive in

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-28383690104181261092011-03-08T00:04:00.000-08:002011-03-08T01:09:56.247-08:00

When I first retired in January of 2003, we drove south and discovered the charm of the Gulf coast in Mississippi and Alabama. We though about buying a place in the area but opted instead for a purchase in Egypt. Two hurricanes and an oil spill versus one revolution. Well, every area has its pluses and minuses.We returned to some of our favorite areas on the Gulf, Sunday to see what they look

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-26126349548794193592011-03-06T22:58:00.000-08:002011-03-29T22:26:33.311-07:00

If you looked at the previous post, you might have noticed rain clouds building in the sky. It started to rain as we left Baton Rouge and headed toward Jackson, Mississippi. We had been watching the forecasts and expected that the next day, Saturday, would be a rain day. Friday night turned out to be a very rainy night, too. We got as far as McComb, Mississippi, mostly via smaller roads in

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-18928015707127405532011-03-06T21:31:00.000-08:002011-03-29T22:29:06.370-07:00

We were headed for the State Library of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. I wanted to look up some news stories about a 1955 computer conference sponsored by and held at LSU. The conference was titled "High-Speed Computer Conference." Several of the people I am researching were there as speakers including Sibyl Rock of ElectroData and John H. McLeod of the Simulation Council Newsletter. There were

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-4319315344924538422011-03-06T20:26:00.000-08:002011-03-06T21:26:10.658-08:00

We headed east into Louisiana and Mississippi for our next couple of days. I had a small research project to do in Baton Rouge and we were missing pictures of only one southern Capitol, Mississippi. Since we were in the southern part of Texas and headed into Louisiana, we were in Cajun country.Etouffee is the specialty entree of the area, made with crawfish or shrimp. I tried both. Ummmm -

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-53587434096611660562011-03-05T22:46:00.000-08:002011-03-06T00:34:37.915-08:00

Port Arthur, Texas, was a "must see" location for me on this trip. I've read the story of Janis Joplin's brief life as recorded by Ellis Amburn in Pearl, twice. The book doesn't treat Port Arthur very well. On the other hand, Port Arthur didn't treat Janis well.I wanted to get a feel for the town and see how Joplin was presented in the Museum of the Gulf Coast. Joplin is now a "headliner" on

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-62489852894899052552011-03-05T21:25:00.000-08:002011-03-05T22:46:08.224-08:00

Our next stop after leaving Houston was Beaumont, Texas. Beaumont is a city of about 120,000 some 85 miles to the east of Houston. Beaumont claims 19 museums, and their own convention website admits, "Our quirkiness is portrayed throughout these many museums."We visited only the Texas Energy Museum and the Babe Didrikson Zaharias museum, but we drove past several others.The Energy Museum is

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-65305345257826162092011-03-05T20:25:00.000-08:002011-03-05T22:46:08.225-08:00

We had seen the ship canal from the air at the San Jacinto Battlefield monument and crossed it several times on bridge and ferry. Local friends had pointed out a free boat tour of the canal and that had immediate appeal to half of us.This Corps of Engineers photo taken from about two miles East of the I-610 bridge shows much of the canal that we saw on the 90-minute round trip.I had previously

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-17657521414060785792011-03-05T20:09:00.000-08:002011-03-05T22:46:08.226-08:00

When we left the San Jacinto Battleground Memorial, I checked with Miss Garmin to see if she knew of a Mexican restaurant in the area. She showed several, all between two and three miles to the north.I pulled out of the parking lot, headed north and shortly found myself in a line of stopped cars. Miss Garmin spoke up. "Drive onto the ferry!"The Lynchburg Ferry only carries 12 vehicles at a

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-85260684607784165862011-03-03T23:32:00.000-08:002011-03-04T00:05:26.690-08:00

I knew that there were several oil refineries in the Houston area but I was surprised to actually see them. By my count, from this U.S. Energy Department report, along the 90 mile stretch from Houston to Port Arthur, there are 13 refineries representing 20 percent of the nation's refining capacity. I am sure that we saw all 13.From the top of the San Jacinto Monument, there is no window from

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-14111447892532345122011-03-03T22:28:00.000-08:002011-03-04T00:05:26.691-08:00

