Mary Boykin Chesnut Day 14 Camden South Carolina

   Sometimes you just have to believe that a higher power stepped in and made it all happen.  That was today.  My “Famous Civil War Woman Poster Child” and the reason for this trip has been Mary Boykin Chesnut (image 1 below), married to a Confederate statesman and soldier but against slavery herself.  She wrote what most historians agree, and won her a Pulitzer Prize posthumously, the best personal diary account of the Civil War.  Many of you will remember her as a staple in Ken Burns’ series The Civil War.  He quoted her over 100 times during the series….and for good reason.  Objective as she tried to be, Mary could see clearly that it was never going to work out for the south and that 1000s and 1000s of people would die for it.  She lost her home in Richmond, Charleston and just about every single person she cared about.  She and her older husband James Jr moved to Camden SC, first to his family home called Mulberry Plantation and later to a smaller house, Sarsfield, where both James Jr died and Mary followed him the next year at age 63. 

   The Chesnut family that she married into was famous for being one of the largest land owners  (over 4000 acres between to two plantations of Mulberry and Knights Hill) and more dubious, the most number of slaves (probably around 1000 between the multiple houses). 

   Sadly, by the time Mary’s husband James Jr inherited the land, it was heavily entailed in debt and James could only barely maintain a fraction of it.  When he died Mary was left with nothing but debt and Sarsfield house.  A sad end to such a prestigious family. 

   Mary wrote the diary from the beginning of the war to the end (1861-65) and was in most of the places where all the horrible stuff was going on because her husband was stationed there and they were buddies with President Jefferson Davis.  She revised it multiple times after the war with the intention of publishing it but died before that could happen.  Having no children, Mary left the diary with her best friend who had it published almost immediately.  One of the later revisions won it the Pulitzer.  I’m hoping that makes sense why she was so important to my study of Women of the Civil War….she lived it.  She had the money and clout to move all over the war torn areas and spoke her mind eloquently but also with a tremendous amount of fact, without it, we wouldn’t have this invaluable perspective. 

Ok, so I finally get to Camden SC today and head immediately for Mulberry Plantation (James Jr’s home where he took Mary after they wed).  Image 2. But the gates are closed.  Screw that says I.  I didn’t drive 3600 miles to be thwarted by some iron gates.  I won’t say how…but I walked all the way up onto the spectacular Chesnut front porch and set a spell in a rocking chair admiring the house and grounds. All I needed was the mint julep.  Really really beautiful and I’m glad I had it to myself.  

Then it was off to find Sarsfield, Image 3 where Mary and James spent their last years in Camden.  Bear in mind folks that NONE of this info (addresses, details, ANYTHING) is readily available….digging is the only way to find it and then dig some more.  But I did find Sarsfield and this one was locked up tight and looking very old, weedy and neglected.  (that’s when I discovered some money grubbing couple had purchased Sarsfield and wanted to turn it into multi condos.  NOOOOOO!  So far….

Lastly was to find the cemetery “knights hill cemetery”  (image 4) but nothing was coming up on google as to a location so I called the visitors center, chamber of commerce and the city archives and they all said the same thing “WE WON’T TELL YOU AND YOU WON’T GET THERE SO FORGET IT!”  And of course, you all know what that did….I WENT OUT AND FOUND IT.  But here’s where the angels stepped up to the plate…. 

I found the site of the Knights Hill Plantation that the Chesnuts built in the late 1700’s but there was a big fancy gate for a new development there.  So I just drove thru the gate to have a look around and was immediately met by a lovely gentleman, Scott Griffin who turned out to be the owner of Knights Hill Plantation now.  I explained what I was trying to do and he said he’d have someone meet me and take me to the site!!!!!  Hallelujah!!   That man, Ross, turned out to be the nicest guy and not only did he drive me to the cemetery (image 5) wayyyyyyyyyyy the heck in the wilderness of the 3000 acre plantation where I was able to take pictures, video and try not to weep but then he took me to the “slave cemetery” (image 6) also wayyyyyyyy off on the property.  But this was NOT a slave cemetery anymore.  Slaves didn’t get nice headstones and there were plenty of them here.  Turns out (I went to the archives and dug up the info) one of the descendants of  one of the Chesnut slaves stayed on the land and their descendants LOTS OF THEM, are all buried there, the last one in 1964.  Sooooo much work could be done at this place…I would truly love to come back and do research and restoration as nobody seems to know who any of these people are.    A million thanks again to Scott, Ross and Paul for their incredible kindness to a complete stranger.  I’ll keep you posted and send you a copy of the film when it’s finished. I couldn't have done this without you.  And cute puppies too!!!

