Allentown, Pennsylvania Day 2 (GA506)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 5,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 23rd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Mary’s home in Murphys, California. I’m planning to depart November 26th.

 

 

 

 

Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.

  In 2011-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!

So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.

This entry was posted May 30, 2013…

 

 

 

 

The motorhome is parked at American Legion Post #367 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Uncertain of our plans at this moment…we may stay another day.

 

 

Yesterday morning, because our coach batteries were getting low, I turned on the motorhome engine to charge them. Shortly thereafter, the Check Engine Light came on…Grrr!

 

 

 

 

 

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

Have I ever told you the road of life is a dusty one?…

 

 

 

 

 

So, off we went to a local Workhorse Chassis repair shop…

 

 

 

 

 

Where they went to work on the problem. Three hours and slightly less than $300 we were on our way back to American Legion Post #367. Considering we’ve had the motorhome for almost four years and 25,000 miles…this is the first time it needed any attention. Not bad…

 

 

 

 

 

After parking the motorhome we took the Bronco and went to town, First stop was the apartment that I lived in 36 years ago. I lived in the lower unit…

 

 

 

 

 

I went back into my 1977 pictures file to pull this photo of me in front of my apartment half my lifetime ago. What a difference 36 years makes! Where have the years gone?…

 

 

 

 

 

Then to the church where the Liberty Bell was hidden September 1777 to August 1778. You can read about this event by clicking this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Bell_Museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary rings the Liberty Bell with a rubber mallet…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Docent allowed me into the sanctuary…

 

 

 

 

 

On the way home we passed these row houses which are plentiful in this area…

 

 

 

 

 

This morning at 5:30 AM I took the below two photos. Portent for the next coming three days where the forecast is for 90, 91, and 90 degrees. The Weather Wimp is what Mary calls me and I hereby declare…YUK, YUK and YUK!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we are still more than three weeks away from the official start of Summer!

 

 

Enjoying interesting museums is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

 

 

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Pennsylvania. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

 

 

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

 

 

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

 

 

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

 

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW!

https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/the-liberty-bell-museum-of-allentown-pa/

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Forecast for today is sunny and 67 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110455945462646142273?source=pwa

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet 2018

Allentown, Pennsylvania

The motorhome is currently parked at Mary’s home in Murphys, California. My current departure date is scheduled for December 1st. 10 days and counting!

During this remaining time I’ll be attending to cleaning of the motorhome in addition to assisting Mary with her activities. This item is not particularly exciting to write about…so…instead I’ll be showing Picasa Web Albums from our 682 day, 2011-2013 circumnavigation of the United States. It was Mary’s second circumnavigation and the sixth for myself.

Unless we do something unusual, this Blog will feature a photo album from the circumnavigation and will change daily. So come back tomorrow.

To read about today’s photo album location, click this link…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allentown,_Pennsylvania

CLICK ON THE BELOW PHOTO. ONCE YOU ARRIVE AT THE PHOTO ALBUM, SIMPLY CLICK “SLIDESHOW” AND ENJOY!

Allentown, Pennsylvania

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

The cataract surgery of my right eye was conducted on October 9th and my left eye on November 6th. Both eyes are now at 20/20. The only remaining item left (other than eye drops until early December) is a visit to the optometrist to be fitted for reading glasses at the VA Hospital in Livermore, California on November 25th.

Yesterday was a cloudy day with showers and 56 degrees. Forecast for today is partly cloudy and 57 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2014

THE LIBERTY BELL MUSEUM OF ALLENTOWN, PA.

Into all lives some rain must fall. Or, more accurately, we hadda problem. Spent all morning, and then lunchtime, and then… Suffice it to say we spent most of the day hanging out at Five Star International in Allentown because an engine warning  light blinked on signaling an engine problem. It was a problem we were glad to have taken care of and fixed by a very competent mechanic, and nice people at Five Star. Not terribly serious, but good maintenance pays off. You can see they do buses and trucks and that is what we are in a sense, a truck.

We had enough time to visit the Liberty Bell Museum of Allentown, housed in Zions United Church of Christ. I visited the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia sometime in the 1970’s and had no idea this church hid the Liberty Bell, and a slew of other bells, from British Occupation. A conquering army is want to melt down bells and turn them into cannon; victor and spoils.

The original church was built in 1702 and replaced with the second church, Zion’s Reformed Church, which hid the bells from 1777 to 1778. That church was again replaced by the current stone church

And, of course, the wonderful story is displayed here. In 1961, a man named Morgan thought the hiding of the Liberty Bell should be recognized and suggested the Church as a shrine. He knew, that 51 replica Liberty Bells were made, one for each state, and one for President Truman’s Library. Why not place an exact replica in the basement of the church and honor their history? Exact replica meaning, 2080 pounds, clapper 44 pounds, yoke from which it hangs, 200 pounds, but without the crack.

When all was done and arranged, they actually had to tear into the church to get it into the building, removing slate and rock, then patching it up.

It came on a train car and thousands of people stood in the rain to see it come. One hundred thousand people visited the new museum the first year it was open.

Last year, a fiberglass replica, re-enacted the bell coming to town honoring 50 years on display. But the real story of the bell I had never heard.

There you have it. And, again, the bell was invoked with liberty by Martin Luther King in  a famous speech a year after the bell was dedicated in Zion Church.

You can click on this photo to make it larger.

The docent encourages visitors to ring the bell. I used a rubber mallet, Jim pulled the 44 pound clapper with a special tool.

The bell is a powerful image of our nation’s freedom. Henry Ford stood beside the real Liberty Bell before it was enclosed in a glass case. People from all over the world  liked to have their picture taken with it and touch it.

The story of how the bells got to the church, in wagons, 180 of them, with the bells hidden under manure and straw,  is shown in a mural in the huge basement.

The liberty bell was the heaviest, and the wagon broke a wheel and it had to be transferred to another wagon before they reached the church. All of this was done in secret lest the enemy learn the bells hiding place. Not even the local citizens knew the bells were hidden. I’m now curious about all of those replica’s. Where are they?

The museum makes a nice visit when you are in Allentown. It’s free.  It holds a lot of documents or replicas of famous documents, and one real artifact, a piece of the wagon that carried the bell was kept and donated to the museum.