Back during my army days at Fort Hood, I learned that San Jacinto Day was a pretty big deal in Texas. We had visited the state capitol at Austin and were not surprised to see the painting of the Alamo in the senate chamber, but what was that other battle painting?The Battle of San Jacinto was the decisive final battle in the Texas war of independence. The battle is memorialized east of Houston

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-67196092044844276962011-03-03T21:39:00.000-08:002011-03-04T00:05:26.692-08:00

I mentioned driving the Houston freeway system in a previous post. The car is king in Houston and the road system recognizes it as such. Back in Minneapolis, we have grudgingly widened our Interstate 35 to three lanes in close proximity to the center city. Of course, we made one of those an HOV/Toll lane during rush hour and metered the entrance ramps to discourage useage.Here is what

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-20669591018974805502011-03-03T20:57:00.000-08:002011-03-04T00:05:26.692-08:00

Houston has a large collection of skyscrapers filled with energy companies and financial businesses. We thought it would be worth spending a day downtown. We started out in the very large visitor's center located in art-deco city hall building. We were told about observation decks in two of the skyscrapers and headed there to get a view of the surroundings.We also toured the older part of

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-40156202006335436872011-03-03T00:02:00.000-08:002011-03-04T08:29:44.776-08:00

Our first day in the Houston area was spent driving down to the Gulf where we explored Galveston Island. This was about a sixty-five mile trip each way and served as my introduction to driving the freeway system around Houston. More about that later!You know when you are one of the Gulf beaches when you notice that all of the houses are built on stilts. Think hurricane!Even if they don't look

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-34649022642129328092011-03-02T17:44:00.000-08:002011-03-03T06:30:11.211-08:00

By the time we had reached the Texas border, the temperature had finally risen into the 50s. As we looked around, we could see the beginnings of spring.We had first noticed some of the ornamental pears starting to show white blossoms along highway 67 around Little Rock. At Texarkana, we noticed a large ornamental pear in the parking lot of the travel information center. You might not notice

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-43279810139090764672011-03-01T22:20:00.000-08:002011-03-01T22:30:26.941-08:00

After leaving Hope, Arkansas, we soon reached Texarkana. This city sits right on the Arkansas-Texas border and if the song is correct, just about a mile from Louisiana. We dropped in at the Texas Visitor's Center and picked up the 272 page book titled the Texas State Travel Guide. The Center had a television with the Weather Channel on, as some other states do. I couldn't help but notice

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-78306108407232312242011-03-01T22:01:00.000-08:002011-08-04T08:10:29.455-07:00

We finished up our trip across the northeast - southwest diagonal of Arkansas by reaching the town of Hope. If the name rings a bell, it is because President Clinton was born here. We stopped in on Saturday morning before heading south into Texas.Tours are available but we didn't have time here to take one. The house is easy to find. Just head South down Hervey Street (U.S. 278) from

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-79541254489993501782011-03-01T21:55:00.000-08:002011-03-02T17:59:46.682-08:00

Reaching Little Rock allowed us a do-over on one of our State Capitol photographs. Our previous trip had been marked by rain when we drove through Little Rock. This time we got a good photograph. To add to the favorable weather, a major remodeling of the Capitol had taken place in the intervening years too.Here is the new photograph. I'm the black dot on the top stair of the building. Photo

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-57276258619385381822011-03-01T21:43:00.000-08:002011-03-01T22:29:24.867-08:00

... or other endeavors.Once we hit Missouri, we began to see signs advertising the local Title Loan agency. A "Title Loan," for those not familiar with it is a quickly arranged loan backed by the borrower's automobile title. It is just about a half notch above loan-sharking on the scale of financial transactions. Particularly in the Southern states, these businesses are found both in towns and

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-70449058807937412052011-03-01T20:58:00.000-08:002011-03-01T22:29:24.868-08:00

By the time we reached Missouri, we were in "Meat and Two" country. One price, your choice of meat and your choice of two sides. This is pretty standard fare at most local barbecue restaurants and we love to stop and try them.I wish that this one had been open. Signs of the Great Recession are everywhere though.Here's a portion of the side view facing Highway 67.We found other Barbecue spots

