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When East Peoria’s Jack and Ann Hinton traveled to New York as a part of a traveling motor home tour, they expected to see the typical Empire City tourist sites and take off for their next destination shortly after.
However, their day in New York was Sept. 11, 2001, and nothing about the remainder of their vacation was typical for a tourist.
The couple, who have resided in Tazewell County for their entire lives, were on a tourist bus on the morning of Sept. 11, heading to downtown Manhattan to tour NBC’s studios.
Just before the Hinton’s exited the bus outside NBC’s studio, the first plane had struck the World Trade Center.
“We saw the smoke from the bus but we didn’t know what had happened,” Ann said. “We kept on the tour.”
Since NBC’s studio was not ready for the tour yet, the group of tourists headed to a store across the street when the headline-flashing marquee outside of NBC stated that a second plane had hit the second tower.
Ann said it took a while for the tourist group to realize what was happening.
“It was scary. At first we didn’t realize what it was. People starting talking and we saw the smoke and someone said a plane hit and we thought maybe a helicopter or regular airline plane had hit it,” she said. “We didn’t realize it had been terrorists.”
In addition to being within a dozen blocks of the ground zero of the terrorist attacks, the Hinton’s traveling group was scheduled to tour the World Trade Center less than an hour after their NBC tour ended.
After the second tower was hit, the Hinton’s were witnesses to the day’s devastation. While they were still outside the NBC studio, they saw all the surrounding buildings’ employees empty their offices.
“Everyone was scared. People were crying because nobody knew what was happening. The authorities didn’t even know,” Jack said. “They closed all of the bridges and tunnels.”
With all of the bridges and tunnels out of New York shut down, it took the Hinton’s tour group more than eight hours to get back to their motor home, compared to the 30 minutes it took to arrive in downtown Manhattan.
On the return trip to their motor home, which was located in Liberty Park, N.J., the group was alerted to the up-to-the minute news via the bus’s radio.
When East Peoria’s Jack and Ann Hinton traveled to New York as a part of a traveling motor home tour, they expected to see the typical Empire City tourist sites and take off for their next destination shortly after.
However, their day in New York was Sept. 11, 2001, and nothing about the remainder of their vacation was typical for a tourist.
The couple, who have resided in Tazewell County for their entire lives, were on a tourist bus on the morning of Sept. 11, heading to downtown Manhattan to tour NBC’s studios.
Just before the Hinton’s exited the bus outside NBC’s studio, the first plane had struck the World Trade Center.
“We saw the smoke from the bus but we didn’t know what had happened,” Ann said. “We kept on the tour.”
Since NBC’s studio was not ready for the tour yet, the group of tourists headed to a store across the street when the headline-flashing marquee outside of NBC stated that a second plane had hit the second tower.
Ann said it took a while for the tourist group to realize what was happening.
“It was scary. At first we didn’t realize what it was. People starting talking and we saw the smoke and someone said a plane hit and we thought maybe a helicopter or regular airline plane had hit it,” she said. “We didn’t realize it had been terrorists.”
In addition to being within a dozen blocks of the ground zero of the terrorist attacks, the Hinton’s traveling group was scheduled to tour the World Trade Center less than an hour after their NBC tour ended.
After the second tower was hit, the Hinton’s were witnesses to the day’s devastation. While they were still outside the NBC studio, they saw all the surrounding buildings’ employees empty their offices.
“Everyone was scared. People were crying because nobody knew what was happening. The authorities didn’t even know,” Jack said. “They closed all of the bridges and tunnels.”
With all of the bridges and tunnels out of New York shut down, it took the Hinton’s tour group more than eight hours to get back to their motor home, compared to the 30 minutes it took to arrive in downtown Manhattan.
On the return trip to their motor home, which was located in Liberty Park, N.J., the group was alerted to the up-to-the minute news via the bus’s radio.
“The word came that they hit Pennsylvania where the other plane crashed and they knew it was a terrorist attack then,” Ann said. “Everyone was concerned if there was something else that was going to happen.”
Because of the attacks, the Hinton’s opted out of the rest of the tour to return to East Peoria. However, they had to wait two days after 9/11 to leave since all the major roads had been shut down.
In fact, their proximity to the World Trade Center was so close that they were advised to shut their doors and windows at all times to keep the smoke and dust out of their motor home.
The events of 9/11 did not keep the Hintons from returning to New York. They came back exactly one year later with the same tour group for the one-year anniversary of the attack.
While they were able to complete their tour in 2002, they said visiting ground zero truly stuck out to them.
“It was just unbelievable and eerie,” Jack said. “All the buildings next to the World Trade Center were messed up, too.”
Ann added that being in New York on 9/11 changed her perspective on life.
“It makes you appreciate what you’ve got with so many being lost,” she said.
