Lock-down Escape

Hey Gang,
During this lock-down I have been doing what I do best and that is get lost.
These are photos of yesterdays escape. I took River Road, Rt. 174, in Willoughby Hills all the way to Huntington Valley through Henry Church Rock Picnic Area in Bentleyville to Solon to Aurora past the remains of Geauga lake Park to Hiram to Garretsville, stopped at the IGA there, to Hiram, to Parkman, hiked a park called I believe  Eagle nest somewhere outside of Parkman, onto Middlefield, then through Madison on home.

Quieter drive with some nice scenery.
The park is not yet completely awoke from the winter slumber but was told once the wildflowers bloom it is beautiful.

Gotta Go-Go!
Carey

Thinking of Mr. H’Lommedieu

Hey Gang!
WOW has it been some time since I visited my ole' blog. Yes I have neglected it by getting caught up in the world of Facebook. Shame on me.

So I am going through my bookmarks of various websites, getting caught up on old links that should have been read months and some even years ago when one really caught my attention and brought back warm memories.

The link was about Mr. H’Lommedieu or Loril. It was somewhat of a brief friendship as Loril passed on about a year plus into our meeting but it left a lasting impact.

Here is that link about Loril and Geneva on the Lake
http://www.summerfunheritagetrail.com/heritage-trail-sites/play-tog-shop/

What wonderful memories. What a warm hearted and Godly man. I sure miss his conversations.

Gotta Go-Go!
Carey

Vision and dream or dream and vision

Vision and dream or dream and vision.
Doesn't matter which comes first what matters is how you handle the vision or the dream.
The bible has many examples of visions and dreams. Quick glimpses, they die and then sprout.
Often while traveling this comes into play.
I see my destination, a vision in the distance. Seems so close in a straight line but the road many times leads to a long bend or through a valley and suddenly the vision is lost but if I stay the course it appears again or I arrive not knowing I am there.

So to everyone out there Happy New Year and may 2019 see your vision lead to where your dream took you. And may you realize it to its fullest potential.

Carey On...

2018 Jackson Apple Festival and More

Hey Gang,
Here is yet another late posting of an eventful weekend, actually a long full day, I had on September 22.

If you are keeping up with my posts I wrote about the weekend before Labor Day August 25^th how I took off to visit some friends I haven’t seen in a while, Gale, Kristine, and Judy. Then the second Saturday after Labor Day Gale Joy came up close to where I live to speak at the Lorain County Tea Party so I got to hang out with him again. And then the following weekend Gale Joy hosted a Constitution Party picnic in Sugar Grove, Ohio that I attended which is not too far from Jackson where Kristine lives. So of course being that close to her I had to say HELLO!
Did you follow that?
Wow. I almost didn’t.
It amazed me how I haven’t seen Gale or Kristine in quite some time then BAM.

Anyway…

I wrote in my blog, the entry titled “200 Miles for Supper Conclusion” how I bought a car. Well the car is 1995 Ford Escort station wagon with NO bells and whistles, though the guy had to install a modern Kenwood radio that I still can’t figure out how to use. I know cassettes are out but what happened to cd’s?  I really didn’t get any sort of deal on the Escort like I usually find cars for cheap that last YEARS but it is from Florida. It has to be the most rust free Escort you will ever see with an interior like new, and I ain’t kiddin’ either. So that’s what I drove down to southern Ohio the weekend of September 21

Some cars you have to look down at the speedometer because without knowing it you could be driving way over the speed limit. Well I had to do that with the Escort though not because of being over the speed limit but to see how far under the speed limit I was. Other than that, the car ran fine.
I pulled out the bottom of the back seat so it would fold completely flat, pulled the cargo shelf closed, threw in my patio furniture cushions and slept wonderful. OH for curtains I bought these patriotic buntings quite some time ago, I saw then in the garage and used them. I am sure when people saw the lil’ red wagon with the stars and stripes bunting hanging over the windows in the park it had to look like Ford unveiling their new cars.

Turnout was not good at all for the Constitution Party picnic. The weather was gloomy plus I told Gale do you think hosting a gathering for the Constitution Party that you want to get recognized at a placed called Hideaway Hills is a good idea? And yes it was hard to find. Even with the small turnout and bad weather we still had great fellowship.

From there it was on to see Kristine and the long awaited Jackson Apple Festival, well for me it was long awaited. Kristine has told me about this festival for years, she thought it was a big deal and I thought of course she does, any festival in small town America would be a big deal.
I was wrong; it is a big deal, a really big tadoo, if that’s the right word for it. I was impressed.

The Jackson Apple Festival has two parades. One at the start and the night parade on the closing day which is the one I attended. There was food stands everywhere, I saw three band stages set up, rides and people everywhere crowding the streets and sidewalks. I wish I could have gotten there sooner to really enjoy it.