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-56933696667135763132011-03-01T20:32:00.000-08:002011-03-01T22:29:24.869-08:00

One of the towns mentioned in the Arkansas legislative bill designating U.S. 67 as the "rock 'n roll" highway is Walnut Ridge, where rock-a-billy stars performed at the Walnut Ridge Community Center. The bill doesn't even mention this fateful encounter that the town had with the Beatles in 1964.We weren't thinking rock 'n roll, though, as we approached the town. We were wondering about all

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-45048950015750062172011-03-01T19:55:00.000-08:002011-03-01T22:29:24.870-08:00

Almost everyone is familiar with U.S. Route 66. I even blogged about it last year.But what do you know about Route 67?Otherwise known as the Rock and Roll Highway.We left Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Gateway to the Ozarks and headed southwest into Arkansas on Route 67. Stopping at the Arkansas Welcome Center, we met a lady who explained to us why Route 67 is the rock and roll highway. It seems that

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-34923381257618069892011-03-01T19:34:00.000-08:002011-03-01T22:30:46.390-08:00

After finishing up at the county library in St. Louis, we headed out to the car and began driving twenty-five miles south to Kimmswick, Missouri. Kimmswick is a tiny riverfront town that is home to The Blue Owl.This historic downtown is pretty deserted this time of year, but The Blue Owl is open for lunch.We were a little bit late and were among the last to finish our lunch as the 3:00 p.m.

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-36303916590806593592011-02-28T23:51:00.000-08:002011-03-01T22:30:46.391-08:00

From Tama County in Iowa, we headed southeast to Marengo. I was still hoping to gather some information on Cliff Berry, computer pioneer. Berry lived there with his father from about age 11 to age 14. Then in 1932 his father, Fred Berry, was shot, apparently over an argument about a proposed municipal power plant in Marengo. Berry was the local manager of Iowa Power at the time. By the time

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-6609030645370603612011-02-24T22:35:00.000-08:002011-02-24T22:56:55.314-08:00

From Gladbrook, it is about twenty miles south to Toledo, the county seat. Toledo has an attractive county court house building and the unique style of traffic signal that I have only encountered in a few places. Near the courthouse there is a museum and genealogical library. Since they didn't open until 1:00 p.m., we decided to look for a place to eat. Cruising slowly through town, we didn't

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-4209630158027594512011-02-24T22:06:00.000-08:002012-01-06T19:21:16.824-08:00

Gladbrook, Iowa, doesn't give off the feeling of early twentieth century wealth that Iowa Falls presents to a visitor. But it does offer some unique treats for the visitor and has some historic significance. Gladbrook is a town of about one thousand located some fifty miles to the southeast of Iowa Falls. Gladbrook was the birthplace of Clifford Berry, half of the developers of the

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-91629472164385619192011-02-24T20:36:00.000-08:002011-02-24T22:35:29.601-08:00

Our plan was to head for Houston, Texas. It was definitely warm and we have friends there. Most people think of the drive from Minneapolis to Houston as a long one day drive or an easy two day drive. We have more imagination than most. I wanted to visit Gladbrook, Iowa, Marengo, Iowa and St. Louis, Missouri. These stops are all related to a book I am working on about the early history of

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-21714201385242877862011-02-24T19:47:00.000-08:002011-02-24T22:35:14.038-08:00

When we left Egypt, I thought that we might be coming back for the remainder of our winter. That didn't look like it was going to work out, though. We decided to head back to Minneapolis and then head for the South by car.We changed our ticket to depart from Milan and then pick up a flight to Minneapolis from Amsterdam. We left Milan early in the morning, crossing the Alps as the sun rose.The

T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-22360802941114371102011-02-23T22:32:00.000-08:002011-02-24T05:40:07.188-08:00

After enjoying dinner in Maria's kitchen several times, it was time for us to treat. We scheduled a slightly delayed Valentine's Day dinner in that small restaurant on top of the ridge in Sessant. Since the restaurant is seldom open in winter, this necessitated a bit of advance planning. The owner and his mother, who serves as cook, prepared a fire in the stove and we ordered dinner "as the

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