Off I Go!

 

Akron is known as Rubber City. Back in the late 1800's, Benjamin Franklin Goodrich (also known as B.F. Goodrich) moved his rubber company here. Firestone, Goodyear and others soon followed and Rubber City was born. But, that is not why I'm here.

Fallingwater

 Frank Lloyd Wright has been heralded as one of the greatest architects of all time. He was a pioneer in the Prairie School of architecture and designed over 1000 structures over a period of 70 years. Wright not only designed buildings, he designed the furniture to go in these structures. While I admire his talent and I find his work interesting, it really doesn't ring my bell. The furniture always seems rather uncomfortable and the houses that I've visited, with few exceptions, don't seem to be very livable. That said, for some reason, I never seem to pass on visiting a FLW building. Fallingwater, located in Mill Run Pennsylvania checks all of my reasons that I don't care for the architecture, but boy – this place is stunning.

What More Do You Need?

 

We've got glass, carvings, toys, buttons, injuries and dead people.

I'm moving east and I'm traveling quickly. Well, quickly is a relative term. I only like to drive 2 ½ – 3 hours at a time. JoggerCat and Miko do not like to be in the truck and being the good mom that I am, I indulge them. I'm actually pretty happy only traveling that fast also but it means that getting across the country is a slow, slow process.

I lucked out and was able to score four days in a state park. Being able to do this was amazing as most state parks are booked out a year in advance. I was in Salt Fork State Park, Ohio's largest state park. I did something rather stupid when I was there. My first day there, I take Miko for an evening walk. I was planning on just walking around the campground roads, but then I saw a trail head. Wow, just ¾ of a mile, piece of cake. I did not take into account that it was starting to get dark, that it was drizzling and I had no idea what type of trail it was. The trail was marked by Orange squares on the trees. It started getting so dark, that I could hardly see the orange. Then it started pouring rain, which made it even darker. Have I mentioned that it started lightning and thundering? Not off in the distance, but like right on top of me. I started trying to run thru the woods, trying to get to the end of the trail quickly and my foot caught in a root. Bam, went rolling down the hill. All in all, I made it out, but my leg is bruised up and swollen. Oh well. The rest of my days at the park went well, got some hiking in and only ended up with two wood ticks – one on Miko, one on me. It still was enjoyable.

I made a side trip up to Dover, Ohio to see the Ernest (Mooey) Warther Carvings Museum.  Warther was a self-taught Master Carver.  He was particularly fascinated with trains.  Each train was anatomically correct with thousands and thousands of pieces.

Made totally out of Ivory.  He would only use ivory from elephants that had died natural deaths

Ebony and Ivory

Functional pliers all made from a piece of wood shaped like the bottom. 
Mooey could carve a single set of pliers in under twenty seconds

Mooey's wife was no slouch either.  She collected buttons.  

In this room, there were over 73,000 buttons

Ok, we all know I'm a sucker for "Specialty Museums".  Also located in Dover, Ohio is the Famous Endings Museum.  It is located in a mortuary.  Evidently, the owner of the mortuary started collected memorial programs for famous people and decided to display them.  There were astronauts,  generals...but the ones I found most interesting were the ones for people in the entertainment business.

I head for Wheeling West Virginia to another Harvest Host business. This one is the Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum. I will have to tour the museum as part of the Harvest Host deal, but I'm not particularly excited about it. What I am excited about is the Oglebay Glass Museum. Love, love, love glass. I unhook the truck from the camper, kiss the animals goodbye and head up into the mountain. West Virginia doesn't have very many flat surfaces. The Oglebay Glass Museum was interesting in that it was not focused on “art glass” but on everyday glass. Evidently, Wheeling WV was the glass making oasis of the east coast.

Pretty

Named after the First Lady Frances Cleveland (late 1880s)
Frances is not a pattern but a decoration characterized by a yellow rim on frosted glass

Wheeling Peachblow

Iridescent glass with a metallic finish.  It was developed in 1908 and became widely popular until World War I.  After the war, it was given away as prizes at fairs and carnivals, hence the name. 

I just thought this was pretty

The Kruger Street Toy Museum was not particularly interesting to me. That said, there were some little tidbits that entertained me. It is located in an old school and it was rather dark. On the positive side, they had four free pinball machines that you could play as much as you wanted.