A little before the parade began it started to rain. I ran to Dollar General to buy an emergency rain poncho but they were all sold out so the next best thing, a painters tarp. I may have looked silly but I stayed dry. It didn’t matter if it rained on their parade; it went on and on and on. What a fun parade. I loved it.
Marching bands from schools all throughout southern Ohio participated. I eventually took shelter in the in the Christ United Methodist Church food booth that Kristine was working at. It was the perfect spot to view the parade.
OKKKKKKK enough writing now the link from the festival and parade. You may not need Dramamine as one usually has to take while watching my videos but you may need a flashlight. The vid of the parade is kind of dark. At least you can sit back and enjoy the sounds of the Jackson Apple Festival. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jozvuom_tuc&t=16s
Gotta Go-Go!
Carey

200 Miles for Supper Conclusion

Hey Gang,
Shawnee:

When Annette the librarian mentioned she was from Shawnee and it was the next town over I was excited. I first came upon Shawnee back in 1990 with Janet and Denise after a camping trip in Hocking Hills. It was always on my list of places to return.

Since then I have been on countless trips, crisscrossed Ohio many many times but I never returned to Shawnee until this year, only 28 years later. Though some things have stayed the same, I would just not venture into buildings like I did back then.

Shawnee in a way has more life today but sadly also more rundown. It does have a newly built furniture store, a pizza place and two or three other businesses plus some residents but a few of the buildings are no longer there and others look beyond repair.

Comparing it today to 1990 it was definitely more spooky 30 years ago which is a good way to describe it. None of the structures were torn down or fallen down, there were no new stores and many of the doors to the buildings were open. It had seemed like the residents just vanished. I still have a few old tin toys that were left in one of the buildings that we went into.

What chased us out back then I still remember vividly. I opened the door to one structure, started to enter, then I noticed an old man sitting on a couch watching TV. It unnerved us so bad we flew out of there. We didn’t know what we stumbled upon, if we were stealing or what.

Today there is one building/residence with a sign on the door that reads: DO NOT ENTER – SOMEONE LIVES HERE.  So maybe it still goes on today, people driving through thinking everything is abandoned.

I stayed about 20 minutes walking around Main Street and nowhere else. I don’t remember back in 1990 if we strayed off Main. The photos I have don’t help because I only have four from that trip. At that time you were limited to how many photos you could take because film rolls only had 24 or 36 shots. Digital cameras were still light years away.

After my walk about town in Shawnee I continued on Rt. 93 to Zainesville, Ohio which was on my way to my last destination Dillon State Park where I planned to grill supper then head home.

Close to the entrance of Dillon I spotted a car and on an impulse I bought it. I couldn’t help it. The car is a station wagon, has roll up windows with NO bells and whistles. How could I pass it up? So what make is it? That’s for another blogging or you may see me before then in your driveway in my lil’ red wagon.

video of my walk down Main in Shawnee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tErc67n93QE
Gotta Go-Go!

Carey

200 Miles for Supper - part 2

Hey Gang,
I left off with telling you I was going to take you on a walk through New Straitesville and Shawnee but before we do I like to say hope you had a terrific ending to the summer travel season. For me this holiday weekend was a bust. I had two sets of plans fall through so I ended up working on Labor Day. And like this summer if I had to label it it would be called the nonexistent holiday.
Thank goodness I got out and about last weekend.

OK let’s check out New Straitesville. After Logan I stayed on Rt. 93 through Wayne National Forest which took me to New Straitesville the home of the Moonshine Festival, the largest mine fire, and the birthplace of the miners’ union. New Straitesville like Shawnee and hundreds of other towns across America seen its heyday abruptly end once industry closed, in this case coal. The people left in search of work and never looked back.

It was about 2 pm when I entered New Straitesville. It was so quiet.

I took a leisurely walk through town. On some of the empty buildings there was a photo taped to the window of what the building looked like years ago. People properly dressed, crowding stores but today it’s mostly abandoned. While walking I saw a man on a riding lawn mower putsing through town on his way to the newly opened Dollar General. And he didn’t even look out of place. 

The one store that really got my curiosity up was a local drug store/convenience store/burger joint, not sure what to call it. The place is abandoned but it seems with a turn of the key it could be opened tomorrow. The old Coke signs are still on the wall, the counter and stools still look good. I wonder what those shakes and burgers tasted like?

I then went for a walk to see the museum which was closed so instead I took a short hike to see Robinson’s Cave where the miners secretly organized.

From there I spotted the library so I stopped to check on business emails. Their library is tiny but it did have computers. After reading emails I had a nice conversation with Annette one of the head librarians.
She explained that New Straitesville at one time was the moonshine capital of the world.  That explains why they have a festival dedicated to moonshining. I found that fascinating as I always thought it would be in Kentucky or Tennessee. Above their book cases is a collection of souvenir plates from their Moonshine Festivals through the years.
In another room of the library is a section devoted to the local history with many enlarged photos of years ago.

If you are ever in the area stop by and say hi to Annette, but don't look for a lady wearing an orange shirt I am sure she has changed it. She will definitely give you the rundown on the local history. She now lives in Shawnee which is the next town I would pass through.


Here are some videos of New Straitesville. The video inside the library you will never see Annette, she did not want to be on camera.Also I had some issues with editing the YouTube videos so I am posting them as it. Seems that YouTube has gotten rid of some of their easy editing tools. I was hoping to combine all of them into one video. If you can help me shoot me an email and let me know how.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM4VpCUTe2c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05WXG6uRJRA&t=11s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puhPZ1HQohI&t=83s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tyy812sGqc

Next posting Shawnee.
Gotta Go-Go!
Carey