February 2020 – Towing Silver: Kim Davison's Travels

It’s Spring 2019! Time to Roll!

I begin where I left off on my last trip.

Cora and I are hooked up and ready to roll!

Our first stop is Cincinnati and Cora and I get to enjoy Ron and DC’s fabulous hospitality. Oddly enough, I didn’t get any photos of the three of us together during this visit, so I will share some shots of the four-legged residents of their house.

There’s Dodger,

Floyd,

Mojo,

and Molly.

My visit to Cincinnati coincided with the beginning of the first game of 2019, on March 28. They also had the 100th Findlay Market Opening Day Parade the same day.

Now, baseball isn’t my cup of tea, but I’m always up for a new experience. DC had arranged a place for us to hang out while watching the parade.

We took up our spots in Revolution Rotisserie and waited for the parade. We didn’t have to wait too long.

The color guard lead the way.

Then there was a “float.” At least, it looked like a float.

Actually, it was a trailer hauling a machine that shot off fireworks! I think the last time I saw daytime fireworks as part of a procession was at Las Fallas in Valencia, Spain in 1976.

Kids came equipped with bags to catch loot being thrown. Incidentally, Rozzi Fireworks didn’t throw any firecrackers to the kids.

The Chief of Police was there. Or, at least his car was there. (I just say that because the only Chief of Police I know to identify is Commissioner Reagan.)

But that’s New York City…back to Cincinnati!

Next came the firefighters.

I wonder what the maximum capacity is for a firetruck?

A guy decorated his bicycle and joined in the parade.

You might have to look really hard to find the marching band in this photo. After all, they are wearing camouflage.

Findlay Market is making an appearance, celebrating their 100th Anniversary of sponsoring the parade, AND the Red Socks 150th anniversary.

The poor kids are still waiting hopefully for the first treat to be thrown.

The Traffic Unit of the Sheriff’s Department rolled on by.

Followed by the pipers.

The Drum Major was really strutting his stuff! Incidentally, that staff he is carrying is called a mace.

Not being from Cincinnati or a baseball aficionado, I had to look up this Reds mascot. Here we have Gapper riding a three-wheeled motorcycle on a two-wheeled trailer.

Apparently, they have four mascots. In addition to Gapper, there is Rosie Red, Red Legs and Mr. Red.

Old-timey cars belong in parades – especially if they are convertibles and they are Red Socks red!

The Air Force brought out one of their smallest planes to join in the fun.

Ah! More mascots!

I guess cars don’t have to be particularly old to join in the fun – just as long as they have the appropriate color scheme.

This deadly looking vehicle is Redzilla. I was guessing that is was a super-powered t-shirt cannon. I was right! The Reds describe it as “the first-ever triple-barrel, cart mounted souvenir launcher.”

Too bad they aren’t launching any trinkets those poor kids can put in their bags.

If it has wheels or can march, it seems to belong in this parade. This group has both!

Here come the marching pompon girls.

Now, this is something I’ve never seen in a parade before – a marching inflatable. This inflated Air Force eagle had a handler who helped him navigate and steer clear of obstacles.

He’d stop every now and then and people would gather around for photos ops.

Sometimes a hug would suffice.

Where have all the marching bands gone? The sound track of this portion of the parade was provided by a sound system with speakers on the back. I guess this is the melding of tradition and technology – or perhaps the result of defunding the arts in schools.

Not being from Cincinnati nor a baseball devotee, I had to look up these names. The look like real live Cincinnati Reds team members – pitchers Anthony DeSclafani and Sonny Gray.

I thought I should head back into the bar to see what was happening there. It was playing on the TVs inside, so there was no need to fight the crowds on the street.

Hey! The horses are coming! I’d better get back out there and check them out.

No horses yet, but an interesting assemblage of wheels and dogs were passing.

An artifact from the World Trade Center rolled by.

A marcher carried a poster with facts along side the truck hauling the float.