Lots of different train layouts where the trains were actually running.  
This one was made all of Legos

I've become a sucker for beautiful old cars

Soul Rejunification

I leave Fort Wayne and head sort of east to the little town of Wapakoneta, Ohio, the birthplace of Neil Armstrong. That is not why I am here, Wapakoneta is the home of the Temple of Tolerance. The name itself has called me here. It is located in the back yard of a small suburban home. Or so you think. You go through the gates and it actually takes up most of the block. I was amazed at how you could wander thru all of these pathways and they just went on and on.  I found visiting the Temple very peaceful and meditative.

“Jim Bowsher’s master work is undoubtedly The Temple of Tolerance. Developed as a refuge for young people battered by dysfunctional family dynamics or other destructive relationships, Jim spent nearly two decades moving and precisely placing innumerable rocks, many massive, along with other ornamental features, to construct the Temple grounds. The meandering pathways surrounding the central Temple reveal countless surprises, including a cottage built in the shape of a barrel, the door from a jail cell that once held members of the Dillinger gang, and peaceful alcoves for rest and meditation.

Jim has called The Temple “The physical manifestation of a philosophical concept—more a state of mind than a place.” The Temple’s role in the surrounding community embodies Jim’s guiding belief that all people are born with a natural capacity for goodness. ” From Jim Bowsher's website

The Temple of Tolerance

In This Tube Is One Shell Casing For Each American -
Military Man And Woman From Ohio Who Died -
In A War from 1812 to ... 

One of the pathways

View from the top of the Temple.
There were many shrines to various people and causes.  This one reads:
The Broken Chain of Enslavement To Self-Centered Self Serving Bigoted Beliefs

Many seating areas - I read that on weekends, many musicians show up and jam

I belong to an organization called Harvest Hosts (HH). HH has contracted with various businesses and farms to allow RVers to stay for one night. Besides the yearly membership fee, it is free to camp at these sites. You are supposed to buy something at the Host and you can only stay one night. The first one I stayed at was Der Dutchman, which is an Amish Restaurant. This is not going to be good. I spent way too much on eating dinner and breakfast in the restaurant and also buying a few little souvenirs.

I moved on to Sand Hollow Winery. It was a lovely stay, again I spent way too much on wine and pizza. This is not a cost saving way to travel. What was cool about Sand Hollow was that it is located on 80 acres and there are trails meandering thru the woods. We were there on a Saturday and they had a musician (Mark Camden) playing. Mark plays Native American flutes which do not have the brassy sound of flutes as we know them, they are a mellow peaceful sound. As Miko and I wandered thru the trails, the flute music drifts out and it was such a soul healing experience.

 

Eastern Ohio - Pretty but .....

My master travel plan this time was to head south after the rally in Indiana. I thought spending a few weeks in the Smoky Mountains would be perfect. It would be perfect except that one day I woke up and decided I should go east instead. Perhaps this time I will get all the way to Maine.  I don’t know if I will make it to Maine,  but that is my current direction.

Normally I try to stay off of interstates, let alone turnpikes. It just seemed silly to pay big bucks for roads that aren’t any better than your average road. And big bucks they are when you are pulling a fifth wheel since they charge you by the number of axles you have. In my case that would be four- twice as many as a car.  I decided to throw caution to the winds though and drive the turnpike this time.

On the Ohio Turnpike there are service plazas where you can get gas, food, picnic areas and, as I discovered, in some of the areas, you can spend the night in your RV in special RV sections. For $20 you can even hook up to electricity. How exciting to be able to do that....or so I thought. Basically you are in a parking lot with the semis roaring past you most of the night. But now I can say I’ve camped in a Ohio Service Plaza. Check that off the old bucket list.

Ohio has a National Park. I visited it back in 2015 but that was before my Junior Ranger days so I felt I needed to go back and “do” the park right.  

Here is the link to the original Cuyahoga post

I meant to stay at a County park but I’m not confident enough yet to try to park this fifth wheel if it means backing into a site with a lot of trees that I have to avoid. So I ended up at a KOA campground. Normally I loathe KOA campgrounds because they put everybody right on top of each other but this one wasn’t too bad. Got to see a new breed of dog – a Pomsky – Pomeranian and Husky. Another manmade designer dog but it sure was cute. It had these piercing blue eyes and at dusk they really stood out.  It was a little bit spooky as in Cujo spooky.

