POTR #24 Back In New York

PEACE ON THE ROAD
Back In New York
July 14, 2006

The many years that I lived in Wheat Ridge I lived next door to a couple that always said that they did not know how they were able to get things done before they retired, because they sure didn’t have time to do the things they wanted to do since they were retired. At that time I understood partly. Now that I am retired I understand more of what they meant. I will guarantee you that while working I accomplished more things. However there is as much to do being retired than before I retired. It is just different things. No matter where I go there are many more attractions than I have time to see and too many things to do.

We are in Rochester, New York now and will be here until approximately the first of August. As we came up from Florida we traveled more inland than we have before. We were at least one hundred and fifty miles from the coast and as the coastline progressed to the northeast our distance increased to roughly four hundred and fifty miles. I truly did not expect the roads to be as steep and curvy as they were in some places. As we drove a secondary road out of one North Carolina town the maximum speed I was able to get out of the Vectra towing the Jeep was between fifteen and twenty miles and hour. Because of the steep twisting road there was a speed limit of thirty-five, so perhaps I was really not doing too bad. I was thankful that the steep uphill portion was only a bit over three miles and then the slope decreased until we reached the Interstate highway.

THE DOUBLE BARRELED CANNON AT THE COURTHOUSE IN ATHENS, GA

Athens, GA, is a rather interesting town. It has at least a couple things that are unknown anywhere else in the world. Ever since cannon were first invented people have been trying to figure out ways to make them more effective. In navy warfare the desire was often to incapacitate another ship so that it would have to surrender. In land warfare it was desired to make a cannon so deadly that the enemy would surrender or retreat from the field of battle without fighting at all. The navy at times would put two cannonballs attached by chain into a single barrel and fire them to take out ships masts. During the civil war the Confederates cast a cannon with two barrels for two balls attached with a chain. They hoped that the coupled balls would “mow the enemy down like a scythe through wheat”, and would scare the enemy from the field of battle. The two barrels could never be fired at exactly the same moment, and therefore it was never used in battle. It was used as a signaling device and it was used in ceremonies. Military records indicate that similar cannon have been cast in Europe, but the one in Athens is the only one in the world that is known to still exist.

Did you ever hear of a tree that “owns” itself? Until I went to Athens I had never heard of the concept. About 1832, Col William H. Jackson declared that he had such great love for a large white oak that he deeded the tree to itself and all the land within eight foot of all sides of it. The current tree at the site is actually called the son of the tree that owns itself, because high winds in 1942 blew the original tree over. For a number of years local gardening club had been encouraging people to start a new tree from one of the acorns, and the current tree is one of those seedlings, that is over sixty-five years old. The son is a magnificent tree and I can only try to imagine what the parent tree must have looked like when it was perhaps two hundred years old.

THE TREE THAT OWNS ITSELF IN ATHENS, GEORGIA

Now it is time for a simple quiz. What state produces the most peaches? If you answer Georgia that would be understandable, after all it is the Peach State, and I have just been in Georgia and I would have said that. There are huge orchards there. But it is apparently second to South Carolina in peach production. There is one city that wanted to be sure that everybody knew that SC was number one in peach production so they built a peach that could hold over a million gallons of peach nectar. The only problem is that somebody filled it with water.

THE PEACHOID IN GAFFNEY, SOUTH CAROLINA

I enjoy visiting historical sites and it doesn’t make a lot of difference who created the history, if it was Indians or early Americans or someone that was alive at the time of my birth, I can find something of interest. Whenever I have an opportunity to visit a civil war or revolutionary war site I do. I very much enjoy visiting the forts that have been reconstructed to show how life might have been during its use. The best fort replica that I have seen is in Ligonier, PA. The English built the fort in 1758 in part because of the defeat of George Washington by the French in 1755. The brass cannon that are on display are highly polished and do not have a green patina like all the others I have seen. The buildings display manikins that show the activities and living conditions of the soldiers better than any place I have ever seen. It was raining the day I visited and it seemed I was the only visitor. So when I heard voices in one of the buildings and stepped in I felt almost like the manikins had been speaking. I never saw the speakers. I guess that they went out before I came in.

Frank Lloyd Wright is considered by many to be the greatest architect that ever lived. I have seen pictures of several of the buildings he designed and have to say that they are all impressive. However for me there is only one building that he designed that holds my attention. It is called Fallingwater and is in Pennsylvania. We took a grounds tour of Fallingwater and I still believe it to be an ideal home in an ideal location. The house truly blends into the area, due in part to the fact that the building material was quarried near the site. The waterfalls that tumbles next to the house has to be impressive all year and magnificent during high water flow. The house was built for less than $30,000 in 1936 to 1939, and that included quarters for the servants and the custom furnishing. Today the house must be worth $30 million. I read somewhere that a few years ago several million was spent to stabilize the cantilevers upon which the house was built. Wright made a mistake in under estimating the amount of steel that would be required to support the house.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHTS FALLINGWATER IN PENNSYLVANIA

Certain words have been of special meaning to me over the years for a variety of reasons. For example, cacophony (I mispronounced that one for years), plethora (I pretty much ignored the word till my daughter made it stick in my mind), derelict and moil (from The Cremation Of Sam McGee, when I was about eight years old.) I heard a new word recently that I think is great; at least I am calling it a word. E-friend is the word. So to all my E-friends, I appreciate you and the e-mails you send. It is very good to hear from you.

I am not sure of the word that I should use, perhaps lucky or perhaps naive or perhaps something else. We have been in twenty-four states in our travels. Some of them we have only passed through. Eight of the states we have been in at least two weeks, with the time spent in either Florida or New York measured in months. With all the different places we have been I cannot say that there is anywhere that I have not enjoyed. I like the desert, the prairie, the mountains, the seashores and all the other places we have been. There was a friend that asked where I liked best and I could not come up with an answer. I like all the places I have been. I will grant you that I have not been in Florida during a hurricane or the Midwest during a tornado or the east during one of the recent floods. So I am looking forward to the scenes that I will see in the future.

When we leave here I think we are planning to go into Maine. The route that we take is still to be determined. I remember seeing some very interesting farm architecture in 1976 and I hope that I can get a better look at it, and take some pictures. I also was fascinated when I was sitting on an extended pier, eating lobster, and looking south at Canada across the Atlantic Ocean. I would like to find that place again, or more likely a similar place.

Till Later This Is Doug Of
PEACE ON THE ROAD