​After a leisurely morning of coffee, visiting and playing with the dogs, we had lunch in town. Lynn departed for a get-away with her daughter, while Joe and I gave Angie her first golf lesson at the driving range of the local 9-hole golf course. Joe explained that they wouldn't waste enough good farm land for an 18-hole course.

In spite of our verbose, overly detailed and sometimes conflicting instruction, Angie hit the ball quite well! Now that retirement affords ample time for cycling and golf, Hank is hopeful that Angie learns to love the game. There may be a gift of video golf lessons in her future.

A family friend and former client of Joe's, Travis, joined us for dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. We returned home to enjoy the movie "The Great Outdoors," which featured the youthful Dan Aykroyd and John Candy cracking us up. The waterskiing stunts and the grizzly bear scenes were the best we had ever seen.

Throughout our visit to Nebraska, we saw low-flying crop dusters plying their aerobatic trade.

​After returning to camp, we hitched up and hit the road. We made stops at Trader Joe's and Walmart to stock the trailer. We had a pleasant drive across Nebraska on Interstate 80 through Omaha and then shortly got on two-lane roads through large farms. We arrived at David City, a farming town of about 3,000 people, where Angie's brother, Joe, and sister-in-law, Lynn, live. 

We had dinner at Abie's Place, an old schoolhouse restaurant in an even smaller town, Abie, population 69. This is the town where Lynn's family live and farm. The special was roast pork with cylinder-shaped dumplings and sauerkraut prepared Czech style, which contains rye and has a slightly sweet taste.

After dinner, Joe drove us around miles of networked dirt and gravel roads through fields of corn and soy beans to spot game for upcoming hunting trips. Joe and Angie reminisced about their previous adventures which netted deer and turkey.

We toured town in Joe and Lynn's golf cart. Every passing driver and most pedestrians gave us waves. The town has a typical, old-fashioned downtown and square, like you might see in an old bank robbery movie scene. There are some lovely Craftsman and Victorian-style homes on large, flat lots. There is also a modern, public fitness center and outdoor pool. We enjoyed a cozy night in real beds and luxuriated in spacious showers with ample hot water.

​After exercising the dogs, we took a 20-minute drive over the Mississippi to a yoga studio in Bettendorf, IA. It had been a couple of weeks since our last yoga practice and our stiff muscles were screaming for relief from long hours on the road. The class was challenging and invigorating. 

Our audio book at present is "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". After reading and reflecting about American pioneers (including our own ancestors) that settled the frontier in Virginia and Kentucky, we wanted to hear the other side of the story. It is a sad story of unsatiable greed, racism and broken treaties. There is no more apt word than "genocide" to describe America's overall treatment of the native peoples.

The book contains transcripts of impassioned letters by some American leaders who were shocked to witness these events and raised their voices to try and stop the cruelty. But the tidal wave of immigration, westward expansion and the discovery of gold combined to create an overwhelming political force that crushed any attempts to provide reasonable accommodations for the natives - even by well-meaning leaders like Ulysses S. Grant, who was the only president to appoint a native man to lead Indian Affairs. The book features many articulate and moving speeches by chiefs who desperately wanted to establish a fair peace, but who were betrayed and discredited again and again.

The book is another reminder of how easily we tend to de-humanize those whose interests run counter to our own. It is discouraging to see how self-righteous we can be. I think that is only with God's help that we will be able to overcome this dark side of our nature.

After driving across the low rolling hills of Iowa and navigating the thick traffic in Des Moines, we arrived at a Corps of Engineers campground situated along the spillway of a dam on the Des Monies River west of town. Our neighbors were a delightful local couple (Eric and Kate) who camp at this place every other week throughout the summer. Eric had been fishing at this spot for more than 40 years. They gave us directions to a small lake we walked to and took the dogs swimming. 

​We stopped at an assisted care home to visit Hank's sister, Eleanor. Angie brought her laptop and showed Eleanor many pictures of the reunion and visits with their brothers, Douglas and Joe and their aunt Jean, who did not attend the reunion. Eleanor was delighted to see everyone. She was also very taken with Angie, who she called "beautiful" and "an asset to the family". Eleanor was tiring after a 90-minute visit, so we hit the westward road.

We stopped at another Corp of Engineers camp site - Fisherman's Corner North - on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River at Lock and Dam Number 14. There was a lily pad marsh along the shore of our campground, but a short three-quarter mile walk on a bike trail brought us to a sandy shore where the dogs could play and swim. 