Her name was Princess

I show up at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and do my Junior Ranger tasks for the badge. I ask Ranger Sage what the best hike to take and she said to definitely do the Ledges Trail. Miko and I head over there and as I pull into the parking lot I realize that I have done this trail before. As in 2015 when I was here before. Geez, I should read my own blog and find out where I've been. It still is a nice little trail and we had a good time walking and talking to other hikers. 

I just thought they were pretty

The Cuyahoga River with the Interstate going over it

This was part of the canal where they would tow the boats through.  I was surprised at how narrow it was.  

Mules would walk on the towpath on the right of the picture

Miko looking all regal as she is on Chipmunk alert

Traveled down to Canton Ohio which was about an hour away. The First Ladies National Historic Site is here. I was a little disappointed. They have very limited space and they can only display seven First Ladies at a time. They change the exhibit every six months. The display, this time, was on the seven Ohio First Ladies. You could also tour the childhood home of Ida McKinley, wife of William McKinley. She was ahead of her time for a Victorian lady. She was well educated and actually had a job as a cashier in her daddy's bank. She didn't need a job as they were very well off but there she was cashiering away. 

Ida McKinley's childhood home

I had a private tour of the McKinley house and got into a conversation about corsets. Ida was very proud of her 18” waist. There is a theory that corsets would rearrange a woman's internal organs. Not too sure if that is true, but Ranger Sue said that women who were corseted their whole life had problems standing upright without their corsets in later life.

I did go to the President McKinley National Library and Museum. Another rather disappointing trek. All poor President McKinley had to show was a rather small room with a few artifacts. Maybe they were keeping everything from his administration in somebody's basement. They did have some mannequins that would spring into life and chat which actually was rather creepy. It actually scared me the first time they went into action. 

Tell me that there isn't something wrong with these two

The McKinley Monument was impressive. William, his wife Ida and their two children are buried in the Monument. It seemed like it was the physical fitness center of Canton. There were kids sliding down the slick sides and there were people running up and down the stairs. One woman had gone up five times while I was there. Impressive. 

Eat Your Heart Out Rocky!!

Cleveland Sort Of

I have a Fitbit. I put it on the belt of my pants and it records the number of steps I take every day. I try to get in 10,000 steps at least which is about five miles, give or take. I have finally gotten to a park that has laundry machines and I'm so excited that I will finally have clean clothes, I throw everything into the washer. Yup, even my Fitbit. It got washed, it got dried. The amazing thing is it still worked. I then discovered that one wash and dry cycle gets logged as 10,410 steps. Hmmm – it occurs to me that all I need to do is wash clothes everyday and I will never have to take another step. Brilliant. I suppose that is probably not quite in the spirit of Fitbits and physical fitness but it is something to keep in mind.

I've traveled a long way today – a total of about 2 hours to Punderson State Park which is just a little bit southeast of Cleveland. I have full hookups, I have the laundry, it is a good base park. My next door neighbors look sort of like survivalists, old army tents, a UPS-like van full of canisters of some sort, scruffy looking guys in overalls and suspenders. The women look rather hard scrabble. They turn out to be very quiet except for one loud gravelly voiced man who spent a great deal of time lamenting the loss of his woman.

Punderson State Park - Punderson Lake is right behind my site

I travel into town to go to the James A. Garfield National Historic Site. Garfield was the twentieth president of the U.S. and only served 200 days of his sentence before he was assassinated by a disgruntled office seeker. He was shot on July 2, 1881 and died on September 19, 1881. It turns out I was visiting this site on the anniversary of his death so they had his house all decorated with funeral swags. How lucky am I? I took a tour of the house and learned a lot about Garfield. It sounds like he was a brilliant self-made man. He was the last U.S. President to be born in a log cabin. One of his claims to fame was the initiation of civil service reform which helped get rid of some of the graft in the White House.  The two notable facts about the house is that Garfield campaigned for president on the front porch and after his death Lucretia, his wife, established the very first presidential library in the house.

The very first Presidential Library

The tour guide was wonderful, but this was the first national site that I have visited where the ranger lady was just sort of going through the motions of rangerdom. It was interesting, I had to interview her (Jr. Ranger requirement) and one of the questions I had to ask was “What is the best part of your job?” She came out with “Answering visitor questions” in a very short, curt dismissive manner. Well, ok then.

