October 2015 travels in the lower 48 USA

31 October 2015 Saturday - Ocean City MD
Evening gathering at Shenanigans with classmates from Wakefield High School.....they continued at the Purple Moose but I went back to sleep!

30 October 2015 Friday - Ocean City MD
Evening gathering at the Crab Bag with classmates from Wakefield High School. Great bus system in Ocean City because you can ride the bus all day for $3, or $1.50 for seniors like me!

27 October 2015 Tuesday - Annapolis to eastern shore of Maryland and Delaware
Rain is predicted for next few days so off to explore the eastern shore beaches under the full moon! Overnight at Cape Henlopen State Park with heaps of walking.

24 October 2015 Saturday - Greenbelt to Annapolis MD
Visiting my friend Gail in Annapolis.

23 October 2015 Friday - Opal VA to Greenbelt MD
Overnight at Greenbelt Park run by the National Park Service which means free entry and half price campsites for old folks like me! And the autumn colors for my short hike were wonderful! Met another Roadtrekker, interesting fellow named Glynn Wilson, who has a website:
http://www.newamericanjournal.net/
http://www.newamericanjournal.net/2015/10/my-year-as-a-volunteer-vip-campground-host-comes-to-an-end/

22 October 2015 Thursday - Opal VA
Catching up on the genealogy stuff.....and enjoying the beautiful autumn weather in Virginia.

21 October 2015 Wednesday - Opal VA
Shopping at REI and Trader Joes and Wegmans!

20 October 2015 Tuesday - Opal VA
Brake work on the van!

19 October 2015 Monday - Front Royal to Opal VA 
visiting friends in northern Virginia......

18 October 2015 Sunday - Weston WV to Front Royal VA (162 miles)
Another beautiful autumn colors drive over the Shenandoah and Allegheny mountains of Appalachia via Seneca Rocks!

17 October 2015 Saturday - Barboursville to Weston WV (155 miles)
Beautiful autumn colors on the roads of West Virginia....many of these bus tours for the colors have filled up all the hotels in the area! Had thought of staying at the Stonewall Jackson State Park but it is a big golf resort with a lodge and the campground is full! Camping near the Stonewall Jackson dam on Skin Creek Road at the Broken Wheel campground. A cold front has arrived and overnight low in 20's!

16 October 2015 Friday - Frankfort KY to Barboursville WV (165 miles)
Great folks in Paris Bourbon County courthouse assisted me in reading old log books but several personnel were out today so they could not go to the vault and search for documents.... then drove to Mt Sterling Montgomery County where I hoped to explore some more but......encountered about 200,000 folks arriving for Court Day.....and no accommodation for about 100 miles around.....so headed east to West Virginia.....per the Mt Sterling website......

Every year since 1794 people have gathered together in Mt Sterling, Kentucky, to buy, sell or trade goods.  The excitement starts on Friday and ends on the 3rd Monday of October.  Just once a year does this four day event take place with around 200,000 people coming  to shop with the 1500 vendors who set up to sell.  The event was named Court Day when it started in 1794. Once a year, at this time, the Circuit Judge would come to town and try criminals. People would come from miles around to sell their crops, trade horses and mules, swap goods and services.  Guns and knives were among the top items traded and sold during these tough days in the frontier. Now more than 200 years later the October Court Day Festival is still going strong and features guns, knives, antiques, flea market items and every kind of food imaginable.  This is truly the largest outdoor festival in Ky. and we hope you will make plans to come!

15 October 2015 Thursday - Lexington KY via Stanford to Frankfort KY (127 miles)
Wonderful breakfast with my cousin Robin and her husband Mike then off in search of birth records of my ggg grandfather in Stanford Lincoln County KY but when I arrived, they told me that all records are at the State Capital in Frankfort......west of Lexington! So decided to drive the fifty miles back up the road and see the beautiful state capitol and do research at the archives....but they do not have records before 1852....oh well! Camping on the Elkhorn River tonight before continuing east.

14 October 2015 Wednesday - New Vienna OH to Lexington KY (113 miles)
Visited Paris Bourbon County Kentucky where my great great great grandfather Wesley Williams married his first wife Elizabeth Ayres.....wonderful old log books of records from the early 1800's! Overnight at the Kentucky Horse Park which will be full starting tomorrow for the weekend.....heaps of Halloween activities for the locals.

13 October 2015 Tuesday - Fort Wayne IN to New Vienna OH (179 miles)
Visiting my bestest friend from college Patricia and her friend Darrel......we fed the horses and cows and chickens and had a piece of her bull for dinner!

12 October 2015 Monday - Fort Wayne Indiana
All day at the Genealogy Center then overnight at Johnny Appleseed campground and short walk to his gravesite.

11 October 2015 Sunday - Bloomington IL to Fort Wayne IN (214 miles)
On the road again, route 9 to I57 to route 24 and lost an hour and am now on Eastern time! Plan to spend time at Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne.

9 October 2015 Friday - Bloomington IL
Yvonne and I drove to Springfield IL to visit the Lincoln Library and do genealogy.

8 October 2015 Thursday - Bloomington IL
Yvonne and I visited the McLean Library and Museum to do genealogy.

7 October 2015 Monday - Bloomington IL
Washed my very dirty van and then lunch of grilled salmon in the backyard.

6 October 2015 Tuesday - Bloomington IL
Sushi lunch at Lucky Garden then walk in the woods along Dawson Lake at Moraine View State Park where folks were catching bluegill and saugeye.

5 October 2015 Monday - Bloomington IL
Early morning visit to the dentist to have him reglue my crown!

3 October 2015 Saturday - Carthage to Bloomington IL (142 miles)
Visiting my cousin Yvonne who has the same enthusiam for genealogy as I do so will be fun comparing our notes.....but finding that I could stay here a year and not read everything!

2 October 2015 Friday - Carthage IL
Staying another day to explore the Mormon history here and to research more on my family history. Tour of the Carthage jail and to learn all about Joseph Smith then visit to Nauvoo.

1 October 2015 Thursday - Centerville IA to Carthage IL (147 miles)
Gorgeous weather for drive through southern IA into IL. Spending time in Carthage IL where my ggg grandfather was Judge Wesley Williams. The cemetery in which he and his wife Ruth are buried is a private cemetery on the edge of a farm. I visited the library in Carthage and found that the librarian is a neighbor of the Spanglers so she gave me directions and rang the family to give me permission to visit.