We left Tucson on April 20th to head back to New York.

We took good old route 40 East and made pitstops along the way.

Driving along Interstate Route 40 East in Arizona as it runs parallel along both sides of Route 66.

Did you know that route 66 is 100 this year? I know because we have traveled on it muchly. Do you know where it starts and stops? you will now, . . . . .From Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, Route 66. , also known as the “Mother Road” and the “Main Street of America,”

We passed once again through Hatch, New Mexico: Which is the Chile Capital of the World.

The Alien, KFC Bucket, The Robot, Yogi the Bear, The Pink Pig and Robin Hood, Their all there in Hatch too!

We stayed over night at The Desert Inn in East Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Once again on route 40 our destination was Shamrock, New Mexico.

Our theme song for this route was Truckin’ by The Grateful Dead. I know you know the song, it’s an old classic for sure.

🎤🎤🎤🎤

🎶Arrows of neon and flashing signs along Main Street in cities like Chicago, New York, and Detroit. It’s a typical city in a daydream; wait and see what tomorrow brings.🎶

Chorus: Truckin’, I’ve cashed in my chips and keep moving like the do-dah man, staying in line and just keep truckin’ on.🎶

🎶 Truckin’ up to Buffalo, Relax, you need to mellow out, finding the right place takes time. Just keep on truckin’ on.🎶

When your driving on route 40 you see billboards advertising a “Free 72oz. steak at the world famous Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo Texas!’  Just in case your interested, the details are below:

72-ounce Steak Challenge Rules: Entire meal must be completed in one hour. If any of the meal is not consumed (swallowed)… YOU LOSE!                                                                                                                                                     Once you have started you are not allowed to stand up, leave your table, or have anyone else TOUCH the meal.                                                                                                                                                Should you become ill, the contest is over… YOU LOSE! (Please use the container provided as necessary.)                                                                                                                                                 You are required to pay the full amount up front; if you win we will refund 100%.                                   If you fail to complete the challenge, you must pay the full $72 dollars.

Did I forget to mention that you have to eat the whole meal which includes: 4 & 1/2 pounds of steak, (which is 72 oz’s) baked potato, shrimp cocktail, salad & a bread roll !!

I don’t care for steak and Dave could never eat that much, but if your ever near Amarillo Texas, if your really, really hungry and are hankering for a steak, Why not try it out?

You also see billboards advertising the 100th anniversary of Route 66.

The route was one of the country’s major thoroughfares for nearly half a century.
Route 66 became one of the most famous roads in America, having been popularized in American culture through books, songs, music, magazines, movies, and television shows.

It’s May 21st and we were in Shamrock, TX.

If you have an old vintage truck that you don’t know what to do with, like this one in Shamrock, how about using it to show off your plants?

We ate once again at the Conoco U Drop Inn Cafe, cause their food is really good.  Elvis was there with a different shirt on this time.

There is also a information center in the Conoco building, I asked the volunteers how the 100 year celebration was going, they said it wasn’t even summer yet and they were constantly re-stocking their shelves of the 100th year anniversary items. Glad the celebration is off to a roaring start.

The Shamrock County Inn is the former 31 unit Ranger Motel.. The motel opened in September of 1959. They refurbished the inn and it’d very nice and clean. When it was the Ranger motel there were about 5,000 cars driving through Shamrock on Route 66 every day.

We’ll have to get our picture taken by this big boot when we pass thru on our way back to Arizona.

On route 40 we stopped overnight in Russellville Arkansas.

When we were driving thru Memphis, I saw Elvis hitch hiking . . . and suddenly with a blink of an eye he vanished. We went to Memphis years ago with friends, if you haven’t been, Elvis is waiting . . . . .

We’re now on route 81 to Nashville, Tennessee. Where we stayed overnight.

We’re on route 65 on our way to Tennessee to spend time with our friends. They live in a town in Tennessee that is part of the Johnson City metropolitan area.

We arrived at our friends new beautiful home on May 24th.

Last year when we visited our friends they took us to the site above because: Dave’s 6th great grandfather and 5th great uncle, Col. John Tipton came to eastern Tn, from Maryland. Then it was pure wilderness, they built a cabin, and as time went on his 5th great uncle was very influencial in founding the state of Tn, which then people were trying to call it the state of Franklin. In fact a 3 day skirmish happened right at the Tipton cabin.

This time they took us the Tipton-Haynes Cemetery Located between the houses of 303 and 305 Arroyo Drive, Johnson City, Tennessee.

It contains the remains of Revolutionary War soldier and legislator John Tipton (1730-1813) and his second wife, Martha Denton Moore. 

Also buried here are newspaper publisher Lawson Gifford (1810-1879) his wife, Mary Taylor Haynes (1818-1904), and some of their descendants. The cemetery is part of Tipton-Haynes Historic Site.

It’s was nice seeing the historic cemetery. It’s definitely well-kept as it sets between two houses in a Tennessee neighborhood.

Thank you Beth & Fran for opening your lovely home to us and sharing your time with us. Dave loves Beth’s popcorn and she even made a bucket full to take on the road.

We thank dear Beth and Fran for their monstrous kindheartedness.

We left Wednesday morning the 27th, to get on 81 North to Spotsylvania, Va.

