Alongside the Roads

 In the early days of automobile travel, often on poorly maintained roads, towns and businesses had a desire to pull visitors into their establishments. The tourists provided income to the local stores and people, visitors, were always welcomed. Gas stations and restaurants were frequent draws since both types of fuel were necessary for any trip.

    During long trips, stops would help break up the monotony. Places started advertising along the roads to bring people in. If there was something “interesting” in the town, it was that much better.

    We’ve all seen the “Wall Drugstore” bumper stickers. The town of Wall has been described as the geographic center of nowhere. To draw customers in, they put signs up offering free ice water. What once was a small store in an almost deserted town has become a HUGE store, pulling in a million visitors a year.(?) Dare I say…"tourist trap", but still, it's a break in a long trip.

    Roadside attractions, they can be a big draw! There is a house in Eastern Pennsylvania shaped like a shoe, built by a shoe company.  The World’s Biggest Ball of String, the World’s Largest Tea Pot or The Smallest Church in America, they are all over the place, all you need to do is search them out! Within the last year, Ann Marie and I found a fork in the road, a six foot high fork sitting in an intersection. We had to stop and look at it!

    This last week, Ann Marie and I were on the road again, this time driving out past the center of Indiana to visit her relatives. We passed a few interesting sites and even took a few detours to visit some others.

    Crossing the state of Ohio, we exited the highway at Zanesville to see their unique Y-Bridge. Built originally in 1814, it crosses the Muskingum River. It has an intersection in its middle where it splits, allowing three ends to the same bridge. The current bridge is the 5^th one built here. 

The third one, built in 1832 was a covered bridge.

    While roaming around the bridge, we came across a railroad drawbridge and a canal beside the river. We never know what we might find!

    We also visited Zane Grey’s house while we were in the town. He was a writer of western novels and stories such as Riders of the Purple Sage.

    Back on the highway, we passed a robot holding the sign for a metal supplier and a couple bowling pins that were a couple stories high. After we crossed the Indiana state line we passed “The World’s Largest Candle”. We had previously stopped for pictures, so we kept moving.

   In Paragon, some say this is where John Dillinger started his crime career, whether that’s the case remains to be seen!  About 25 miles to the NW of Ann Maries brother’s house was another “place of interest”, The House of Bells.

    It took us a bit longer to get there due to a bridge being out just a mile or so away from it. A detour of about 7 or 8 miles got us there... eventually. Passing fields recently harvested, we came to a section of trees and there was the place we were looking for.

    Bought at auctions, this collection is comprised of bells, anchors, chains and windmills. I’m guessing that nothing has been added in years if not decades. The owners have passed on and the property is cared for by relatives. We met one of them who was cutting grass and raking leaves. He allowed us to roam around and ring a few of the bells. They are covered with lichen and haven’t been cleaned in ages. They are showing their age. There is no order to the collection; they seem to be placed as they were bought. A big tree has fallen onto some of them. The clappers are still loose, and they sound good! It took us a little over an hour out of our way but we both feel that it was worth the effort! They may be gone soon.

    It's little places such as these that stick in our memories. I can remember another spot like this, I believe it was called Bell Acres. Located somewhere near Freeport, we would pass it occasionally when we’d go to visit my mother’s relatives. Rumors had it that every 4^th of July the public was allowed to come by and ring the bells. As a kid, I dreamed about doing that. By the time I was old enough to drive, it had disappeared. It may be gone but it’s still there, stuck in my memories!

    Coming back through Ohio we dropped into the southern half and searched for a few charcoaled fired iron furnaces. The Hanging Rock area was the center of Ohio’s iron production in the 1800’s. We visited 3 sites. They were right alongside the roads.

The first was the Hope Furnace located near Zaleski. As we neared the site, I realized that we had been there about two years ago when we were looking for the remains of Moonville, a ghost town. (It’s a small world) It is in fairly good shape and has some nice signs describing how furnaces worked. The furnace was built in 1854 and was shut down in 1874, twenty years later.

    Our second furnace was the Buckeye Furnace near Wellston, Ohio. This furnace was reconstructed decades after it shut down in 1894. It produced iron for 42 years.

