Yellow Dog Village Pennsylvania

 Hey Gang, no long story but lots of photos for you to enjoy.

WV - More photos - John Gets His Meatloaf

After the smelly ham episode in New Market, Virginia it was time to clear the nose and head back to our hotel because a quick decision was made to spend another night.

Please note, don't let my spoiled eating experience in New Market scare you. The whole town is fairly neat and a great walk through with lots to see and other places to eat. The coffee at Jackson's Corner Cafe & Coffee House was terrific, the Home Store is well worth a browse so is Jon Henry General

Store.

Cynthia relaxing and dreaming how do I get this couch home

John gets his meatloaf.

Ever have a hankering for something? Well John wanted meatloaf and no matter where we went it seemed they either didn't serve it or it was yesterdays special. But John wanted meatloaf and we were finally about to get it and we did.

The best place we ate at was the last place we ate at and was the first place the hotel suggested we eat at and John wanted to eat at. Glad you followed that. It turned out for the better because we had the bad meals out of the way and saved the best meal for last and John got his meatloaf.

The place was the Cider Press of Inwood, West Virginia.

The prime rib was beyond filling and tasty

 The food and service were top notch. And the market attached to it had some tasty goods like cherry donuts that were fab. Its worth a 300 mile journey just to eat and of course get those cherry donuts.

After this had a good night's sleep, this time the fridge just chilled and didn't talk, not a whimper or bang.

Here are a few more photos of Broadway and New Market, Virginia

Good-by '22 and Hello '23!

   Goodby 2022, and welcome 2023!

2022 in many ways, was worse than the covid years, yikes!

And in other ways was much better, but overall it's still a year to remember as thank goodness I made it through that mess. 

  2022 started off badly with getting a nasty case of the covid-blues New Year's Eve 2021; that bout of illness lasted till almost the first of February.

Hmm, thinking about it, guess it was another covid year.

Then I got whammied again with round two of being sick from the tail-end of July till the start of September.

  The annual Winter Cookout/Freeze Fest commenced once again. Every year I think its the last, but it proceeded. Though instead of being held on the last Saturday in February, a change was made, and it was held on the first Saturday in March, and it was a warm one, the warmest WC on record. 

  Work, work, work, and more work. Work was steady throughout the year and, at times, was beyond hectic. Food was always on the table, bills paid, and I was blessed.

 Even more hectic and insanely bizarre was the revolving door of whacked out - crazed - mentally unstable - drug induced (I guess?) - psychotic behavior of the people (can I call them people?)  I tried to employ. If I was the only one who was on a search for employees, I would hide my head in shame, but you gotta take what's out there, and these people were OUT THERE!

 A whole book could be written on the great employment debacle of '22.

Five marched in, and five either stormed out screaming or went missing like I sent them on a mission to the Bermuda Triangle. If you are one of these when you land back to earth or gather your brain, please return my work shirts. 

 Since we are on the topic of the mentally unstable and backstabbing deviants, a tenant walked out, that's another insanely funny story, and someone I've known since school paid by check for work I did in her house only to stop payment on that check. Hey, if this is a sort of play-by-play of my year, I gotta include these things.

 I politic'd a little. Blystone for governor fell flat, but my early pick of Vance for Senate was correct. So it was a 50/50 year.

  Sport-wise, my prediction was correct, cutting Mayfield was bad, and the Browns would be even badder. Yes, I know I just wrote a word that doesn't exist, but the Browns are also a nonexistent team. 

 Travel was little to no traveling, just some day trips and Sunday drives.

 The highlights were meeting three interesting gentlemen. Don, owner of Market Square in Kinsman, Ohio, Robert "Quiet Wolf" Thompson of the Lenape Nation at a Powwow, and Bill, a 98-year-old WWII veteran.

 So how did '22 wrap up?.... with a death threat followed by a crash bang boom accident. In other words, it ended in a typical Carey fashion, unpredictable, and now what!

This is an older photo but the expression says it all....

So 2023 now what! What ya have in store for me? 