A steamboat with its remote control handler chugged down the street.

A tricycle rider pulled a string of trailers proclaiming MLB 150.

Followed by “GO REDS.”

The SWAT team took part, too. At least, I think they were there to participate in the celebration. I don’t think they were their in their official capacity. I know sports fans can get rowdy, but this crowd seemed pretty calm.

When the trash truck rumbled by, we decided that it we had seen enough parade for one day. I wonder how much longer it would be passing by? Could it be that they just made a big loop – a Mobius strip of a parade?

Ehh…probably not.

In any event, we went back to the house. Or maybe out to dinner.

After a good night’s sleep, Cora and I were on our way again.

A Summary of Fall 2018

So, I have finally wrapped up the posts about my Fall 2018 travels. Time for a short summary.

I spent the night in six states and passed through Illinois.

I visited some friends along the way.

I met Sue in real life in Kansas City, Kansas. We’d known each other on Facebook for years.

I met up with Jack and Elizabeth, old Airstreaming buddies and Facebook friends, in Kansas City, Missouri.

I met up with Nancy in Conway, Arkansas. We’ve been digital friends from BEFORE Facebook!

I couldn’t resist including this photo of Nancy and her dog.

Karen and I got together for the first time in real life in Nashville, Tennessee.

Finally, I got to spend time with Ron, an old friend from Kalamazoo who moved to Cincinnati back in the ’90s.

I also made some friends. Julie and Mike were the first T@bbers I met actually camping!

I also made some inroads on my mission to visit state capitols.

By KTrimble at English Wikipedia – Own work (KTrimble), CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15646618

I saw Missouri’s state capitol in Jefferson City. I had to “borrow” the photo from my Preferred Source as my photos were suboptimal.

This was about the best shot I had. As I said, suboptimal.

I visited Tennessee’s capitol in Nashville.

The capitol of Kentucky in Frankfort rounds out the group.

I also managed to get a few things checked off my “Next Time” list.

I visited The Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. The steamboat sank in the Missouri River in 1856 and was found in a cornfield in 1988. The course of the river shifted so much over time that it made it hard to locate, even though people had ideas about where it was. It was a treasure trove of everything needed for daily life in the middle of the 19th century.

There was glassware.

All the goods you would need to set up housekeeping.

Heck! They even had the stuff you would need to build the house!

I managed to tour the Gibson Guitar factory in Memphis, before it closed.

I am usually partial to red, but this blue guitar is mighty pretty.

I visited the Peabody Hotel in Memphis.

The hotel is famous for the ducks that live in the fountain in the lobby.

Each afternoon, the duckmaster comes down and marches the little flock from the lobby into the elevator and to their penthouse on the roof.

Not quite a “Next Time” list item, but I also had my shoes shined while I was at the hotel. I love having my shoes shined!

The Lorraine Motel has also been on my bucket list. People of a certain age will never forget what happened here. Not a joyous spot to visit, but definitely important.

It is also home to the National Civil Rights Museum. If you visit, you will be bowled over by the horrors of the struggle for equality.

Also on my “Next Time” list was Crater of Diamonds State Park. I wanted to go mining for diamonds!

I was a bit surprised when I saw that this was the diamond mine.

This was my “haul.”

The closest I got to finding a diamond was this tiny shard of glass. Oh, well…

I also revisited places I’ve been before.

I managed to snap this rainy photo of the St. Louis Arch as I crossed the Mississippi River.

I knew the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was closed, but I stopped by to see if they had any interesting sculptures on the grounds. I had been there in the ’70s as part of a Girl Scout event.

I stopped by the Colored School in Neosho, Missouri. This is where George Washington Carver began his education. I worked on restoring the building to its original configuration as part of an HistoriCorps project in 2015.

I stayed at Toad Suck Campground near Conway, Arkansas again. I even had the same campsite!

You can’t beat those Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds for quality and (usually) great water views.