Mary’s tombstone reads  "Rest and Drink Thy Fill of Pure Immortal Streams".  With a little luck, we'll keep her incredible legacy going around the world.  

Mary and James Jr Chesnut

Mulberry Plantation

Sarsfield House

the entrance plaque at Knights Hill Plantation

John Chesnut Civil War

one of the descendants of the original slave family

I’ll process all the video and pictures when I get home.  Tonight I’m treating (hey, happy Halloween!!) myself to a hotel room, a big bed, a hot shower and a hot meal.  Life is truly one big fat gift.  Hugs from the road.  

IRONCLADS Day 13. Norfolk VA.

Norfolk VA.  Since I spend 60% of my life these past 20 years living on great big metal floating cities, it’s a no brainer that today I wanted to see the place where the 2 first ironclad ships in America duked it out so I hustled off early in the morning to make the drive to Monitor Merrimack point or Sewell’s Point.  Sadly, only one small plaque (above) is there to commemorate this piece of history….but everyone there told me it was the best place for fishing….

The Confederates were the first to take an old wooden sailing ship, the Merrimack, which was sunk in the bay, and raise her up and cover her with iron plates right there in Norfolk harbor.  The engineers were copying the already existing ironclad ship in the UK but none of this was going to be an easy job.  How do you cover a ship with a ton of iron which almost sinks her and then get her to float and steer and shoot?  But they did it and changed the name to CSS Virginia in 1861.  

The Union Army wasn’t about to be left out of this game so they got busy and built a more nimble (well, sort of...when she wasn't banging into things and going completely off course)  ironclad, the Monitor.  

Fast forward to March 9, 1862.  The Virginia is protecting the harbor as it’s a huge supply base and along comes the evil twin, Monitor, looking very much like a not submerged sub

.  The Virginia up to this point had blown anything and everything out of the water that was wooden but here comes not only an ironclad but one that's faster and has more guns (altho they tended to go off in the wrong direction).  8 hours they went at it.  Bonging shells off each other, even ramming each other.  The outcome?  They both didn’t sink altho they were both pretty damaged and nobody won.  The Monitor crept off and never fought again, sinking 9 months later.  The Virginia limped off to heal her wounds and was scuttled one year later in 1862. 

But the important part of the story is that the US now had iron covered warships that would someday turn into one of those big floating pleasure boats I live on. 

I’m camped at a KOA in the middle of absolute nowhere.  Huge sugar pines everywhere and cotton fields in every direction.   It seems ironic to me that so much cotton is still grown down here.  No black slaves to pick it anymore….just those raping, murdering Mexicans that this whole area of the US is totally in favor of building that wall and kicking out all their cheap help.  Come on people!!! Please don’t let Trump destroy this country.  And please remember that either not voting or voting for someone else besides Hillary is basically a vote for Trump. You may not agree with everything she's about (please do your research first!) but the race is close.  It's a sea of Trump signs down here for the past 6 states I've crossed.   Please make your vote count.   

Hoping you are all enjoying your Halloween weekend.  Hugs from the road.  

"a very black day"

Today was another big Civil War day for me, visiting the battleground of the Civil War's longest and most absurd battleground, Petersburg VA.  The site is huge, not walkable.  Drivable over a 20 plus mile range.  This area was the last stronghold protecting the capital of the Confederate States, Richmond from the Union Army.  Petersburg was determined, at all costs, to hold back the Union troops and it turned into a 9 1/2  MONTH siege.  That alone should give you an idea of the casualities and calamities facing both sides, not to mention the innocent people of Petersburg town.  From June of 1864 to early April 1865, 10's of 1,000s of troops did the death dance back and forth, gain some ground, lose some ground.  

It should've worked, it could've ended the war if it had but bumbling Burnside (who clearly invented the SIDE BURN) couldn't get his act together and instead managed to create one of the most horrific embarrassing loses for the Union.  But it could've worked....