We arrived at our destination in Spotsylvania Va, a really neat Bed & Breakfast, etc. called Stevenson’s Ridge.

Looking at Stevenson’s Ridge from the road. Stevenson’s Ridge looking at the road.

Stevenson Ridge is an 87 acre historical property in Spotsylvania County. It offers lodging with 11 private cottages and a Lodge event facility. It also has a lodge to accommodate large special events. Amenities include wood-burning fireplaces, onsite fishing, kayak rentals and tours. You definitely go back in time at Stevenson’s Ridge.

The reason we came here is because of a Confederate Civil war bayonet that my third great uncle Corporal Abner Polk Adams, who fought in the 4th New York Heavy Artillery, retrieved from the ground on which the fighting occurred. Stevenson’s Ridge was in the middle of central Virginia’s Civil War landscape. The Ridge sits directly on the actual Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield. There are groups of earthworks and fortifications on the property that have been called the best-preserved earthworks in private hands.

A Sketch of Stevenson Ridge, 1864

The owners of the property have been re-homing antique structures to the property, restoring them, and transforming them into guest cabins and cottages. Such buildings include a post office, tobacco hanging barn, and a corn crib. Most of the structures pre-date the Civil War—the oldest dating back to 1732.  We stayed in the Tobacco Barn.

It has a high-peaked ceiling and exposed-log crossbeams that reveal the Tobacco Barn’s past life as a place for hanging tobacco leaves to dry. Now converted to a one-room guest house make it a special place to stay.

On our second day here we had the renown Chris Mackowski, Historian-in-Residence, give us a tour around the entire battlefield which ended at the Harris Farm. This is where the 4th NY heavy artillery and other heavy artillery units were posted. On May 18th, 1864 my great uncle and all the other men of the heavy artillery unit, were attacked by Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early “Old Jube.” and his division of 6,000 men. The battle went back and forth for 5 hours after which the confederates retreated.

Our guide took us to Harris Hill Farm where Corporal Adams fought and retervived the bayonet.

After the Wilderness battle, Both Grant’s and Meade’s armies met at the Spotsylvania Court House on May 8. This two-week battle was a series of combats along the Spotsylvania front. The Union attack against the Bloody Angle at dawn, May 12-13, captured nearly a division of Lee’s army and came near to cutting the Confederate army in half. Confederate counterattacks plugged the gap, and fighting continued unabated for nearly 20 hours in what may well have been the most ferociously sustained combat of the Civil War. On May 19, a Confederate attempt to turn the Union right flank at Harris Farm was beaten back with severe casualties. . On May 21, Grant disengaged and continued his advance on to Richmond. Estimated Casualties:27000 total (US 18000; CS 9000;)

Corporal Abner Polk Adams was immersed in this bloody 2 week battle and continued to fight until we was wounded in the Battle of Petersburg on June 18th, 1864.

The “Bloody Angle” was a notorious 22-hour stretch of hand-to-hand combat during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Fought in a pouring rainstorm, it featured such intense point-blank musket fire that a 22-inch oak tree was completely severed by bullets It resulted in 17,000 casualties and some of the most horrific carnage of the American Civil War.

Dave and I walking by some of the trenches that were dug on Stevenson’s Ridge.

Diggin and building trenches was hard work. A commander often laid out the line they wanted to entrench and then the soldiers would dig along that position using bayonets, picks, shovels, or even drinking cups.

They often focused initially on a relatively simple rifle pit or earthworks and then (especially later in the war) gradually improved their position with covered approach trenches and headboards,

Both The Union North Corps, on the first week of the battle, and the Union fifth corps during the second week dug the eathworks on Stevensonson’s Ridge. Then the Sixth followed duggin the trenches. The soldiers left extensive earthworks. Most of them were build by new troops following the army manual, so they look different than the works built by veterans on other parts of the battlefield.

They also dug an extensive system of trenches known as “covered ways.” These ditches let them bring supplies close to the front why still remaining protected by the topography as much as possible. That let them stay “under cover” (thus the name).

We checked out a few other of the cabins at Stevenson’ Ridge.

The Spy Hill House has a interesting history. Formerly known as Round Hill, It was purchased in 1655 by John Washington, the grandfather of President George Washington. Upon John Washington’s death, his son, Lawrence Washington, had inherited Round Hill and acquired the land adjoining the estate. The property remained in the Washington family until it was sold in 1828 to Thomas Baber.

Front

Not far from the main house on what had been formerly known as the Round Hill Estate was a hill that provided a panoramic view of the Potomac River from Colonial Beach to Mathias Point. The hill had been used as an observation post to spy out British troops sailing up and down river during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. For this reason, Thomas Baber changed the name of the estate to the Spy Hill Plantation. It was disassembled and now is at Stevenson’s Ridge.

Back

Front of the Lodge Back of the Lodge

This building is the Lodge, the primary event facility. It’s built around the post-and-beam framework of an old chapel.

Pond in back of Lodge

The Lodge has a neat artifact in it, pair of doors once own by U. S. Grant and William T. Sherman now hang here.

At night at the Ridge.

We checked out other cabins and they all have a unique quality about them. If you like history and are ever in this area come check out Stevenson’s Ridge.

We left Stevenson’s Ridge in the morning of May 30th and got to my Cousin Kathy’s in North Tonawanda NY that evening.