The David Berger National Memorial has the distinction of being the smallest park (listed as .01 acre)  in the National Parks system. David Berger was an Israeli-American wrestler who was killed when the Palestinian “Black September” terrorists took nine Israeli athletes hostage during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Germany. The statue is located on the grounds of the Mandel Jewish Community Center which looked like a extremely large fitness center based on the constant flow of people in their exercise clothes.

I think I was able to capture the whole National Memorial in one photo. 

Round And Round We Go!!

.

We motored on ever eastward, this time it was less than an hour drive. It would have been shorter but there was an oversized cabin cruiser going down the road for quite a bit which slowed things down a bit. I am now at another Ohio State Park, this one is called East Harbor. It is on a peninsula, right north of Sandusky Ohio. It is also quite a shock after the wonderful park I was just in. This one is seems very much like a private RV park. The only difference is that there are nice trails and people can build their campfires right underneath your windows so that you too can enjoy their campfire smoke.

East Harbor State Park:  You aren't supposed to park on the grass - notice how my front and rear wheels are properly placed so as not to be on the grass. 

These lily pads are actually about as big as my head

Not too sure what type of boat this is but it was in the harbor - a dredging boat?

Today we are heading to Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. This takes some getting to – I have to drive a bit, then hop on a ferry and cross the great Lake Erie to a little town called Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island. I debated whether to take my car on the ferry but cheap person that I am, I opted for the $7 one way fare as opposed to the $16 one way fare for a car. I was a little worried about how I was going to get to the Memorial once I got to the island – I think the island is about two miles long and the ferry drops you on the south end and the Memorial is on the north end. It seems the preferred method for getting around the island is to rent a golf cart. After talking to a fellow passenger on the ferry, I decided to forego that option. He said that ten years ago, when he rented a golf cart, it was $53 for the day. I figured I was going to be doing a lot of walking. But....it all worked out – they have an old school bus which takes you from the ferry landing to the north part of the island for $2.50. Cheapness wins out in the end. Of course, those golf carts looked like a lot of fun.

The ferry leaving the pier

Approaching South Bass Island - you can see the Memorial on the right

These are all golf carts people have rented - seems like parking is at a premium

This memorial was interesting in that it was a memorial to a battle and it also is a peace memorial. The peace memorial is a 352 foot Monument – it is the world's most massive Doric column.

“Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial was established to honor those who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie during the war of 1812, and to celebrate the long-lasting peace among Britain, Caada and the U.S. The Memorial column, rising over Lake Erie, is situated five miles from the longest undefended border in the world.” Wiki

There is a visitor center where I watched the movie about the sea battle in 1813. Commandant Perry was only 27 at the time of the battle (he first went to sea at 13) and it was the first time the Royal Navy suffered the loss of a complete squadron. Perry had a flag that he flew on his flagship with the words “Don't Give Up The Ship.”

You get to go up to the top of the column and the views were magnificent. It didn't hurt that it was one of those most perfect days – sun, light breeze. Even the ferry ride was perfect, I sat outside the whole twenty minute journey both ways to the island.

The View

The next day was not as great, weather-wise. It rained and rained. What to do? Let's drive to Sandusky and go to:

Did you know that there is a National Carousel Association? Evidently carousels are a quite the draw. This is actually a serious museum with many antique carved animals plus a working carousel that was built in 1939. These carvings range in value from about $5000 to over a million dollars. Some of the carvings were brought to the White House and were part of the Holidays at the White House. They have carvers on site who are restoring these figures and use many of the techniques.

Carousel Terms:
Standing: Four feet are on the ground, they do not go up and down
Prancing: Back two legs are on the ground, they do not go up and down
Jumping: All four legs are in the air and they DO go up and down

Lions and Tigers and....

Look at these beauties

Amazing as some of these creatures were, the highlight for me was to actually ride the carousel. It was going to be a private ride for me until some little toddler decided he needed to go also. The operator said that this carousel was three times faster than most carousels and revolved at nine miles per hour. It was fun and super smooth and I tried to practice my most excellent riding skills by keeping my heels down and eyes up.

My steady steed

My whirlwind ride:

Side Note: RV thing I learned - I have an auto dumping awning.  The awning is fairly flat and fills with water when it rains.  When it gets too heavy, one side of the awning automatically lowers and a great gush of water comes running out.  I first saw this when I was horse camping with friends and when it happened, the waterfall nearly hit friend Dave.  I guess I thought it was a personal problem of Dave's, but now after much research, I see this is an automatic feature.  It is rather nerve wracking when it happens but sort of cool also to see this huge wall of water falling to the ground. 