Union troops, frustrated with the neverending battle dug a 500 yard tunnel directly under Confederate lines and packed that tunnel with enough dynamite to blow up a city.  On the early morning of July 30th, Burnside ordered the fuse lit and, as they hoped, the hole it blew was monumental (because the dynamite for the rebels was there too).  100s of feet in every direction which were filled with sleeping Confederate soldiers and supplies. (picture on top) And then the Union troops, INCLUDING A BLACK CORPS OF UNION SOLDIERS rushed in to finish the job.  BUT somehow things went so very wrong.  The Union troops were stunned at the damage inside this giant crater but were ORDERED to go into the crater to finish off the rebels there.  They did, MOSTLY the Black Corps IX.  Problem was, the walls were so steep from the blast that no one could get out!  That gave General Mahone (looking very wild west) of the Rebels a chance to organize and boy did he ever!  Like mad hornets, the rebels swept around the lip of that crater and killed anything that moved BUT THAT'S NOT THE WORST OF IT!!!!  (and this doesn't get much press but I have been assured it's true).  The UNION troops fighting with the rebels there turned THEIR guns on the Black troops!  They said they didn't want to be killed along with the Black Troops.  SO MUCH FOR EQUALITY FOR ALL.  

The good news is Burnside got sacked for the whole mess but it certainly didn't bring back those 2,000 Black Union soldiers and Rebels.  

Tomorrow is Richmond.  It will be a busy amazing day.  Hugs from the road.   

"Sir, we are all Americans" Day 9 Appomattox Courthous

Just short of 4 years by 2 months, the Civil War had destroyed over 600,000 soldiers, countless homes, civilians, billions of dollars of property and spirits across the un united states and around the world.  By april 9 1861 the pride of the confederate army led by General Robert E Lee was a ragtag starving shoeless band of renegades.  At a small green wood called Appomattox Courthouse, Lee’s last supply line of food was intercepted and destroyed by the Union army and Lee realized he had no choice but to surrender.  He was completely surrounded and his troops were starving. 

Arriving at 1pm that day, General Lee was dressed in his best, expecting to be taken as Grant’s prisoner and even Traveller, Lee’s beloved white horse, was brushed to a glow.  The meeting was to take place at a civilian’s house where strangely 4 years previous in another home, this same man had given up his house to the Confederate army at the first battle of Bull Run.  General Grant arrived late, dressed in a muddy well worn uniform.  Grant was so adverse to moving forward with the business at hand and was enjoying reminiscing with Lee about days they had served together years before that Lee finally reminded Grant why they were together. 

A Seneca Indian, long a member of Grant’s upper staff was also in the room to facilitate in writing up the terms for both Generals to sign.  This native named Ely S Parker.  Ely Samuel Parker (1828 – August 31, 1895), (born Hasanoanda, later known as Donehogawa) was a Seneca attorney,engineer, and tribal diplomat. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel during the American Civil War, when he served as adjutant to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. He wrote the final draft of the Confederate surrender terms at Appomattox. Later in his career, Parker rose to the rank of brevet brigadier general. President Grant appointed him as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to hold that post.

 Lee, upon discovering Parker to be a Seneca remarked "It is good to have one real American here." Parker replied, "Sir, we are all Americans." 

After Lee left the house some time later and made his way back to his nearby camp, his remaining troops lined the road, most too distraught to speak.  Instead they carefully reached up to touch gently, Traveller, the General’s horse.  A few “thank you” or “goodbye” drifted in the springtime dusk. Traveller (1857–1871) was Confederate General Robert E. Lee's most famous horse during the American Civil War. He was a grey American Saddlebred of 16 hands, notable for speed, strength and courage in combat. Lee acquired him in February 1862, and rode him in many battles. Traveller outlived Lee by only a few months, and had to be shot when he contracted untreatable tetanus. His name is often misspelled with a single ‘L’ in the American style, though Lee actually used the British-style double ‘L’.  Lee never called him Traveller as the horse had had two previous names by previous owners but always referred to his beloved horse as “the grey”.   When Traveller died, he was buried, exhumed, his bones were bleached and he was put on display til his bones started to dissolve.  Finally  in 1971, Traveller's remains were buried in a wooden box encased in concrete next to the Lee Chapel on the Washington & Lee campus, a few feet away from the Lee family crypt inside, where his master's body rests. The stable where he lived his last days, directly connected to the Lee House on campus, traditionally stands with its doors left open; this is said to allow his spirit to wander freely.