I had been to Hot Springs, Arkansas before. This time, I booked a bath at the Buckstaff Baths. It was a marvelous experience. If I had known how wonderful it would be, I would have put it on my “Next Time” list.

There were also some interesting things that kind of popped up.

I saw Bill Clinton’s birthplace home, in Hope, Arkansas.

The house Bill’s family moved to when his mother married his stepfather was also in Hope.

This house, in Hot Springs, is where he spent his teenaged years.

I came across this unusually modern cathedral in Jefferson City. I’d seen modern architecture used in churches before, but never anything like this in a cathedral.

It was also interesting because I happened in on a Knights of Columbus mass.

I was back in Lewis and Clark territory. I came upon this interesting sculpture grouping near the Missouri capitol.

While looking for interesting things to do in Kansas City, I found the National World War I Museum and Memorial. It was quite interesting.

I decided to have lunch in the cafeteria. There were several authentic dishes that the doughboys would’ve eaten. I selected “S.O.S.” which was served on a tin dish.

In Memphis, I came across Elvis.

I also drove out to take a peek at Graceland. At a minimum price for adults of $41 dollars, I wasn’t about to make a visit a priority.

While prowling around Nashville, I came across this Woolworth that had been converted to a restaurant. It was the site of sit-ins for civil rights back in the ’60s. I had a little refreshment there.

One last unexpected item before I summarize the trip.

I found Daniel Boone’s final resting place in Frankfort, Kentucky and I actually met a descendant of his while I was there.

And now, my trip by the numbers:

Number of states I slept in: six
Number of days in the trip: 24
Number of miles towing: 2750
Number of campgrounds: 8
Number of alternative lodgings: 1 night behind a Cracker Barrel (Crackerdocking, we call it) and 2 nights of home hospitality
Number of old friends I met up with: 8
Number of new friends I’ve kept in touch with since: 2

And finally…
Number of days until my next trip: 142

See you down the road!

Last Stop on the Fall 2018 Trip – Cincinnati

My last stop on this journey was Cincinnati. My friends, Ron and DC invited me to stop at their house. I parked in the street and enjoyed the comforts of their adorable house.

I always said that any house looks better with an Airstream in front of it, but a T@b isn’t bad, either.

This was just a short visit, as I really did need to get home. Ron took me across the river to Covington, Kentucky. Our first stop was George Rogers Clark Park.

George Rogers Clark Park is that small green rectangle on the southern side of the Ohio River.

I was wondering who George Rogers Clark was, so of course I had to check my Preferred Source. I wondered if this was the Clark in Lewis-and-Clark. After all, it is right by the water. No, that Clark was William Clark, his younger brother. This Clark was a surveyor, soldier and militia officer from Virginia. During the Revolutionary War, he served as leader of the militia in Kentucky, which was still a part of Virginia at that time. Due to his successes during the Illinois Campaign, he greatly weakened British influence in the Northwest Territory. The British ceded the entire Northwest Territory to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Clark has often been hailed as the “Conqueror of the Old Northwest”.

By James B. Longacre – http://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.72.14, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1385299

I don’t know how true of a likeness this is, as it was painted seven years after his death in 1818, but I offer it to you for your consideration.

Apparently they were big on sobriquets back then, as he appears to have had a number of them.

Conqueror of the Old Northwest
Hannibal of the West
Washington of the West
Father of Louisville

If you are interested in knowing more about his life, you can start with my Preferred Source. Or, maybe this is as much as you ever care to know about this person. In which case, you’re welcome.

Anyway, back to the park named in his honor.

It is a small, but scenic location with a great view of the Roebling Suspension Bridge and the Cincinnati skyline.

This statue that is pointing the way is of Simon Kenton.

I’ll let you read the plaque that is on the base of the statue.

If the statue weren’t honor enough, there is also a boulder with a plaque on it.

