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2025 US Van Tour: Harper's Ferry

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June 10, 2025 Beth in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia Nestled at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, has long stood at the crossroads of American history. Originally inhabited by Iroquois peoples, the area was first settled by Europeans in the early 18th century. In 1747, Robert Harper, a Quaker millwright, acquired the land and established a ferry service, giving the town its name. Its strategic location and abundant water power made Harpers Ferry a natural hub for industry and transportation. In 1799, under the direction of President George Washington, the U.S. government established a federal armory and arsenal there, which would later supply the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  The arrival of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the 1830s further cemented its importance as a transportation and manufacturing center. The bridge which utilized these old piers was washed away in a 1936 flood But Harpers Fe...
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2025 US Van Trip: Exploring Vermont and New Hampshire

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 Historic Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge across the Connecticut River Vermont and New Hampshire are GREEN in the summer time.  This is special to a California boy who is use to the "golden hills of California" once spring has morphed to summer.  It is also the land of covered bridges.  Sure we have a few rare examples back home, but in this lush and gorgeous section of the country they are everywhere!  You have to be cautious however.  Vertical clearance must be checked prior to entering a covered bridge.  Not all were designed to accommodate taller vehicles.  The Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge caused us to stop and select an alternate route when we spotted its height limit. Some bridges have pedestrian walkways, but most are too narrow to allow vehicles and pedestrians to mingle and cross. Sugar River Trail There are even covered bridges on the bike trails.  Between Claremont and Newport New Hampshire you can ride or walk the Sugar River Rai...
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Location: Mt Ascutney, Windsor, VT 05089, USA
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2025 US Van Trip: Pittsburgh & Family

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My brother has lived on the east coast since he graduated from college.  I'm the engineer in the family and he is the life sciences guru.  For the last 20 years or so, he has been a professor and Department Chair for the Pharmacy and Chemical Biology Department at the University of Pittsburgh. When ever we get together it's just like we are back in junior high school and we are just as goofy and irreverent and silly and full of bodily function jokes as we were as kids.  I wouldn't have it any other way. I never would have thought bike riding would be any good in urban Pittsburgh, but my brother has figured out how to take advantage of various bike paths and routes to string together fun rides.  Abandoned rail road right of ways have been converted to bike trails and former RR bridges have been reborn to allow pedestrians and bikers to cross the rivers which surround the town.  We biked from his house to Fort Pitt where   the  Monongahela  and...
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Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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2025 U.S. Van Trip - Travelling the Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania

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Background The Lincoln Highway holds a fascination for many people.  This is easy to understand as it was the first transcontinental automobile highway in the United States.  It connected New York to San Francisco.  A fellow named Carl Fisher provided the leadership which organized automobile enthusiasts and industry supporters to form the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA).  This group selected the route for the highway and worked with local resources to create an improved coast to coast highway.  Route selection was completed in 1913 and the goal was to complete a rock covered highway in time for the 1915 Pan-American Exposition in San Francisco.  It was estimated that a hardy and self reliant traveler could make the automobile trip from New York to San Francisco in about 30 days. The East Coast had a head start as wagon roads had been laid out and  improved over time.  In Pennsylvania the Lancaster to Philadelphia Turnpike, the Conestoga Trail a...
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Location: Latrobe, PA 15650, USA
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