Monthly Archives: June 2021

Trip Peek #112
Trip #21
Impromptu PA

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This picture is from my 2004 Impromptu PA trip which was exactly what the title says. It started with an impromptu work trip that put me in the middle of Pennsylvania a few days ahead of the Memorial Day weekend and finished with a drive home that filled the weekend. On Friday, I headed north through some interesting small towns to reach US-6 which I would follow west until it crossed US-62. US-62 took me to Ohio where I hugged the north bank of the big river till I was back in home territory. The photo is of the Sterling-built diner in Wellsboro, PA, on Route 6. The just-completed World War II memorial was being dedicated that Saturday and a real treat was attending a ceremony in Smethport, PA, that was coordinated with the events in D.C. On Memorial Day, I saw the very tail end of the parade in Portsmouth, OH. In between, I checked out the reconstructed Fort Steuben and the Ohio River Museum in Marietta.

Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full-sized photo and the associated trip journal.

Trip Peek #111
Trip #4
Little Miami

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This picture is from my 2001 Little Miami River day trip. As this was only my fourth documented trip, I was still sorting out just how I wanted to handle things. In fact, this trip was undertaken primarily for practice and experimentation rather than for sightseeing and discovery. My starting point was near where the Little Miami River enters the Ohio River and I followed the smaller stream from there to its source. That source is not too far from the pictured Historic Clifton Mill.

I really got a kick out of reviewing the twenty-year-old trip to produce this Trip Peek. Of particular interest were glimpses of the abandoned Peters Cartridge Company and the rustic-looking Train Stop bar. The long-empty factory was recently given a new life with the opening of Cartridge Brewing and the Train Stop got a new owner and major improvements a few years ago and is now a popular riverside stop called the Monkey Bar.

Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full-sized photo and the associated trip journal.

Trip Peek #110
Trip #124
Dandy Trail

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This picture is from my 2015 Dandy Trail day trip. The Dandy Trail was a scenic loop that circled Indianapolis, IN, in the 1920s. I would have known nothing of this loop were it not for friend and blogger Jim Grey who shared old photos and other knowledge of it on his blog. I combined my drive of the Trail with a gathering of area road fans at the historic Oasis Diner in Plainfield. It’s an informal group that often includes mister Grey but this time sadly did not.

Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full-sized photo and the associated trip journal.

Yellowstone Trail and US-20

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I just posted the journal for the first day of a trip that will take me out of Ohio heading east on US-20 and see me return on US-20 from the west. In between, I intend to get to the west coast by following the Yellowstone Trail from one end to the other. The eastern portions of the trip will be through semi-familiar territory and the two routes even overlap quite a bit. West of Illinois, the two paths separate from each other as well as from places I have been.

This entry is to let blog only subscribers know about the trip and to provide a place for comments. The journal is here.

Live Music From Dead Man String Band

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I have experienced very little live music during the last fifteen months, and I miss it. I was looking forward to attending a Dead Man String Band performance on Fountain Square last month but it fell victim to some serious wind and rain. It was rescheduled for June 4 and this time the weather cooperated in wondrous fashion. It was not, however, the same show I would have seen on May 7 if the weather had not misbehaved so badly back then. The “band” underwent a major transformation that included a tripling in size. You’ll see.

A difference I don’t think had anything to do with the transformation of the headliner, was a change in openers and an increase from one to two. I apologize to Loop Man Dan for catching just a smidgen of his set as I walked through the square on the way to dinner. I returned in time to hear about half of Nick Baker’s performance. Both were new to me and everything I heard sounded good.

Wikipedia says that a string band is “an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments”. The original Dead Man String Band was an ensemble of one. Rob McAllister played some pretty fancy bass and lead parts on an electric guitar while wearing a mask and playing bass and snare drums with his feet.

Rob is still at the heart of the band but, with the addition of John Castetter on bass and Eric Osborne on fiddle, it more closely fits the standard definition of a string band.

Rob calls this the acoustic version of the band and has written a ton of new music for it. That even includes some banjo tunes so that the instrumentation matches that of a traditional string band a little closer. Tonight there was no snare or hi-hat; just a tambourine for that left foot. His face is still partially hidden but now it’s by a beard instead of a mask.

As I circled the crowd on the way out, two different groups spotted my camera and volunteered as subjects. One was seated at a table at the back of the widely spaced crowd and the other was listening from the side of the stage. That’s something that has not happened in a long time and it felt pretty good. Actually, the whole evening felt good — and a little strange. The pandemic isn’t over and COVID has not been conquered but there are promising signs. A little string band music is one for sure.