July 16, 2012

I left Rutland this morning and headed across southern Vermont and New Hampshire on US4 through the Green Mountains, past Killington ski resort.  At first, I thought it was odd that the roads were so rough and there were a lot of bridges out and lot of detours.  Then I remembered that New England had suffered extensive damage last summer from a hurricane that moved up the east coast.  You could see lots of damaged terrain if you looked for it, and many areas where whole sides of hills had been washed down into the stream as a result of the rainfall and high water levels. 

I headed on over southern New Hampshire to Wolfeboro and the Wright Museum (no relationship to Orville and Wilbur).  This was more interesting than I thought it would be.  The museum is a World War II museum, but has a strong focus on what was happening on the home front as the war was being waged overseas.  That was an angle you don't see very often.  They did have the usual collection of vehicles, weapons, and uniforms.

They even had a tank sticking out of the front wall of the building.  But in addition to the usual items you see at these museums, they had information on ship-building at the Bath Iron Works, and information on key events that took place within the US, including the 1939 World's Fair:

And several displays of what life was like in the US during the years just prior to the war and during the war years. This was what you might have found in someone's kitchen before the war:

And I thought this poster art was appropriate:

Pat's mom was a "Rosie the Riveter" during the war, so here's a salute to her and thousands of other women like her!

After Wolfeboro, I headed on down to the Boston area to have dinner with an old friend from my GP days, Jim Ellison.

Tomorrow, it's back up north to Lexington and Concord, then on to Gloucester (The Perfect Storm), and up to the Portland, Maine area for the night.

Miles today:  306
Total:  1,255.