Lastly, in conclusion I like to thank the new friends and acquaintances I met in '22 and a heartfelt thank you to those who stuck by me, you are never overlooked. 

Carey On....

Hartford Fair in Croton, Ohio.

 Hey Gang,

Every year I try to attend a different fair. This summer, I ventured out to The Biggest Little Fair in the World  - Hartford Fair in Croton, Ohio.

So why is it called the Hartford Fair if it's in Croton? I don't know if you find out, please let me know. 

It's hidden away and hard to find; even with Mapquest, I got lost. It's in the middle of nowhere and farms. 

The fairgrounds are enormous, and food stands are everywhere. So we walked and walked and checked out all of them before settling on the Northridge Athletic Boosters Food Stand. We ordered the Viking burger, and it was great!

Still, I wasn't overly impressed with this fair. I thought it lacked merchant buildings and things to do. Though I really enjoyed the Fravel Museum on the grounds. Yeah - Fravel as in travel. I've been to travel museums before but never a Fravel Museum but now I can say I have.

You can spend a lot of time in it just looking at all the artifacts and reading the old newspaper clipping.

 The best part of this fair is that the grandstands are free to view the events. We watched the tractor pull. Watching these mechanical beasts lumber down the track, spewing smoke and the ear-numbing nose is impressive. 

                                                    Whoops this cow was camera shy. 

The price to get in was very reasonable - $8 per person. 

The Hartford Fair may not have been my favorite fair, but it was still a fun time.

So that's this summer 2022 fair review. 

Gotta Go-Go!

Carey

Reflections on the Shutdown

Some things to ponder as we prepare to reopen society

When I was going through my three month bout of who knows what I had from mid-December to early March I watched TV and did little else. I had brief spells where I felt a little better and worked a few jobs but for the most part sat or slept.

Sometime in February when I was experiencing a high fever I felt like I was dieing. I had nightmares and when I awoke from one I was delusional. I no longer felt comfortable in my surroundings almost as if I did not recognize my house. It was cold and not homey at all. It didn’t even smell right. I had a strong sense to get things in order, gather unused and unnecessary things and throw-out. The first area was my closet.

So  on the good days I would clean house, then rest and watch TV. Right after the presidential impeachment hearings, which I just about watched the whole thing, more and more newscasts were about the corona virus. Then the shutdown occurred. And then came all the posts on social media sites of people cleaning their house and closets and throwing things out. Hmmm.

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We said we were alone during this quarantine but were we really? Vietnam was the first war to be broadcast daily on TV. Now we can say the covid-19 is the first major crisis where we lived through it via social media. 911 happened but many of these sites didn’t exist then.

I like to thank everyone who entertained us with their daily skits, humor and information to ease our angst. We may have felt isolated but we were never really alone.

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Also I like to thank many of you who checked up on me during my illness and immediately when the quarantine was first announced. I won’t mention names because of fear of leaving someone out. But you know who you are. It did ease my anxiousness during my illness knowing I had people to lean on financially if things got really bad.

But I know I was not the only one with friends reaching out. Many of you did that for each other. Take a collective hug and bow for being there for each other.

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Nothing has made sense during this whole fiasco, nothing and a thousand more nothings.

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In the that’s ridiculous department are the news updates of unemployment numbers going up. Is this really needed when most everything was ordered closed? What did you expect unemployment to go down?

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Arrows at the stores. Dumb stupid and asinine! So I was at a store where they have arrows pointing for the direction to go through the aisles. I was in the vitamin aisle. I left my cart at the top. I couldn’t find what I was looking for but realized that I made it all the way down to the end of the aisle but my cart was at the other end. Now what? Do I circle around to get my cart? Do I walk backwards towards my cart so I am not really violating the arrow direction? Or do I go rogue and go against the direction of the arrow. I went and got my cart.

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After leaving this store it occurred to me the arrows will never work. All it took was a brief observation of the parking lot with cars driving up and down in the wrong direction and parking where they shouldn’t.

