Travelin’ - Home
After traveling on a tour bus through twenty states we arrived home at the end of eighteen days. Fifty-seven people we were on another very satisfying trip with the North Dakota Farmers Union under the able direction of Jeff Willer and his trip escort Diane Peltz. Mary and I realized after our first trip with Farmers Union some years back that no one else can do it better and after about nine trips with them we still feel the same way. This particular tour was a repeat for us; we wanted to return to the early history settings of this country that we had visited previously.
The first notable stop came on day 3 at the Kentucky Keeneland horse track where we watched an annual thoroughbred horse sale where an $815 million sale took place last year. International money comes to this event, and the day before a horse sold to an Arabian sheik for $4.5 million . It was on this racetrack the movie “Seabiscuit” was filmed and after leaving we drove to a retired horse farm and saw the horse that played Seabiscuit in the race scenes.
Day 4 found the bus rolling along the Midland Trail in mountainous country; it stopped at the little town of Amsted to let us off and tour the salsa manufacturing plant that an enterprising lady has established and grown to a sizable business. We had discovered that operation six years ago when we stopped there for refreshments at the next door convenience store. One of the group wandered past the door and came back to tell Jeff and an impromptu tour took place. Later in the afternoon Monticello, Jefferson’s personally designed home, rounded out the day.
From here on days begin to run and blur together. Colonial Williamsburg, home of the Continental Congress, featured buildings restored to their original condition. At Mount Vernon it can easily be seen George Washington chose the location of his mansion well when you sit on the porch and view the panorama of the Potomac River flowing past.
We toured the United States Capitol under the watchful gaze of many armed guards, but an informed guide showed and told us much of the lore and facts associated with the building. To do justice to a visit to this city one should spend a week. There are so many things to see: the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; memorials to veterans of the Viet Nam war, the Korean War, World War II, and Iwo Jima; the memorials dedicated to Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, FDR, et al; big eats at the NDFU sponsored restaurants - Farmers & Fishers and Founding Farmers (both excellent); the sprawling Smithsonian Institution with its collection of several buildings each dedicated to a theme.
As I write it is late on the night that we arrived home, and I am tired. My thoughts run to my father who has suffered a couple of strokes while I was gone so we are making plans to drive to Lisbon tomorrow. I will write more in a couple of days.
