Wood's Prairie Travels

We rolled into Atlanta, Illinois, looking for a historic eight-sided sandstone public library and museum for our evening’s Harvest Host stay. Little did we know, this small town just off of Interstate 55 had quite an interesting history. As we looked for the address for the library, it surprised us to look up and see several Route 66 historic statues. We hadn’t realized this was a town on that famed driving route. Around the next block we arrived at the library which was built with sandstone blocks in 1908. In addition to the unique eight-sided design, the library had beautiful woodwork inside. That included one of the most inviting reading rooms we’ve ever seen in a library.  It turned out that the “museum” part of this library was actually in the old “Judy” grocery store which sat kitty corner to the library. So, off we went to see what exhibits a museum in a tiny Illinois town would hold.  We were welcomed to the museum by a long-time resident who explained the layo...

In a nondescript field carved out of a Pennsylvania temperate forest, sits a memorial dedicated to the heroism of some regular people who were put into an extraordinary situation on September 11, 2001. When we realized our path home would take us relatively near the National Memorial for Flight 93, we altered our course to pay tribute to those remarkable men and women. The morning’s drive took us up, over, and around the folds of the Appalachian Mountains of south western Pennsylvania. The forest rose on both sides of the highway as we travelled along. We wondered if we were on the correct road since it appeared to be just a rural area with a smattering of farm houses.   We were glad to finally see the sign noting an upcoming turn to the Flight 93 Memorial. The Memorial itself has a unique architecture that you notice when first approaching it. A black walkway leads to an overlook of the field in which Flight 93 crashed on that notorious day in America’s history. Later, we le...

Just a few miles away from Gettysburg is a rather new museum called, World War II – The American Experience. Established in 2022, the museum came about as the result of Frank Buck and his family’s desire to share his collection of WWII vehicles and equipment with other people. Frank had been collecting various WWII vehicles and keeping them at his home near Gettysburg. People would often just stop by to chat with him about his collection. Frank and his family decided to create the museum as a way to preserve his collection as well as educate people of all ages about the history of WWII and the sacrifices made by veterans. Although fairly small, this was one of the most interesting WWII museums that we have been to. Mainly this was due to the unique types of equipment and paraphernalia that were used during the war, but which you don’t typically see.  For example, this truck is called “The Dragon”. It is a tow truck for tanks! This vehicle also salvaged parts from damaged tanks....

When deciding which roads to take on our way back home from New England, we considered many options and routes. Traveling south to Gettysburg made it to the top of our list, especially after several family and friends asked if we planned to go there. Although history classes teach about the Civil War and the battle of Gettysburg, visiting the actual site and looking upon the various fields of battle, really brought the history to life. The visitor center had an excellent movie describing the three days of the battle of Gettysburg. In addition, there was a narration of the cyclorama.  “Cyclo-what?” You may be asking... the cyclorama is a 360-degree oil painting that fills a whole room. It is 42 feet tall and 377 feet wide. The painting depicts the last day of the battle of Gettysburg. The way in which the lighting changes during the narration draws the attention of the audience to particular portions of the painting. At one point the narration describes the smoke from the cannon fir...

After exploring much of the eastern coast of Maine, it was time to turn our sights westward. We stopped at an information center, to gather more maps. The lady at the desk stated, “One option would be to go on the Kancamagus Highway”. I said, “The Kanga-what?”  She smiled and replied, “Kan-ca-mag-us, people pronounce it many different ways”. Then she hesitated and added, “You may have slow traffic with the leaf peepers”. Quizzically, I asked, “The leaf what?”  Her reply was, “We call them ‘Leaf Peepers’. The people who come to see the fall colors. The Kancamagus is a popular drive for that, but it really slows down as the cars creep along.” Although too early in the fall to see the best fall colors, we decided we would go “Leaf Peepin and creepin’ ” on the Kancamagus Highway across central New Hampshire. The two-lane road follows the Swift River winding over the White Mountains.  One short hike led to Sabbaday Falls. The leaf strewn trail was a golden walk in ...