(Internet picture from aprox. 1940)

    When reconstruction started around 1972, all that was there was the stack. This was one of the best furnaces we have seen. 

    We stopped to find one more, this one was The Lincoln Furnace, located about 5 miles from The Buckeye site. We didn’t have any idea of what this furnace looked like or exactly where it was. There was a geocache that was supposed to be within sight of it. We found the cache but not the furnace. 

(Internet picture)

    Later research showed that it was built into a cliff face. The Lincoln furnace was built in 1855 and produced iron until 1885, a total of 30 years. Not bad for a furnace dug into a hill! We had been looking for a pyramid shaped pile of stones, I guess our furnace finding genes just weren’t working. Then again, it might have been the idea that home was just a few hours away…

    We were so close in our search…but not close enough! For some reason I feel as if there might be another trip into Southern Ohio in my future!

    We left Ann Marie’s house at 5AM on Tuesday and returned at 5PM on Saturday, 108 hours later. Our little jaunts to these sites made the trip a little more interesting, they broke up the long highway times and they also stimulated our curiosity and imagination. We both agreed, they make it much more fun than a simple, straight through drive. We’re always happy to get back home but we’re also, always looking forward to the next trip…and the next roadside attractions we’ll come across!

Could the Day be any Better?

 The fall foliage is just past its peak here in Pittsburgh. The recent rains have stripped a lot of the leaves off of the trees and littered the ground with their colors.

    Saturday was spectacular. The temperatures were rising again, and the clouds had all disappeared from the sky. After doing a few chores around the house, it was time once again for another adventure.

    There was a star party planned for the evening and so I did a couple geocaches hidden along the trails in Deer Lakes Park. I bought a hoagie for my dinner and then spent some time in the woods.

    This has been a poor year for star parties. I missed a couple due to prior obligations and a bunch of them had been cancelled due to rain and cloudy weather. Saturday’s party was almost guaranteed, it was going to be good! 

I was the second person to arrive at the observatory. I opened up the Brashear room and prepped the scope for the party. 

    A short while later, Rowen Poole arrived and using mathematics, the setting circles on the scope and pure skill, he found the planet Saturn, while the sun was still in the sky! A line soon formed as people heard we were looking at the ringed planet.

    You always know when a person fixes their eye on Saturn, there is always some sort of exclamation! It is one of the things I look forward to! The kids really enjoy seeing Saturn, many came back numerous times to see it again as the night progressed. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, the planet looks much better when the sky is dark! The mere fact that we could see it during the day was exciting, how many people can say they’ve done that?

    The other scope in the observatory was showing Jupiter. We couldn’t see it yet, the eastern skies are blocked from where the scope is located. We watched the ringed planet for another hour or so before we had a chance to move it to another celestial object.

    We looked at M-57, the ring Nebula, we observed Albireo to show the color differences in stars and we looked at Epsilon Lyrae to show some close double stars. The Andromeda Galaxy was in the scope for a short while and then we jumped over to Jupiter.

    When the line dwindled a bit, Rowan searched out a few fainter objects. One was a galaxy that I could hardly see yet he found it with no problem. The Brashear scope is an 11” refractor, built in 1909. It doesn’t have any “go-to” functions on it. Finding objects to observe requires knowledge of what you’re looking for, along with the area of sky it is in. Having good eyes helps also!

    The crowds came and went. We saw numerous people at different times. A nice sized meteor skimmed the northern wall of the observatory causing a couple gasps. Two or three satellites were seen during the night. One couple brought up a new telescope that they couldn’t “figure out”. A quick look discovered what they were doing that was wrong, a little tutorial and they were on their way, happy again. That’s what we do here, make people happy!

    A bit after eleven the crowd started to thin, the noise decreased and when I went outside, the members had packed their scopes and were preparing to leave. Most of the public had left also. In the east, the Pleiades and Mars were getting higher and Orion was climbing over the hills in the distance.

    We watched as one of Jupiter’s moons passed behind the planet. There were 6 of us watching, taking turns as the moon got closer and closer to the planet. One of the group was a young girl, about 6-8 years old along with her father. What a great thing to watch at such a young age. Hopefully this will be something she will tell her children about some day in the future!

