Tryin' to reason with hurricane season - Part 2

Well, last night was certainly more than was predicted in terms of wind and weather. There are hundreds of thousands of people without power in the Ohio valley region. Indianapolis got hammered (which is on our route to SD). Chicago got 10 inches of rain. Anyway, the talking heads on the news are suggesting that obtaining gasoline is going to be problematic due to lack of power to run the gas stations. We're going to stay here for a day and let things out there settle down. When you have a small gas tank, the ability to get gasoline frequently is of paramount importance. So, the park has power, they lost a satellite dish so cable is not so great, but we can do laundry and go for a brisk walk. But the aircard is working well here, so we'll recap the recent travels. This is from the old Air and Space Museum. It's been updated with many more planes and descriptive text. I like this one because in one frame we see Lindberg's plane, Yeager's plane that broke the sound barrier, and Paul Allen's attempt at a space going plane. 

After the time spent in Washington DC we went up to the Newburg KOA to meet up with the Waddles. We spent one day in the Hudson Valley touring the Vanderbilt mansion, FDR's house and Mrs. Roosevelt's house. The Vanderbilt mansion was not as ornate or large as the Biltmore, but it was pretty impressive. The guide told us a lot about Mrs. Astor, the Social Register, how where you ranked decided which guest bedroom you got and all of that. Sounds like a lot or people took themselves very seriously. The Vanderbilt mansion had a pavilion for single men to bunk in outside of the main house. They will not allow you to take pictures inside which was disappointing. It was one of the last of the Gilded Age, which I learned was ended by the imposition of a federal income tax by FDR to pay for the New Deal. At FDR's house we learned a lot about FDR and how he basically saved the planet. He has his critics, some of his programs didn't work out, but he did restore faith in the government and he planted trees. Controlling the dust bowl devastation was largely done by tree planting. And in fact that's what FDR put on his income tax forms as his occupation, tree farmer. But if he had not dragged America out of the slough of despond, we would not have been able to support Britain in the second World War. The exhibits are very informative. Mrs. Roosevelt was quite the person in her own right. I never knew that JFK thought her endorsement was so important that he agreed to expand his civil rights agenda so that she would endorse him over Adlai Stevenson. The Hudson Valley is just stunningly beautiful. It's full of cute towns, old mansions, many of which have gone to rack and ruin, but it's gorgeous. 

Jim and Kim in the Italian gardens at the Vanderbilt mansion.

We took a guided bus tour one day into New York. We took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and then to Ellis Island. Then it was back to NYC. We came back two days later to see Ellis Island. It was well worth the trip to see where so many people came through. They had a temporary exhibit on Germany's attempt to exterminate the Jewish people. We learned that it was not that big of a secret among the world leaders. They knew, they did not protest, which Hitler took as tacit approval. The exhibit was dedicated to people who risked their lives, families and careers to save as any people as possible from the camps. The picture below is Ellis Island.

New York is really cool. It just hums. After awhile it wears you out.

We were in NY the second time on September 10. This is the construction site that was Ground Zero. The tour guide told us that they still do not know exactly what will be built there, but they're starting. Apparently the legal wrangling has not made it easy to go forward. So, at some point they have to shoot the lawyers and get on with it. 

After New York we returned to PA for the Hershey RV show, which is said to be the world's largest. We really did go with the intention of not buying anything, but there you go. This was an amusing little camper. It was getting a lot of attention. It's a tear drop camper with attached tent.

  So that brings us to now, where we are waiting out a day so that we can continue on to South Dakota with some assurance that gasoline will be available. Perhaps we should have flown!