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Family
history touring
More and
more we hear about families who include touring significant family/ancestor
places as part of their reunion. This is a particularly special
activity when many members are attending from out-of-town and
rarely have the opportunity to visit. These would include homes/homesteads,
farms, neighborhoods, schools, churches and cemeteries. Some families
even do re-enactments in conjunction with the tours. We are very
interested in learning about your history tour, e-mail us!
Take the bus
Transportation by bus or motor coach seems such a practical way to get to and around at reunions. Consider these ideas and suggestions for your next reunion.
Buses everywhere
I was at a Detroit hotel over a reunion season/summer weekend a couple years ago (working, ironically) and there were five reunions at the hotel (that's NOT why I was there). The parking lot was full of buses from all over. When we were all checking out at the same time Sunday morning, buses were lined up. VERY tired revelers were dragging themselves and their pillows onto the buses for the long sleep home. That seems so practical!
Looking for flexibility?
According to the American Bus Association, US motorcoaches carry more than 774 million passengers annually – about 200 million more than airlines and more than double those traveling on Amtrak and commuter rail. Motorcoaches serve more than six times more US destinations than airlines and more than seven times more than passenger rail. ABA offers a free list of US tour bus companies equipped for disabled travelers.
ABA suggests busing destinations
Judith Whitt of the American Bus Association in Washington DC says their Top 100 Events in North America can be requested by email (abainfo@buses.org), fax (202- 842-0850) or mail (1100 New York Avenue NW - Ste 1050, Washington DC 20005-3934). Or visit their website, www.buses.org, and click Top 100 Events. To see and print out Motorcoach Travel Tips, go to www.buses.org/tips.cfm.
These are tips for consumers interested in motorcoach travel in general, or in organizing their own group charter or tour. When booking a motorcoach, be prepared to provide details about your destination(s), required itinerary and the approximate number of people.
How to plan your bus needs
Estimate the number of people requiring transportation for each event. Establish pickup and dropoff sites. Will members be moved in one trip or many?
Request information about ground transportation operators from Convention and Visitors Bureaus or hotel staff.
Questions to ask
How long have they been in business?
What is their specialty?
Do vehicles have air conditioning, seat belts, public address system, restrooms?
What is their safety record? (Department of Transportation, Office of Motor Carrier Federal Highway Administration, 800-832-5660; www.safesys.org)
When they quote costs, do they include fuel, equipment, maintenance, union fees, state and local taxes, surcharges and tolls?
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Iowa exploration
To get back to our roots, the Werdel Family Reunion planned a bus trip of Oelwein, Iowa. There was a drive through a small Amish community, cemetery visit to ancestor’s graves, including those of Bernard and Elizabeth Werdel, the Historical Society Museum, Railroad Museum and a windshield tour and stops at houses, schools and churches where many of our ancestors lived, worshipped or were educated. The tour included lunch at a local restaurant.
I contracted with a reliable bus company and was fortunate that no advance deposit was required. I could cancel without penalty a week before the reunion, so I asked for more buses than I thought I’d need; always better to have too many than not enough. I also checked seating capacity and whether buses had restrooms, microphones and air conditioning. I also asked whether the bus driver was familiar with the area and would be adaptable to changes.
The itinerary was planned with approximate times, allowing flexibility for extra or less time at each stop. I also did a “dry run” the day before the reunion so we could keep the bus driver on-track. I developed a great appreciation for tour guides after my brief stint as one.
I wrote or called someone at each tour stop several months in advance and again about two weeks before the reunion to be sure they were prepared. It is important to contact churches to be sure doors are open and that no wedding or other functions are planned. Provide your phone number so someone from the church can contact you about unexpected events.
Overall, I was extremely pleased with the outcome. In retrospect, I would have done a couple things differently. First, solicit more help! I was so busy tending to details, I didn’t have as much time to spend with individuals as I would have liked. Second, the stop for lunch yielded some surprises. Everyone paid for their own lunch and management added a gratuity and beverage to each check, although some people only drank water. This resulted in some confusion and long lines when paying for the meal. Including the price of lunch with the bus trip would have solved the problem.
Reported by Virginia Aitken, Havelock, North Carolina
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Dreisbachs tour Allentown, Bethlehem and Kreidersville, Pennsylvania, area
The Hidden History Bus Tour was a full day in the Lehigh Valley's “Dreisbach Country,” where 1743 immigrant Simon Dreisbach and his sons lived, worked and worshipped. The Tour also explored the three groups who preceded the Dreisbachs in the area: the Lenape Indians with their peach-orchard and gardens, the first European settlers (the Ulster Scots), and the Moravians and their experiment in communal living.
The tour included historic sites such as Whitefield House, built in 1740-43, and its 1740 log house neighbor; the newly restored Jacksonville settlement; and an authentic, fully furnished 1756 Pennsylvania-German homestead, the Troxell-Steckel House. After lunch the tour continued to the lower reaches of the Lehigh Gap to see the path ancestors took when they moved out of the valley. The group learned about the area's recently identified prehistoric “sacred landscape,” about cheated Indians who wailed on a mountaintop through the night, about massacres and abductions, and about the Pennsylvania governor who had a Dreisbach mother-in-law.
This tour lasted eight hours and included bus, lunch, admissions, gratuities and a “Dreisbach map” made especially for the tour.
A second ten-hour bus tour experienced the Amish country of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.They enjoyed an insider's look at farmlands, one-room schools, horses and buggies, the plainest of dress and life without electricity. They explored their common Pennsylvania Deutsch heritage.
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Schürch family heritage tours
After the Schürch family reunion registration and a delicious breakfast, we greeted “old” cousins and met “new” ones before 165 of us boarded buses for heritage tours. Two buses went on each tour. The “Blue” tour visited landmarks important to descendants of Ulrich Schürch (immigrated 1728), Casper Sherk (immigrated 1732), Ulrich Schürch (immigrated 1752) and Joseph Schürch. The “Red” tour concentrated mainly on Ulrich Schürch. Some kind proprietors permitted us to tour our ancestors’ homes. Can you imagine strangers walking through your home? We stopped for lunch at Denver Memorial Park and Fireman’s Park near Shirksville Crossroads, the first Schürch reunion site in 1982.
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