When the dogs were done swimming, we noticed that a couple of tugboats were tending a string of five barges at the upstream entrance to the locks. From our campsite, we had a good vantage point to watch the two-hour process of maneuvering the barges through the locks. 

The barges were about 200 feet long, so they couldn't get all five barges, plus the tugboat, through in one pass. A helper tug stationed at the locks pulled on the front of the string, while the main tugboat pushed the string into the locks. They disconnected the first three barges from the last two, closed the lock doors and lowered the water level to downstream depth. The helper tug pulled the barges out and stood by while the locks were refilled and the upstream doors were opened. They reconnected the barges when both halves of the string were on the downstream side and off they went. It was very interesting to watch.

​Facing one of our longest drives of the trip - 6-1/2 hours - we got an early start. We spent several hours on two-lane roads through Ohio farms before reaching the highway. We had some very hard rain showers that caused us to reduce speed to 45 mph, due to poor visibility. We set up camp in the rain and set to work to catch up on our blog.

This private campground had a couple of tame, white donkeys on site that were friendly and curious to meet our border collies. 

Angie got a wonderful compliment to start the day. Hank's cousin, Marty, a retired casting director, was struck by Angie's beauty. "If I had a movie now I would cast you in a second!" she said.

The family travelled by motor coach from the hotel in Sugar Creek to the site of the Revolutionary War Fort Laurens, where two of Ludwig's sons (including Hank's ancestor Feidt Wysong) helped build the western frontier outpost of the Revolutionary Army in the fall of 1778. Our visit coincided with the annual re-enactment by men and women dressed as Continental Army, militia, camp women, British soldiers and even an Iroquois Indian!

We were privileged to visit with people in character complete with period tools, weapons, clothes, and tents. We watched formation drills and firing drills. We saw a man using a clamp bench to hold a piece of hickory firmly while he peeled the bark with a hand tool, in order to fashion tool handles and furniture legs. The visitor center told the story of the construction of the fort and the one difficult winter that soldiers occupied the fort. It was meant to be a stepping stone in a supply chain along with Fort Pitt and Fort McIntosh to support an attack on Detroit. Ultimately, the plan and the fort were abandoned, when they saw how impractical it was. 

We had a light lunch followed by a tour at the Ernest "Mooney" Warther Gallery and Gardens.
Warther was a self-taught, world-renowned master carver, who lived in Holmes County from 1885-1973. He was a brilliant man who visualized intricate designs in his head, including the number of cuts and the amount of time it would take to complete highly detailed,  moving wood and ivory sculptures. He was fascinated with the history of the steam engine and created highly accurate scale models of all the seminal models of steam engine from ancient Egypt through the dawn of the diesel locomotive. These sculptures were made of walnut, bone, ebony and ivory and consisted of thousands of pieces, assembled with pins.

Wood carving was a sacred hobby. He refused to sell any of his carvings. Although he made gifts of them to people such as Dwight Eisenhower. He did exhibit his carvings to raise money to support his family and his hobby. Moody made his own carving knives with interchangeable blades. He also manufactured and sold cutlery as a main source of income.

One of the amazing exhibits at the gallery is a working model of the steel mill where Warther worked  for nearly 24 years. The model features Moody and his friends doing their jobs (and even eating their lunch). He mechanized the mill using pulleys, gears and belts.  

Another amazing piece was a walking stick he carved out of a single piece of wood. Abraham Lincoln's head was featured at the top of the stick. In the body, there was a cage that contained a cage ball. Inside the cage ball was a solid ball. Both balls looked perfectly round. He carved this all in place from a single piece of wood! You cannot take the stick apart. The solid ball inside cannot be touched by human hands.

After dinner, a family meeting was held to elect officers, award college scholarships and decide the location of the next two family reunions. We won the award for the longest distance traveled to the reunion.

We got an early start for our six-hour trip to a reunion of all the progeny from Hank's Pre-Revolutionary War ancestor, Ludwig Wysong, who had a homestead in York, PA, in the mid-1700s. We had a tearful goodbye with Hank's Aunt Jean, then rolled out by 8:30 a.m.

We took the Pennsylvania Turnpike (first in the US) west towards Pittsburgh. We had to transit several tunnels through the Allegheny Mountains. It was clear why most pioneer emigrants chose to travel through the Cumberland Gap to the south. Finally, we dropped into the Ohio Valley. We soon left the highway and travelled over many miles of two-lane roads to the Ohio Amish County in Holmes County. 