    The occultation of Ganymede was the final thing we observed. We closed down the room and said our good-byes. There were a couple other club members still observing on the other scope as I drove away.

    Pulling up in front of my house, Orion was higher in the sky. I said good night to him and went in to bed. In the morning when I woke up for Church, he was slipping behind the hill to my west. In the east, in the brightening sky was a thin sliver of the rising moon. The entire disc could be seen, illuminated by earthshine. It was a fitting start to the day, especially after such a nice evening, the night before!

I'm Torn

 The yard outside my window looks like a kaleidoscope with yellows and oranges in constant motion, forever changing. The yard has been raked but the winds have brought more leaves, falling faster than the rake can handle. I should be outside working on the yard but instead, I am inside with my nose stuck in a book.

    I really should say “books”. My reading frequency fluctuates, it ebbs and flows and right now, I’m experiencing a bit of a flood. Don’t think I’m complaining though!

    Ann Marie had recently dropped off a book she thought I’d enjoy. Written by Anna Quindlin, it is an excellent book about writing. Titled “Write for Your Life”, it stresses the importance of putting your thoughts down on paper. The idea runs through her book that things such as letters and cards, things which have written on paper will survive much longer than the texts, e-mails and tweets we compose daily.

    I am also reading a book by John Berger called “About Looking”. This book of essays is a little bit deeper than Anna’s book. I tend to read a chapter and then think about it for a while.

    There are two other books I am in the middle of; I have been reading them for a couple months. They are interesting but whenever another book comes along, they tend to be set aside. One of them is about the origins of papyrus and paper and how they have changed the course of history. Titled “The Pharaoh’s Treasure”, by John Gaudet, I find it interesting to learn about these products and how they were made, but it really isn’t a “page turner”. The second one is called “Dirty Old London” by Lee Jackson. This book tells about how Victorian London worked to control the filth that was overwhelming the town. Animal waste, along with human waste combined with the dirt and dust of the roads and manufacturing was a real health problem. (Not to mention a laundry problem!) A very well written book but like “The Pharaoh’s Treasure”, when another book comes along, it is set aside.

    My most recent trip to the library netted me two more books to add to the list. I recently read “The Book Woman’s Daughter”, by Kim Michele Richardson which tells the story of a young girl in the Kentucky mountains who takes on her mother’s job as a pack horse librarian, supplying books to the people in the depths of Appalachia. One of the books she gave to someone was “The Golden Apples of the Sun” (1953) by Ray Bradbury. This is a collection of short stories. I had read it decades ago and since the name crossed my path, I ordered it from the library so I could read it again. My local library had a copy for me within a week.

    I also picked up “Do Androids Dream about Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick. (1968) I came across this book in another book I had recently read. I’ve read other novels by this science fiction author before and so, it's time to read another of his works! Like the other, the library had a copy for me in no time at all.

    I’ve mentioned the books I’m currently reading. When I picked up these last two volumes, I made a terrible (?) mistake. I read the first short story in the Bradbury book. Now there is a new conundrum in my life, do I continue reading it or set it aside until I’ve finished the others? Decisions, decisions!

    I’ll probably read all of them together; I often choose to read the book that happens to be nearest to me at the time!

    Some of the things I enjoy so much about reading are how one book will lead me to another and how easily one can remind me of another. Even if it is a single sentence, it might take me into a story I’ve read months, or even years ago.  Reading is a never-ending journey through the thoughts and experiences of others, people I come to admire and often look forward to their other writings. I never know where I might end up as I open a book!

    So, if you’ll excuse me, I have work that needs done here, and I’m not talking about raking!

Into the Burgh

 The moon was sitting high in the predawn sky with the red planet Mars off to its upper left. I had come outside to check on the temperature, to figure out how warmly I should dress for the day’s adventure. As I was gazing into the sky, Frank pulled up and within 10 minutes we were on our way. The sun broke over the horizon as we drove down into the city.

    We were on another hunt for both caches and photos. We had a small list of caches situated around downtown Pittsburgh and we had our cameras with us, as always, in case anything photogenic jumped out at us!

    We parked on the top floor of a parking garage and spent a few minutes “hanging” over the edges taking shots of the traffic and people below. Then we headed towards the hill.

