Author: reds5c5bg

I’m thinking, if you have a house like that, and you feel compelled to post a sign like that at the entrance – there gotta be ALIENS inside.

Just saying. 

 

Memorial Day

Now that the ‘friends and family’ war of the last 20 years is over, I think of all the good men and women who have given their final measure that we may all live as free people within a system of governance that is responsible to we the people – not the other way around. 

I knew a few of the dead personally, and I have to say, I believe that they are rolling in their graves if they have the misfortune of being able to see what is going on in our country right now. 

I suppose every generation asks the same questions.  Where have all the adults gone?  Where are the people of good character,  clear conscience, and noble aspiration?  Yet as an amateur student of history I feel that these days might best be similar to the time leading up to our great correction.  The war between brothers to end the stain of slavery.  Memorial Day was initiated to remember the sacrifice of that earlier generations attempt to achieve the ideal of what it means to be America. 

Spent the day reading ‘The Western Way of War’ by Victor David Hanson. It reminds me of the ugliness, the too often necessity, and the little that war has changed for the grunt in the ranks over 2,700 years of time.  Like the ancient Greeks, I realize that I too have know war my entire life. The Pax Americana is an illusion.    

Robert E. Lee said – “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”   

It is tragic that we can exist in a state of perpetual war, and think nothing of of it, as it has little to no effect on the typical citizen.  

                                                                                                       

 

 

 

“The wind blows so hard and steady, if you sit still long enough, you get blown back to yesterday.”                                                               — rwdennis

 

POSTCARD Day

I try to keep in touch with my 5 grandchildren as we travel. The easiest way is to send them postcards. They get to see interesting places which perhaps will spark their imagination and a desire to travel and discover places that are different yet also similar to home in many respects. I get to add short, sometimes snarky comments to tease their minds. They get to experience the old-time thrill of waiting for and receiving mail that you actually WANT! Not the junk that fills so much of our mailbox on a typical day. 

I had not shopped for cards yet, so I drew my own based on things that had caught my eye as I drove the past few days. 

  • Cottonwood seeds choking the breeze
  • Town Hall Towers and Fortresses
  • Hobbit House sprinkled with a confetti of flowers in bloom
  • Van assistance credit for Dan
  • Red Shouldered Blackbirds every hundred yards for miles
  • Baby Leisa’s wild horse ride remembered

 

 

/d

Campground IS MOISTER!! Or MOISTEST!! (or just too darn wet to walk around without hip waders!)

It was like being at Cheat Fest – for those of you that know. We decide to bail and find a dry hotel for the evening. EM hits the road with alternate routes to get around flooded road closures. 

Town Hall – 

Today I started to notice a pattern. Each town has the most opulent Town Hall. It’s like they are all in a competition to create the biggest, fanciest, town hall in the region. 

You usually see them towering above the small, one story community, about 5 miles from town. As you get closer, you start to see and be filled with wonder at the architectural elements and detail. Then you wonder how much tax payer money did it take to build this fortress and symbol of town prosperity, pride, and governance.  

Town Hall – Franklin

Pennsylvania – time to step up your game. Ohio has us outclassed in the Town Hall department. 

 

Rained pretty hard today, sort of. Depended where you were.  Rivers up to the top of their banks, some roads were closed, campground was as we call it with my grandchildren – ‘moist’ – which means WET, too f-ing wet to play. 

 

Rain Day 

We visited Bike Oxford, bike shop, and shot the breeze for an hour or so. You kayakers in the audience know how that goes. Just substitute ‘bike’ for ‘kayak’ and you get the picture. My God! Are we that, one-track-minded??  (YES!)

We holed up in the library to use some fast internet. EM (Evy) worked on the site. I made camping reservations for the next weeks travel. 

Oxford is home to Miami University. Very pretty and well maintained grounds and town. It was almost completely deserted as all the students had left for summer vacation the day before. Probably unbearably crowded in the fall and spring.

We had the BEST Mexican dinner since the last time I was in Mexico. As authentic Mexican as you’re going to get in the USA – right on the Main street. Whole roasted scallions, jalapenos, chicken, steak, shrimp all in a sauce that was to die for. I ate too much because I knew it would not be as good the next day after being refrigerated overnight. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steel Trap Museum

My dad used to trap muskrat when we were little. For extra money, or just to help the neighbors keep their farm ponds from getting ruined by the avid burrowers. We always played with the traps, so I had to stop and check it out. 

 

 

Pretty Cabin

I could live in a cabin like this. Love the wood, the stone fireplace, firewood stacked  on the porch – convenient and dry, tin roof to let the sound of the rain inside. *sigh*

 

 

 

 

Steel Trap

The steel trap had no small part in the development of the nation, a point not mentioned much in our history. Think of all the stories of the French Voyagers and the Mountain Men – they trapped furs. Trapping continues well into the mid 20th century and continues today, albeit in very small numbers to not offend modern sensibilities. 

 

 

 

 

 

Door Bell!!

OUCH! Very similar to the traps dad had and we grew up with. I don’t remember anyone getting pinched or ‘trapped’; but, I’m sure it happened. We were kids!

 

 

Now that’s a trap fit for a GIANT!