We learned that this county has the largest concentration of Amish people in the US. They actually constitute more than 50% of the county's population! In a surprising contrast to Lancaster County, PA, many of the Amish here ride bicycles, in addition to horse-drawn buggies. Some of the bicycles were even e-bikes. We learned that each Amish community's rules are determined by a local Bishop. Rules change when the Bishop changes. Many of the Amish in Ohio wear muted colors, rather than the consistent black dress we saw in PA.

After docking, we headed to the Carlisle Inn in Sugar Creek for the reunion's opening dinner. There were about 40 family members in attendance, representing three of Ludwig's five Revolutionary War-era sons. We met a delightul pair of brothers from Georgia, accompanied by their lovely wives. 

After dinner, the family proceeded as a group to a musical theater performance at the hotel. There, we met a couple of sisters still living on and working their parents' farm in Missouri. The play was "Josiah for President", a story about how an Amish farmer stumbles into the Presidency during a tumultuous election. Josiah's common sense and goodness transcends the corruption and petty partisan politics of Washington and transforms everyone in the government and the country. It sounds corny, but by the end of the play, we were ready to vote for an Amish man for president! Is it really that complicated for us to stop serving ourselves and focus on the greater good - and the good in each other? For a few brief moments, at least, we let ourselves bask in the glow of the possibility.

​Our last full day in Harrisburg was earmarked for trailer maintenance and baking caseroles in Jean's kitchen to restock our fridge and freezer. Check and check! It felt good to get well prepared for the last third of our summer trip.

We met Hank's nephew, Ralph, for dinner at Carrabas - one of Angie's favorite restaurant chains. Ralph has been dealing with some upheaval in his extended family. We were glad to be able to support him through this time.

​Hank's cousin, Adrian, and his pit bull, Kam, led us on a hike up the nearby Appalachian Trail where we connected to the Mason Dixon trail for a hike of about five miles and a few hundred feet of climbing. We didn't get any more than a peek-a-boo view from the ridge. But we met a mid-20-ish couple from Flint, MI, who were hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, having started in Georgia in mid-April. They expected to finish the hike in September in Maine.

We enjoyed talking with Adrian about live music, nutrition and future plans. The dogs got a great workout! Adrian joined us for a lunch of leftovers from our lunch at Heather and Rabiou's and dinner at Tina and Kurt's. Then we gave him a tour of our trailer. 

We dropped in to visit Hank's cousin, Aaron-Nicole, to see her travel trailer she drove from Texas to PA to live in while she decides how to invest the proceeds from the sale of her home in Texas. Her 35-footer with three slide-outs, was quite a bit more spacious than our 19-footer, which has no slide-outs. What would we do with all that space?

Later we met Hank's brother, Joe, his sister-in-law, Jenny, and their 15-year-old nephew, Will. Hank's niece, Heather, joined us, too. We had a delicious meal at their favorite restaurant - Gilligan's.  It wa fun to catch up and reminisce together. The hike earlier in the day, exacerbated Hank's cold symptoms, which had shown up on Sunday. So we had to make an early night of it.

​We got some work done on our blog before heading off to the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster County with Jean. We make an annual visit to this Christian musical theater, which is broadway quality in terms of the sets and talent. They always feature well trained live animals in their performances, which add to the realism of the story. This year, we saw, sheep, horses, a llama, goats and doves. For the first time, there were digital effects employed in the set backgrounds.

This year, the play was "David", which told the story of King David from his life as a boy being trained as a shepherd to his rise to royalty, fall from obedience and communion with God, his reconciliation and death. It was powerful and inspiring. My favorite quote from the play was "Men see the outward appearance of a man. God sees the heart." The special effects were incredible, as usual. There were five giants slain. (Goliath had four brothers.) 

Afterwards, we went to a Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant - Shady Maple. This farm to table buffet had an incredible selection and the quality of the food was outstanding. It was Hank's fifth different Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant and by far his favorite. Food and Wine magazine called it "one of America's best buffets."

Our route to the restaurant took us through the large fertile farms of Lancaster County, which are largely farmed by Amish and Menonite families. The harvest is amazing this year. Unlike the Harrisburg area, Lancaster County is getting normal rainfall, which was readily evident in the relative size of the corn plants. We also saw fields of soy beans, tobacco and hay. We saw many horse-drawn buggies on the road. We saw a farmer sowing and fertilizing corn in a rig drawn by size horses abreast.