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I was sick for three months so hardly ventured out and then the shutdown happened. I am a rebel to begin with and being stuck inside for three months do you actually think I stayed home during this whole quarantine? NO way. Every Sunday I took a day drive to some out of the way park. Just about every night I went for a walk. I had a friend over for Easter and I even shook hands and hugged friends and acquaintances. I am such a rebel! OY!

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Ridiculous talk number two. Within a day of this shut down I wrote how dangerous this is because of suicides. So now what is being reported, the rise in suicides – duh - as if they didn’t see this happening. You take away a person’s ability to put food on their table and coupled with the fear of losing everything you take a person’s self-esteem and hope away

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During my outings to parks most of their restrooms had for emergency use only signs. When you gotta go, you gotta go so isn’t most times an emergency? But some park restrooms had for emergency use only signs but had their doors locked. Now what is one supposed to do when they gotta go? Hello, 911 this is an emergency can you come unlock the restroom? Please stay calm, do you have to pee or number 2? Um a combination. OK this is what you have to do. OK OK but please hurry. Ma’am please stay calm, don’t move, cross your legs and sing Mary Had a Little Lamb OK. Yes OK….  Paramedics arrive. It looks like she isn’t going to make the restroom, bring a sponge and mop please. Lady don’t move, we will clean you up. Double OY!

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Almost immediately when this happened I wrote America will never be the same. And it won't be. The new buzz phrase is the new normal. Please think for yourself, do not use that phrase. There is nothing new or normal about communist run governments which is just about what were are experiencing.

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Sunlight since God said let there be light has been good for man and planet. Sunlight or being outside does wonders for ones health. They admit being outside and in the sun could help fight covid-19 and yet they keep our beaches and campgrounds shut. Do I need to comment further on this?

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And that's a wrap!

Gotta Go-Go!

Carey 

200 miles for supper - Thank you Gale, Kristine, and Judy & Ed part 1

What a great get away, glad I forced myself to go. I started feeling as if I was losing that adventuresome side. Seriously. I have been going nonstop (besides the short break to the Jimco Rally) with work since about late winter so it was really hard for me to slow down.

Initially wanted to attend the Clifton Gorge Music & Arts Festival, maybe see some friends like Gale who lives sort of in that direction and from there maybe Kristine and Judy. While trying to come up with a game plan, Dee, one of the vendors at Antiques and Uniques, recommended the antique malls in Springfield, Ohio. There’s another Careyism for you. Of all the places someone could recommend seeing, Dee suggests Springfield which is en route to where I was thinking of going.

Anyway tentatively planned was an early Friday take off but a packed Thursday made me leave once again past midnight, ya had to know that was coming. So the revised plans were to at least make it to Springfield before day break before pulling over to sleep, which I did.

I can park just about anywhere but being a light sleeper I had to drive away from the exit to find a spot. I went east on 41 first then into the heart of Springfield. Now I know why there are so many antique malls in the area. Springfield has some really old buildings, and all of the houses are aged. The city looks not really run down but how do I say it, kind of neglected, not updated, maybe that’s the right way to put it. Springfield definitely calls for a return trip.

After driving all over Springfield at 6 am I found another place Dee mentioned, a large lake, Buck Creek State Park. And it was quiet, zzzzzzz. So quiet I slept in till 1 pm. What finally woke me? A quick burst of rain. Immediately after the burst it was sunny. I was glad for Gods wakeup call or I may have slept in till 2.

I only checked out one antique mall, I think it was the smallest, only 700 vendors – wow! It was overload, way way too much. You need a lot of time to enjoy it. I quickly left. The festival was no longer an option because of the time and rain so I called Gale.

Instead of going out to eat Gale invited me over for dinner. Gale gave me directions and said he would be on the side of the road, at least I think that’s what he said. When I approached the exit on the side of the freeway was a car sitting, thinking it may be him I slowed down, went onto the berm, got back on the road and took off. Not only didn’t I recognize him but I thought Gale has too much sense to wait alongside the freeway I had to hear him wrong. Nope, it was him alright. They passed me so I followed and when we exited Gale jumped in my vehicle. And guess what? We got lost on the way to his house. His GPS didn’t help and my paper maps we didn’t bother with since we had no clue where we were. But I did get to see 37 different corn fields. Eventually we found our way in time for supper.