This place was frequented by many Pioneer Leaders. It certainly was a great location. For some reason, I neglected to take a photo of the other side.

It was a beautiful day, and we strolled about the park to see what we could see.

For some reason, I thought this was a Little Free Library. Upon closer inspection of my photo, I’m not sure if it is. I’ve seen some really cute ones in my travels, so I probably just assumed that is was. You know what happens when you a assume, right?

Maybe the riverboat was there in honor of Captain Mary B. Green, one of the few women to become a licensed Boat Master and River Pilot.

In case you can’t read the text on the plaque, let me share it with you.

Mary Greene was born the daughter of a country storekeeper. When she married Captain Gordon C. Greene, she left the land to make her life and raise her family on the rivers of America. Captain Mary was one of the few women to become a licensed boat master and river pilot.

The exploits of Mary Green are legendary. She steered through a cyclone, survived an explosion of nitroglycerine, and gave birth to a son while her boat was locked in an ice gorge. After the death of her husband in 1927, Captain Mary ran the 28 paddle wheelers of the Greeneline Steamers Company, including the Delta Queen.

I enjoyed this youngster exploring the statue of Captain Mary.

He worked his way around the statue, from the front to the back.

He looked like he was scratching his head, puzzling out something on the back of the statue, so I had to take a look.

Hmm…I’m not quite sure what it is. It’s time for a closer look.

Ah! She’s holding her captain’s hat.

I saw this plaque, but I didn’t see the fountain. I went looking on the Internet for a photo – you know, you can find just about everything if you just look – but I didn’t find one.

I did find a newspaper clipping for George and Ruth. They moved into a house that was right on the park in 1940, and he was born in the area in 1905.

And that’s all I can find about them.

Thought that this might be their fountain, but it doesn’t quite look like a fountain. I mean, the area at the base of the pillar is filled with gravel.

Hmm. This really doesn’t look like a fountain. Next time I’m in the area, I’ll have to look at it more closely.

The park was filled with family groups taking photos. I am such an old fogey that my idea of taking pictures of the family is finding someone to point and shoot someone’s camera – a Brownie Hawkeye, a Polaroid Land Camera or maybe an Instamatic. Of course, the shots were out of focus or the heads would be cut off. And, since film and processing was so expensive, people only took one or two shots.

Now, with digital cameras and professional photographers, family portraits are great!

Ron and I kind of had a foot in each world. Digital photo, someone else took it – but it was just a passerby that I passed my phone to. Cheap, yet effective.

One last photo of a memorial to the history of the area before we move on. There were so many plaques and signs and memorials in the park! Maybe I’ll go back someday and read them all. (Or not…)

Our second – and last stop in Covington – was the home of Daniel Carter Beard. He is honored as “The Father of Scouting.” “Uncle Dan,” as he was known, was an interesting fellow. In addition to organizing a group called the “Sons of Daniel Boone,” he was an artist, a social reformer and a civil engineer. In fact, he did some work for Mark Twain.

By Daniel Carter Beard – Library of Congress[1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7016533

This was from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, which was published in 1889.

He came from a family of artists, and the home that we stopped to look at was his uncle’s House – William Holbrook Beard. His uncle specialized in satirical paintings of animals performing human-like activities.

By William Holbrook Beard – jwHVtTrNKnH3dQ at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22490950

His father, James Henry Beard, was also a painter. Incidentally, he was born in Buffalo, New York in 1812. There happened to be a war going on there in 1812. Not exactly a place you’d want to raise a family. I visited an 1812 cemetery in Buffalo on an earlier trip.

https://www.bedfordfineartgallery.com/james_henry_beard_artwork.html

If you are interested in buying this painting, it is for sale at the Bedford Fine Art Gallery in Bedford, Pennsylvania.

Anyway, back to Uncle Dan. He founded his “Sons of Daniel Boone” in 1905, and merged it with the Boy Scouts of America in 1910, and is considered one of the founders.