I spent the afternoon at this historic place where it ended, still far from visiting many more Civil War sites myself.  A perfect recreation of the room made it feel like the two Generals had just left before I arrived. It was a very moving experience especially to speak at length with the curator of the museum.   Sadly many of the Union officers  immediately bought up every piece of furniture in the room where the signing took place after the two Generals left so what is there for us to see today are replicas.  Happily, a good amount of it has been returned. The museum is excellent but I already knew all the details.  More meaningful to me, just as when walking the same path as any great historical figure,  I found myself stopping on the entry stairs and crossing the yard wondering what they both felt.  I was walking where they stepped. So many lives lost!     Saddest of all, I truly believe we are just as capable of destroying each other now as we were then, each completely convinced of our right-ness and willing to kill or die for it.  I have to ask myself, of course the freedom of the slaves was worth fighting for altho I wonder if there could’ve been any other way to achieve the same result?  But why can’t we see that violence is NOT the answer? 

In these inflammatory times before the election, especially as I pass through town after town of yards of pumpkin and goblin filled TRUMP signs, I can only hope that the winners will help the losers feel they are not disenfranchised and help to dissipate the most fervent misguided anger and hate I have ever experienced in my lifetime.   

Let us all remember,  we are all americans.  

  

Hugs from the road.

Day 6  St Louis Missouri.
   After such a superlative day in every way; sites, weather, history, hotel NOT, it's hard to focus on the brightest points but these two shine out.
   Perhaps some of you know that I earned my MFA equivalent in Florence Italy at the top mosaic restoration school in the world, Pietre Dure a few years back (quite a few).  So any chance I get to look at tesserae jerks my chain.  When the tour driver this morning pointed out this gorgeous church from 1912 and stated "with the largest mosaic in the world" I balked and said "St. Marco?" but he insisted.  Actually, he and Wiki are wrong.  The Basilica of St. Louis doesn't have the world's largest mosaic (St. Marco in Venice still holds the title by 300m squared at 8,000) but certainly the largest by far in the US and one freakin fine batch of tile if ever there was one.
   The side chapels were actually done by TIFFANY but there's a whole bunch of other famous artists that got busy with the glue and glass and the subject matter runs from early Byzantine to late 19th century modern.  Every inch of the upper walls and ceilings is mosaic and even in bad light, the glistening, gilded glow (say that fast) is really beautiful.  What a find!  And then there's all those GORGEOUS 19TH C houses around Forest Park AND EVERYTHING IS FREE in this city....the zoo, the art museum, parking!!!  
   Of course I had to make the pilgrimage to Bellefountaine Cemetery.  Am I the only person that finds great peace and happiness stumbling around graves, especially OLD graves?  Anyway, THIS cemetery is chockablock full of civil war heroes/dunces from both sides.  But whilst I was happily snapping pix of General Price and Poke, I stumbled on something for my homies in Utah.
   So often places get named after so and so from who the hell knows where or why but THIS guy actually earned it.  Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville (April 14, 1796 – June 12, 1878) was a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West. He is noted for his expeditions to the Oregon Country and the Great Basin, and in particular for blazing portions of the Oregon Trail.  Then he was called back into service in 1861 as a recruiter for the Missouri Union troops.  But he most certainly spent a lot of time moseying thru Utah and now we know where he's planted.  Just a bit more useless information to help you win Bar Trivia.  
   Hope you're enjoying my silly ramblings...there's just so much to see and explore here.  Wish you were here.  hugs from the road.   