Gale might think I am joking when I said I had to get around a man of reason but it’s true.  I have other friends who are close to the same thinking politically as I am but nothing like the friends I met through the Constitution Party. It’s great to be in the company of people who are like minded. Besides being a true patriot with a great wife Gale has an early 70’s Plymouth Satelite. How can I not like the man?

Gale thought I was spending the night but with only 2 days I wanted to visit other friends. After supper it was time for me to hit the road.
Leaving there I used the modern rest area called Walmart, a most confusing Walmart. A sign read NO OVER NIGHT PARKING IN THE RV LOT. It didn’t stop me or four other RV’s from parking overnight. When I woke John and Amy from Harrisburg, Pa. came over to say hi. They were on their way to the Easy Rider Bike Rodeo in Chillicothe. John bought both copies of my books.

From there I met up with Kristine at the Spot on Main coffee shop in Jackson, haven’t seen her in years. Apple Brian showed up. After coffee it was off to breakfast at Valero, don’t make note of this place, blah food. You know instead of writing about some of the people Kristine introduced me to this is her post from Facebook:
FOREVER FRIENDS...Carey Masci visits Jackson Ohio again. Carey and I have been friends since 2004 and have been on adventures together, anyway...he made his appearance in Jackson, Ohio this past Sunday. He wanted to meet the "infamous" Ron Queen, "original hippie Terry Brewer, and the "porch sisters/porch sitters" Becky Stroth and Julina Lurhman "apple John Brian", and others. As always, he stirred things up by driving his 1969 Tradesman bus. Carey has written 2 books about his travels, and he tells me that the "adventures of Carey and Kristine" are in book 3.

There you have it. And I indeed enjoyed meeting her friends.








The other person on my list I was hoping to see was Judy and her husband and it turned out they live close to Jackson. Ed mentioned a restaurant that we could meet up later at and Kristine knew exactly where it was. I had no idea how this would fall all into place.

While waiting to meet up with Judy & Ed, Kristine and I got caught up. Time stood still but also flew. If not for another burst of rain that reminded Kristine the windows on her Jeep were down we may have been even later to meet Judy. Kristine’s clock on the wall doesn’t work, no wonder it read 10 to 4 the entire time I was there, I just thought time moved slower in S. Ohio. If not for that burst of rain that made us run in to grab her keys I would have never noticed the time, we might still be sitting their talking.

I met Judy & Ed through the Constitution Party. Judy is some activist, so knowledgeable about current events and exposing corruption. I love her passion for America. And Ed, he can be a real card with his comments. I love this couple.
Ed thank you for the meal, it was great. Ed introduced me to the owner Chinese Johnny and even bought him a copy of my book “Cruising Across America”.

From there it was porch time in Jackson at Kristine’s neighbor’s house. It was getting a bit late or I would have sat there much longer swapping stories and conversing. Thanks again Kristine for introducing me and showing me around.



I was going to hightail it home but I decided on the slow route. I parked in Logan the gateway to Ohio;s scenic wonderland overnight. In the morning I came across a front yard sale that I stopped at and met the most interesting person. I was invited in her house and had a really great conversation with her. You know what… just meet her for yourself. Here is Kristine artist/activist/Christian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJo9LM42weg
So was this the end of my trip? Nope. Next blogging I will take you on a walk through New Straitesville and Shawnee which is as close to a ghost town you will find in the eastern US.

Gotta Go-Go!
Carey

ps: I know most people think its nuts to travel over 200 miles to eat supper with someone but for me staying in touch with good friends is priceless. I would rather squeeze in a dinner than try to make plans for a longer visit that may never happen. When you have the time, just go. It's memories that you will be glad you have.