(Frank's shot)

    We headed east, going through Strawberry Way, towards the USX Tower and the sun. Our first stop was in the town’s newest green space, Frank Pace Park. Named after a Hill District community activist, the park spans Interstate 579, a 2.7 mile highway cutting through the city. When it was built, hundreds of homes were destroyed in the process, even more were removed when the Civic Arena was built. This park spans the canyon that the highway created between the city and the Hill District.

    There were two caches located in the park and we quickly nailed them. Easy-peasey! From there we headed over towards Flag Plaza, only to find our way blocked by construction. Our plans weren’t written in stone, so we dropped back down into the city again. Coffee and donuts were callin’.

    We talked with some religious folks standing on the corner looking for converts. We discussed the weather and photography and went on our way, nice people! We met some others later in the day and had the same experience, no hard sell, just a nice conversation. Sitting by a fountain, we ate our sweets and sipped our caffeine and then returned to our hunt.

    We stopped in the Union Trust Building and took a few shots in their lobby. What a spectacular place! From there we worked our way down past the Kaufman’s Clock, (or is it now the Target Clock?) and towards Market Square.

    We did a cache near the skinniest building in the city. Located at the corner of Wood and Forbes, the Hendel Building is only 5’2” wide. The building is considered one of the skinniest buildings in the world! It has housed a lunch counter amongst other things. It currently is under construction since a new owner purchased it.

    We visited Market Square and people watched for a bit, visited a camera store and some alleyways before heading back to the car. (Love those alleys!) We drove around a small detour and snagged the cache at Flag Plaza and then headed home by way of Oakland. Two more caches waited for us in the University section of town.

    We visited the statue of The Pitt Panther outside of the Pitt Student Union and then The Westinghouse Memorial in Frick Park before returning home.

    We found 6 out of the 7 caches we looked for, 85% approximately, not bad! We also got some nice shots in the process. We were both surprised at how few people we saw in the city. We remembered when people crowded the sidewalks, especially at quitting time, lining up 4 or 5 deep waiting for their buses. The times have definitely changed! It is still a beautiful city; it is a shame that more people don’t visit it or work in it anymore…

They are Everywhere!

 Here is a short little story in honor of that creepy holiday, Halloween. Well, really, I just find it creepy!

    A geocache was recently released not far from my house, just a bit over a mile. Since it is a Saturday and I have no chores to do, (HA) I decided to take a short drive and find it.

    I was familiar with the area where it was hidden. I turned into a small pull-off and shut off the engine. The GPS still hadn’t found any satellites but my “geosense” was twitching. There were two obvious places where it could be hidden.

    The first one I tried was wrong. I should mention that it was the easier of the two spots, I was hoping. I easily located the cache in my second attempt, signed the log and replaced it as found. Back at the car, the GPS was still searching for its satellites. Bah, sometimes you don’t need them!

    Anyway, as I was driving down the road, I noticed a small bug crawling across my hand. I’m sure you can guess what kind of bug it was…Yup,  a tick!

I hate these bugs!

    I pulled over as quickly as I could, all the while keeping an eye on the little devil. I captured it and squished it between my fingernails. Yuk, kinda gross! Naturally, right afterwards, I started feeling things crawling all over me. I did a quick check and didn’t see any others. I still felt them though, thanks to my over-active imagination.

    One of the big things prodding my imagination was that the day before, I had visited the doctor to have two of them removed from my neck. They were far enough back that I could see them in the mirror but couldn’t remove them.

    A call to my doctors’ office got me an appointment, five hours later. So…just leave them there, sucking on my blood, holding onto my flesh with their hooks. No problem. A little creepy perhaps. The other times I’ve gotten bite by them I had always been able to remove them myself.

         

    Deer ticks are the smaller of the ticks found in Pennsylvania. The deer tick above was magnified 600 times to allow us to see the barbed mouth parts. The second photo gives an idea of how small the deer ticks are as compared to a dog tick.

    The doc spent about 15 minutes working on my neck, making sure that every bit of the bugs had been removed. She then gave me a script for some Doxycycline to tackle any bacteria that might have been left behind. (Gotta watch out for Lyme Disease)

    So it was a little bit of a shock to see another one strolling across my hand the next day. They are everywhere!