As I sit in my beautiful campground on the edge of St. Louis with the falling leaves around me and about 100 kids dressed as goblins and fairies going trailer to trailer trick or treating, where I was earlier seems a lifetime away....the Battle of Lexington.  Not a big battle but a real belt notcher for General Sterling Price (no, not my roommate!) as this was the last battle he won for the Grey.
   It's called the Battle of Hemp Bales because the Confederates attacked a tiny scouting Union troup of about 2500 by rolling hemp bales in a wall in front of the armed soldiers and Price's troops basically rolled right over the Union.  Price's, pictured on top, adversary for the Union was James McMullin, pictured below Price, and his Irish brigade but they were no match for Price's 10,000 rowdy  Confederate troups.
   But here's the thing....as caustic and NASTY (gotta use that word!) as this election has become, it's good to remember that the town of Lexington was literally torn in half, neighbor against neighbor on this issue.  Half of town had slaves, half were German decent and strong Union supporters.  By the time Price showed up, half the town had killed the other half.
   Susan McCausland on the bottom, refused to take down her Confederate flag when the Union troops originally showed up and was willing to die for that flag...till Price's troops took the pressure off.  And then things got really ugly.
   The Anderson house, a Confederate household with 40 slaves, was taken over by the Union as a hospital for both sides but Price demanded it be for his troops only.  What ensued was the house was heavily shot thru.  I had a private tour of that house today and many holes in the walls attest to the fighting. The hospital needed a hospital.   They say the house is haunted....and the park that maintains the house has "SATURDAY NIGHT AMPUTATIONS" where paying guests come to get something hacked off....and I'm told it's packed all evening.
   Price won the battle and allowed all the union soldiers to go free as long as they didn't take up arms again (hahaha) but McMullin refused and became a prisoner of war.
   I'm off for a walk in the woods and thru the graveyard before it gets dark.  I'll take pix of all the carved pumpkins in camp....St. Louis tomorrow.
  hugs to all.

"place where we dug potatoes" Day 3 Topeka Kansas

   Happy Day 3 from me to you from Topeka Kansas, Capital of Kansas and once named "place where we dug potatoes" by the Kansa-Osage Indians who lived here (eating spuds) 100's of years ago.  It was nice to have an easy drive of only 3 hours today and time to explore slowly.  And get a good night's sleep in my little home on the road.
   Altho Topeka saw no direct Civil War action,  3 months after Kansas became a state,  Kansas offered 80% of her eligible men to the Union cause, with extremely heavy casualties. But another battle which changed American history happened in Topeka:  BROWN VS BOARD OF EDUCATION which in 1954 was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. 
   Oliver Brown was tired of his 8 year old daughter Linda (pictured above) struggling to make it to her black segregated school which was far from home.  If Linda missed the morning bus, it was a 45 minute walk thru some pretty dangerous hoods for such a little girl and Mr Oliver was fed up with it so in 1941 he filed, along with 6 other families, a class action suit against the school board.  It took 3 years and the supreme court to finally pass the law that made it unconstitutional to segregate students based on race.  Little Linda left her school, Monroe Elementary (see my facebook pix) and transferred to another school close to home.
   Almost overnight Linda became a household name across the US but it traumatized her as she got older.  Fortunately, the cause was bigger than her fears and she went on to be an activist.  In 1978, Linda Brown Smith, with children of her own, was recruited by the NAACP to fight for what looked like another big school segregation battle (does anyone else remember this?).  In 1989 the supreme court ruled again that Brown vs. Board of Education must be upheld.   Multiple racially integrated new schools, for all students, were built because of that decision.  Way to go Linda!!!
   It's a short drive to Westport Missouri tomorrow.....that's the hint...... Hope you all enjoy your evening.  Hugs from me on the road.  

"Keeps Warm with Us" Day 2

Howdy from the Kansas Plains and Old Fort Hays. What a day!! 9 longgggg hours on the road but man, what scenery!   I needed to make a few more miles but wanted to find a cool history spot too and thanks to my buddy Joe Herring, I found it.
Fort Hays, originally named Fort Fletcher, was a United States Army fort near Hays, Kansas. Active from 1865 to 1889, it was an important frontier post during the American Indian Wars of the late 19th century.  Lots of famous people worked there like Buffalo Bill Cody, George Custer, Wild Bill Hickok and Phillip Sheridan and a bunch of movies were made here BUT there's one movie that wasn't made here but said it was Fort Hays....Dances with Wolves...where John Dunbar is stationed after the Civil War and he's stuck (not) fighting Indians.  
But here's where the fun starts....In the film Dunbar hooks up with a blue-eyed beauty indian named Stands With a Fist and she tells Dunbar she was captured by the Sioux and raised by them.  And this part is TRUE. Cynthia Ann Parker known to the Comanches as "Keeps Warm with Us", pictured above,  was captured as a young girl by the COMANCHES and then raised by them.  Years later after she bore 3 children as wife of the chief she was captured by white military and taken back to live with the whites.  She never survived it.  She was so heartbroken from being taken from her children and family that she starved herself to death.  But here's the other funny part....in the movie, she's captured by the Sioux. Why? Because there was this gigantic herd of buffalo that the filmmakers were determined to use in the film so they decided to change tribes because the Comanches would've never been that far north.  Was there a John Dunbar.  Nope.  But there were plenty of other famous people at Old Fort Hays out in the middle of nowhere....like me.  haha.
I was surprised that Fort Hays is now a bustling university town, laid back and lots of fun.   Wish I had more time to spend here...maybe next time.  
Stay tuned for more amazing history and fun.  Hugs from the road.  