Or maybe T-Rex! That’s a rather large boot near the trap  trigger plate. Probably 10 feet tall in the center from the ground, you could use the trigger pad for a picnic table for 4 if you so desired or dared. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Young, Buffalo Soldier

Served in the 9th and 10th Cavalry. Went to his home in Wilberforce, OH. Home was closed for renovation. Good man, good soldier who was not allowed to command in American Expeditionary Force, WWI because it was felt that white troops would not fight for a colored commander. Some of the best leaders I knew in my short military career were – black. Proud to have known and worked with them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 

Chillichothe Mounds, Mound City, Ohio

These are described as ‘ancient American Indian Monuments’ and ‘Ceremonial Earth Works. Many sites all over Ohio as well as other mid-west states. The prior days Flint Hill quarries are noted as the northeast extent of what is believed to be a connected network of these types of sites. Hundreds of them still exist. Many have been lost to agriculture, housing and business development over the last two centuries.  This site was used by the Federal government during WW I to build Camp Sherman which housed and trained ‘colored’ or ‘black’ troops prior to deployment to France. Many mounds were destroyed, some were worked around and preserved at the request of several local archeologist and interested parties.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flint Hills Ancient Quarries

The great Indian quarries of Ohio. Ancient people quarried, with primitive wooden prybars, wooden spades, and hammer rocks to dislodge the desired flint from the surrounding conglomerate material. The ‘Rainbow’ flint is very pretty when worked and heated to bring out it’s great variety of color. Vanport flint was made Ohio’s state gemstone in 1965.  The ridge in the Appalachian foothills containing the flint deposits is about 20 miles long, 3 to 5 miles wide, and has over 2,000 quarry sites that resemble/have become vernal ponds that support a wide variety of indigenous amphibious species both common and endangered. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheeling, WV

Spent time in Wheeling, waiting for The Good Mansion Wines to open. Needed some fresh, crusty, French loaves, ale cheese, port wine, and delicately sliced cured pork — all incredibly delicious!!

Definitely in oil country. Many derricks idled, many pumping.  Also had my first rescue of EM. 

Saw the Mingo. Welcoming all to Wheeling. 

Wheeling was the town I started to notice what would be a pattern across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois – seems they all compete to see who can build the biggest and most opulent town hall. In Wheeling it was actually the Federal Customs House, which would serve as the newly formed government of West Virginia’s legislative hall (after its succession from Virginia in 1861 (?)). 

So persistent is the pattern, I started to document it in images, a short time into the future. 

 

 

 

Having done the C&O Canal and Western Maryland Rail Trail……
WE decided to go into hyper-drive and go directly to Rockport, PA from Hancock, spend the night at Hickory Hollow, then jump to Uniontown for the next biking leg to Wheeling, WV – skipping much of the ‘Green Tunnel’ sections of the C&O and WMRT that EM, Laura, Maria, Larry, and Becky had done about 2 weeks earlier during our shake down cruise for both van and cycle. So enjoy some pictures of the canal, another journal entry, and catch up with us tomorrow – into Terra Incognita!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling

Started to keep a journal to remind me of things to write about since sometimes it is not easy to find a place to park the van to get out and take a picture of something that catches my fancy or imbeds an interesting thought during the days travel. 

We had our first ‘Boondockers Welcome’ stay with Catherine of Korgemae Farm, in the rolling hills near Antietam.  

Road signs, apparently, are subject to interpretation, or better glasses, or …. whatever. It makes a funny story at my expense. 

Some roads just call out for certain vehicles. While the improved trail to Berkeley Springs was quite fun, a Porsche or something lower with more torque would have been more……. reckless?

Picked up some infused olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette at the Naked Olive. Delicious! Highly recommended. Dipping bread, meats, veggies, EM, in the secret sauces and various combinations.  : )

 

 

 

 

Hike at Tuckahoe State Park, MD

Took a two hour hike in the park. Interesting sights included an Overcap Oak – 260 years old, 120 feet tall and spread (in 1977 – bigger now), and a rusted out old car half buried in the ground. Question on the display – ‘When does trash become history?’ 

I shall ponder this question during our journey.

Greenbelt is an amazingly quite park on the outskirts of D.C. Amazingly quite because it is surrounded by interstate highway with 24 hours per day of traffic. 

 

life of the SAG

I’m working on my process as SAG – Support and Gear.  Spent most of the day shopping for supplies, odds, and ends.   Quite different from going hunting or fishing to re-up the wagon train supplies. 

 

Tourist Season?

 Had to avoid driving over pedestrians looking the wrong way, kids on bikes weaving all over the road, old folks in their golf carts and mobility scooters on the main highway. 

Kinda crazy, but it does make for interesting ‘Frogger’ like action to pep up the journey.

 

images: inside observation tower, Fort Miles – gun slit and staircase. 

 

 

BIG GUN at Fort MIles (Henlopen State Park, Lewes, Delaware)

This 16″ puppy was similar to the biggest guns in the shore battery protecting the bay. This particular gun was actually #2 gun, fore turret, of the USS Missouri. It can be seen in several images of the Japanese surrender signing on the ‘BIG MO’.

Quite a hole! Shows how deeply these big shells can penetrate steel.

A walk on the beach on a cool, windy, day.