Vacation, 2019, part 3: on the way home

I wrote that I wanted to avoid the Baltimore/DC rush hour traffic.  Even at 11 a.m. the highways around the city were crowded!   In western Maryland I made the mistake of staying on I-70 rather than taking I-68 to I-79.  Both routes end in Washington, PA, but  I-70 goes north into Pennsylvania -- twisting mountainous roads mostly under construction.  My arms ached from gripping the steering wheel.

I turned at the first sign of a motel in Washington, PA -- a vintage 1970's Ramada Inn at the top of a hill.  This was the sunset view.

Saturday morning we headed west on I-70.  At the first rest stop in Ohio we saw this camper at the end of the parking lot.  The man on duty explained that their church men's group parks the camper one Saturday a month. They give out free coffee, soda, and snacks.





We pulled off the highway at Norwich, a few miles east of Zanesville.  This pottery outlet was next door to the gas station.  I checked it out.  A sign for Ransbottom pottery seemed familiar. I asked the man at the counter how long the outlet had been in business. "Since 1978," he said. That confirmed it:  when we moved from Kansas to Maine in 1982 I stopped here.  I still use the Ransbottom utensil crock I bought that day.  (I didn't buy anything this time.)

Conestoga freight wagon: construction truck of the day

The National Road / Zane Grey Museum is just a mile from the pottery outlet. We stopped in and are so glad we did. 

The museum has three features.  First, the National Road: authorized by Congress in 1806, construction left up to the states. An exquisitely-detailed diorama shows the building of the road from Cumberland, MD, to Vandalia, IL.

Parts of the National Road are still visible (if you know where to look).  US-40 and I-70 cover the route today.






The second part of the museum is about Zanesville, Ohio's famous son, Zane Grey.  His great-great-grandfather Ebenezer Zane founded the town.  He got a baseball scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating with a degree in dentistry he opened a practice in New York, where he met and married his wife.  Dentistry was his profession but the outdoors and writing were his passions.  His first best-selling novel, Riders of the Purple Sage, was published in 1912.  He realized the potential of movies and his books were made into silent and then talking pictures.  He was the first millionaire American author. The Greys eventually settled in California.  He was an avid hunter and fisherman. He and Hemingway went on a hunting trip together. They did not get along.

Grey's California study 

Art pottery 

The third part of the museum was dedicated to Ohio's art pottery industry.  I learned about Roseville, Weller, Hull, McCoy, etc., in the 1970's from one of my library patrons who had an extensive collection.   I wasn't bitten by that particular bug but I do appreciate the art form.

Utilitarian pottery

The men made the clay slurry and molded the pieces. The women applied the glaze and decoration.

And with that our touring was over.   We got to Indianapolis on Saturday night (more road construction!).   We left early Sunday morning and were HOME at noon.

Ten days, nine nights, 2,284 miles -- a thoroughly good trip!