"this is funny" My first day on the road and Doc Holliday in Glenwood Springs.

And so the adventure began today.  I left a dark and quiet Salt Lake around 6:30am heading south on familiar roads thru the beautiful Spanish Fork and Price Canyons and past the Book Cliffs to hit I 70 and head east to Grand Junction and the Glenwood Springs, famous for the hot springs and cowboy town and the cemetery.  

But for me, I was interested in visiting the Linwood Cemetery where famous hero/outlaw JOHN HENRY "DOC" HOLLIDAY rests....somewhere....nobody can really remember where they put him but he's there. That's his picture on the top.  

Most renowned for his part in the OK Corral shootout (O.K. stands for Old Kindersley who had the livery stable in Tombstone AR where the shooting took place with some ruffian cowboy outlaws) but also as a loyal friend to lawman Wyatt Earp (pictured below Holliday, Holliday has some interesting facts about him....  

He was 36 years old when he died in Glenwood Springs of Tuberculosis which he contracted at a young age and was told he'd only live a few months. Not

He was an award winning licensed Dentist who practiced from the east coast to Texas until his coughing made it impossible to do his dentistry.  

He was a very respected and excellent gambler which was his livelihood after he could no longer do dentistry.

He was one absolutely wicked shot.   Ambidextrous, able to shoot as well with either hand which was just one of the reasons Sheriff Earp made him his deputy.  

He was very hard to anger or ruffle and never regretted any of the killings he was involved with.  When asked once "don't you have any conscience?"  he replied "I coughed that up with my lungs years ago."  

But his consumption finally caught up with him on November 8, 1887.  Holliday had come to Glenwood hoping the hot springs might help him but he was just too sick.  He asked his nurse at his bedside for a glass of whiskey to help with the pain and she refused him.  Then he looked down at his stocking feet and then at her and said "this is funny" and died.  He'd always thought he'd die with his boots on.   

My boots are off, I'm settled in at the Ami Acres Campground in Traveller (my white van most delightfully equipped) and hoping for a nice peaceful rest.  After the beautiful hike up to the cemetery (it sits above the houses on the hill and has one great view) I strolled down thru town and looked at the pools, then drove back down to my camping spot which has a spectacular view of the mountains and the Colorado river below.  Windy but not too warm.  I'm snug as a bug.  Sweet dreams all.  Heading straight east tomorrow up thru the spectacular Aspen range then past Denver and on to the Plains.  More adventures tomorrow.  

    

My Civil War Road Trip

Every once in a while, hopefully at least once in a person's life, they will get in a car and drive clear across ....fill in the blank...  It's only taken me 59 years to do it.  I've seen most of the world but I've missed a good chunk of the US and I truly believe the only way to really see our amazing country is by driving it, or being driven.  And since my handy dandy honey hubby Brent Nixon is busy teaching, it's about time I pulled up my girlie panties and hit the road.

But I needed a theme...something to make me feel like I had a purpose for driving 8,000 miles.  I've always loved Civil War history but was slightly intimidated by it and needed something I could relate to more than 1/4 of a million deaths.  Women.  Civil War Women.

So, next week I'll hopefully get an early start on what will probably be one wild ride.  I'm not taking MoZ (boo hoo), just can't afford the gas.  My Dodge Caravan has been re modeled for me with a bed and storage and every gadget I could fit inside.  I'll post on facebook every day and then link it to this site where the day's juicy moments will be spilled.  Hopefully a bit of laughter, a lot of history and one good yarn will result.  Thanks for joining me.  Wish me luck and if you have any suggestions for me or relatives in the places I'm stopping (see the map), lemme know.