Let's Throw In A Little Culture

Had a lovely RV re-positioning today. In fact, the next couple of “re-positionings” involve drives of an hour or less.  It is going to take me forever to get to where I am going.   My type of travel.

I came to Maumee Bay State Park, just a little bit east of Toledo, Ohio. After spending so many extra bucks for the pleasure of camping in Michigan, it was a thrill to see that this park was part of Passport America complex which means that Monday thru Wednesday, camping is half price. Two nights of camping for $27. To top it off, the sites are huge, secluded and there are tons of walking trails so Miko (and Me) can walk forever.  This park is right on Lake Erie but we really didn't have time to find the lake.  So many trails, so little time. 

Funny thing: There are over 250 camping sites in this park, everything is really spread out. Who do I find, three sites down from me – but Bob from our Precept gathering last weekend. To top it off, it turns out that Bob and his wife went to a tiny little college in Michigan named Adrian. I'm talking enrollments in the hundreds not the thousands. Tiny, tiny little college. Turns out I was going to that same little college the same time they were. Small world. They didn't remember me, I didn't remember them, but then I don't really remember what I had for breakfast today.

This is a cultural stop for me. I am going to the Toledo Museum of Art because they have a special glass exhibit showing right now. Toledo is known as the City of Glass and the museum has set aside a whole building to exhibit art glass – funny enough they call it the Glass Pavilion.

Before I went to the Glass Pavilion, I tooled around the rest of the Museum. I'm especially fond of Impressionist art and they had a nice selection – all the big names: Van Gogh, Seurat, Monet......

What blew me away though, much more than the glass exhibit that I had gone to see was an exhibition by a Spanish artist called Jaume Plensa who is after a fashion, a sculptor. I was fortunate that I was the only one in the gallery or on the grounds so I could spend a great deal of time just being with the art.

This is called Self Portrait - you can't see it but inside the ball is a person done in the same style as the outside ball

This was just wire put together in such a way as to see heads

There was also a painting done in the style of Chuck Close - I can't remember the actual artist

This is what it looked like when you were close up

And this is what it looked like from a distance

My second stop was to be lunch at Tony Packo's Hungarian eatery. It was made famous by Jamie Farr on the tv show Mash. He mentioned it on about seven different episodes. It is also the home of the Hot Dog Museum where all these famous people have signed hot dog buns and they are displayed on the walls. I think there are supposed to seven presidents who have signed buns, not to mention many mega celebrities. But.... I was starving and didn't make it there – I ate at the Museum's cafe and had Pesto Chicken Gnocchi which was incredible. So sorry Tony Packo. At least I got a picture because the light turned red at the right minute.

The original restaurant

Pesto Chicken Gnocchi - how exquisite is this? 

Last stop this time around in Toledo was the National Museum of the Great Lakes. They had an actual iron ore tanker that you could explore. The Col. James M. Schoonmaker was launched in 1911 and called the “Queen of the Lakes” because she was the largest bulk freighter in the world. I think she is 691 feet long. It was a self guided tour and you could go down in the holds, thru the engine room, into the crew's and the officers' quarters, all the way up to the Pilot house.

The bow of the Col. James M. Schoonmaker

The rest of it

Toledo has a pretty bridge - I crossed this in the RV - we were very very very high up

It's a long way back to the stern

Aren't all my Navy friends impressed with my ship jargon?

The museum was really fascinating, it had a short film and a very extensive display area. There was an interactive display on the Edmund Fitzgerald where you could go diving through the wreckage. I found the section about all of the shipwrecks on the Great Lakes the most interesting. Fun (or maybe not so fun) Fact: The most shipwrecks have occurred in Lake Michigan – in fact one of the docents said that Lake Michigan is like the Bermuda Triangle of the North – People/ships would just disappear.

Two more fun facts

1.  Lake Superior is the deepest lake and right in the center of the lake, it goes down 1392 feet

2.  Sailors who are used to sailing on the ocean often get very sea sick when sailing the Great Lakes, turns out the wave pattern is very different.

Miko and I spent most of the rest of our time in Toledo hiking in the park.  There seem to be a lot of deer in the park and being as how Miko is a deerhound and has no control when she sees a deer, my left shoulder has been yanked out of it's socket.  Not really, but it sure does hurt.  We will be using a lot of ice.