Saturday, October 11, 2008

Family Heritage

One of our real highlights of the trip east was the discovery of the grave sites of some of Tom and Dave's distant ancestors. We found the cemetery where Sherdin Vaughn, a great, great, great-grandfather is buried in Fairview, Ohio. But a few miles away we found the actual stones for John and Elizabeth Allison, other great, great, great-grandparents. The amazing discovery, however, was the actual stone marking the resting place of Jesse Stewart, a great, great, great, great-grandfather and veteran of the War of 1812, at the River Hill Cemetery three miles out of Port Washington, Ohio. With the help of Tom Gardner, the village mayor, who hadn't even knowledge of this remote and untended cemetery, the actual stone still stands and was legible. Jesse Stewart is now only the second veteran of that distant war known in the area. His grave will now be marked for recognition at future memorial and veterans days.





Blast at Fort Bragg

While visiting Michigan we learned of an explosion that rocked Cleone, injured Jeff, and left a house less than 100 yards from his park office demolished. Jeff was just leaving the office to investigate a strong propane odor when the blast occurred. Praise the Lord Jeff was not more injured and another neighbor will survive.








Fabulous Four Day Visit to Washington DC

Our four days in Washington were great with Dave and Sue. Elizabeth accompanied us as well to many great and historic places: Mount Vernon, Tom and Dave on the steps of the capital, Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials and the Iwo Jima monument were just a few of the examples. Fabulous weather and fabulous fatigue every day.




































Stopping to See the Wolfs

Obviously some of the genetics of Brother Dave.

From the Sublime to the Rediculous

Travel involves many experiences. The top photo would be Tom's style, the bottom pic speaks for itself.




Rand, Colorado





During our cross country travel in September we stopped to see the log house built by Tom's grandfather outside Rand, CO, in the early 1900's when he homesteaded a ranch there. Tom even found an open window, and we explored the interior. We'd been told by the neighbors the present owner wouldn't mind. We left info about the ranch early history. What a treat to see the house and land.