A busier day than originally planned

First... a picture from last night...

We got a reconditioned "Campfire" at Quartzsite in January, but didn't have the appropriate connections to use the bus propane. We got those while we were in Virginia, and it was barely cool enough to make the thought of having a campfire acceptable last night!

 Our plan today was, after live streaming our church service from the Dallas area, to go on a cruise on the Lorena Sternwheeler here in Zanesville. It had been recommended by our friend, Jane, and today was the only day while we are booked to be here that it was going to be running.

Unfortunately when we got to the park where it is moored, we were greeted with this sign, "Closed Today due to High Water" - bummer!

We got to see the boat anyway.... Lorena Sternwheeler

Then we headed across the Y-Bridge to Putnam Hill Park which gave us an overlook of the Y-Bridge. This bridge provides a crossing of the confluence of the Muskingum and Licking Rivers. It was on the National Road. It is said to be the only bridge that you can cross and remain on the same side of the river.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Road

The park also gave us a good view of the town of Zanesville.

One of my Facebook friends had just recently posted about leaving painted rocks... and I saw this one at the overlook so took a picture of it!

We crossed the bridge (and remained on the same side of the Muskingum River) - which led to this overpass under the railroad - that's 9'7" where we are driving in the Jeep. There is a 12'6" section over there to the side, but only in one direction. Glad we weren't in Miss Doozie!

We stopped and took pictures at the Muskingum County Courthouse.

We were contemplating heading back to the bus, but looked at one of the brochures we had picked up at the Welcome Center on the interstate yesterday, and realized that two of the places we were interested in seeing would not be open on Monday or Tuesday, so we had better visit this afternoon!

We drove out to New Concord to visit the John & Annie Glenn Museum, and we're glad we did!

The museum is largely composed of the house that John Glenn lived in as a boy up to college age. The interpreter that we had was re-enacting "John Glenn's father", John Hershel Glenn, Sr. He told us many interesting things - the house was ordered from Sears Roebuck, and was a large model as they planned (and did) board students in the rooms upstairs.

He showed us this small table that John Glenn had made for his parents (I think in shop class).

There were also a number of displays in the boarder rooms upstairs that one of the "current day" ladies took us through. She had grown up in New Concord and reminisced about the parade in the town to celebrate John Glenn when he returned from his successful orbiting of the earth.

This was the "calculator" that John Glenn took on his Mercury mission.

A view of the front of the house.

John Glenn's birthday was July 18, 1921. He passed away just this past December, on December 8, 2016.

 We would have liked to see another museum, National Road / Zane Grey Museum, but it was too late by the time we were done at the John and Annie Glenn Museum (and it is closed the next two days). A reason to return to this area!

On our way back to Zanesville, we drove to the S-bridge, another of the bridges on the National Road.
 S-Bridge
Coaches, Conestoga wagons, herds of livestock, pioneers on foot or horseback, peddlers, soldiers, beggars - these and many others have crossed this bridge on the National Road since 1830. Escaping slaves sought shelter beneath it.
Like many others on the road, the bridge was built with well-cut stone and good mortar in the shap of an "S" because it was easier to erect than one thrown straight across an oblique stream.

Here is the S-Bridge. Information at the bridge indicated: "The Fox Creek "S" Bridge is one of a series of such bridges which lined the path of the National Road. All but a handful were destroyed during the construction of U.S. Route 40. The National Road, completed here in 1828, "Opened wide the doors to the West." Every township crossed by the Road doubled its population in a decade. The entire National Road from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois, was bricked during World War I to accomodate Military traffic."

My honey was down below taking pictures...

He got this shot from down below the S-bridge.

So, we didn't get to do what we were planning to do, but had a great day anyway!