    The worst part is the psychological aspect to seeing them. I’ve picked them off my body many times, it is no big deal, part of going out in the woods. BUT, every time I’ve gotten one, I start to feel them crawling all over me. I get itches that I can’t easily scratch. I feel them under my clothes. Rarely is there anything there, but still, I just have to check!

    Now, if you’ll excuse me, I feel something on my back.

Less Than a Month to Go!

 With the start of October I realize that a very important day is less than a month away. On November 4^th we will all be celebrating National Fountain Pen Day! (We do all celebrate it don’t we?) This special day, annually observed on the first Friday of November, was first celebrated in 2012. Its purpose is to promote the use of fountain pens and writing in general.

    I am guessing that most of the population has never picked up a fountain pen let alone used one. We have all seen them in movies, but few people have actually enjoyed the act of writing or drawing with one. It takes us to a different place than where the pencil, the ball point pen or the keyboard takes us.

    The definition of a fountain pen is a writing instrument with a metal nib and a reservoir for holding ink. There are drawings of what appears to be a fountain pen in Leonardo di Vinci’s notebooks, whether he ever made one is unknown. They gained popularity in the mid 1800’s and then that slowly declined as ballpoint pens took over in the 1960’s. They seem to be having a resurgence in popularity with an abundance of on-line stores offering fountain pens, inks and papers.

    Picking up one of my pens, this one manufactured by a company called Monteverde, I enjoy the way it fits nicely into my hand. Simply snap off its lid, it's ready for use. I actually look forward to using this tool!

    It is a slender black pen. Its nib is thin, allowing only a skinny line of ink to reach the paper I’m scribbling across. The ink in it came from a small glass bottle with a label so faded, that I can only guess what company manufactured it. With this ink and pen I can put my thoughts down onto the paper without any problems other than refilling it occasionally.

    I find pleasure in using this tool; I enjoy the way it glides across the paper.  I know how to care for it and maintain it. I understand how its’ ink flows and how long it takes to dry. I know the proper ways to use the pen and how not to abuse it. I know the types of papers which work best with it and which ones to avoid. It is a tool I can use without raising my blood pressure; in fact I often find that I am more relaxed when I’m using it!

    I have other fountain pens which I often switch between. One is filled and sits near-by with green ink in it for when the mood strikes me. A couple others sit stored in a drawer, cleaned and ready for use. They are all enjoyable to use. Good old-fashioned writing, cursive, putting a pen to paper and leaving my thoughts behind.

    There are a couple of these pens in my collection that used to belong to my parents and may be even older than they were. I’d be willing to bet there is at least a couple more, up in the attic.

     I still use regular pens, they are perfect for shopping lists or writing notes. Pencils and markers sit in a coffee cup on my desk along with a couple scissors and a letter opener. Most of them haven’t been used in months if not years. They are there for a specific purpose and writing isn’t it!

    My fountain pens tend to stay in my office/library where I do most of my writing. I value them too much to chance dropping them or losing them in the “outside” world. When I use them, I get a feeling that what I am writing on the page is important. Of course, this is hardly ever the case, but I still enjoy the feeling. I tend to do my first drafts with a fountain pen on paper and later, copy it onto the computer where it gets further editing.

    To purchase a fountain pen you can go on-line or visit a store. There are still a couple places where you can test drive one before you buy, but you would have to look for them. Office stores carry a limited supply of fountain pens, for less than twenty dollars, you can pick one up. As you might expect, the costs of fountain pens can also be astronomical, with some special models exceeding a thousand dollars.

    Many of the fountain pens offered today have prefilled cartridges which can be quickly used to fill the pen. They also offer refillable cartridges for those who like to experiment with all the different types and colors of ink that is available. (Trust me, it can be a rabbit hole, be careful you don’t slip in!)

    There is a little less than a month before National Fountain Pen Day! I urge you to go and try one out, if you haven’t already. They give a certain touch of class, they give a nice look to your handwriting and everyone should strive for that! So, let your imagination run free and let it flow onto your paper. Take some time away from the keyboard or the tablet and pick up a pen, preferably a fountain pen and do some “REAL” writing!