Monthly Archives: June 2025

Trip Peek #145
Trip #146
Thankful in Tennessee

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This picture is from my 2017 Thankful in Tennessee trip. This was in the style of my Christmas dinners in state parks but this time the holiday was Thanksgiving and the park was in Tennessee rather than Ohio or West Virginia. On Thanksgiving day, I drove straight to Natchez Trace State Park for the holiday buffet. I spent two nights at the park but drove to Brownsville for dinner and a nighttime peek at Billy Tripp’s Mind Field on the second day. I then spent two days getting home with time on US-45 and US-50 and stops in Paducah, KY, Metropolis, IL, and Vincennes, IN. The picture of Pin Oak Lake was taken near the turnaround point of a ranger-led hike I joined on the second day at the park.

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.

Summer’s Here

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Where I live, Friday was the first day of Summer — barely. Summer Solstice, which marks the beginning of astronomical Summer, occurred at 10:52 PM EDT on June 20. Since the 21st was the first full day of Summer, some folks think of that as the first day of the season. But it was the 20th that encompassed the solstice, got Summer started, and counts as the longest day of the year. In Cincinnati, the sun was above the horizon for approximately 916 minutes on Friday versus a little more than 895 minutes on Saturday.

On that 80+ degree first day of Summer, the memory of a recent story about an ice cream stand’s anniversary prompted me to drive to the west side of town, and some sweet coolness. Zip-Dip opened for its 75th season in early March. Regular Summer hours went into effect on May 23. In addition to chocolate and vanilla soft serve, Zip-Dip offers orange sorbet and two rotating flavors of yogurt. I couldn’t have picked a better day for flavor choices.

I got my white chocolate macadamia yogurt with granola and a smile, then headed to the attached picnic area to eat it. Yeah, that cute curl had melted by the time I picked my spot, but I could taste the curl in my first bite, along with a smile and summer and a little neon.

Bones, Butterflies, Bison, Bunnies, and Beavers

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I have visited Big Bone Lick State Historic Site a couple of times in the past, but that was many years ago. Since then, I’ve passed it several times, without stopping, on the way to Rabbit Hash. A friend visited both last week, and their description of that visit made me promise myself that I would return. A sunny Thursday almost immediately provided a perfect opportunity.

My first stop at the park was the Visitor Center. In addition to having a gift shop, helpful attendants, and a supply of information and maps, the center houses a small but very interesting museum. A panel just inside the door offers a pretty good overview of the park. That big guy in the foreground of the third photo is a Harlan’s Ground Sloth.

At the rear of the Visitor Center is a life-sized diorama depicting how earlier visitors to the salt springs might become trapped in the bogs and involuntarily leave their bones for future scientists. Big Bone Lick is on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, not because the Corps of Discovery stopped here but because both of its captains did. At the urging of President Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis visited the site in 1803 on his way west to join William Clark. The boat carrying the specimens he collected sank on its way to Jefferson. In 1807, after that famous expedition to the Pacific Ocean, Clark made a stop here to collect and ship specimens that did reach the President.

Although they have absolutely nothing to do with vertebrate paleontology, I found the smallish examples of wildlife flitting about in front of the Visitor Center a lot of fun to watch.

A paved path that begins a short distance from the Visitor Center leads to an elevated bison viewing stand. But no bison presented themselves to be viewed there today. Instead, the small herd was lounging in the grass, just out of sight, a short distance away.

Having noted that I’ve passed Big Bone Lick a number of times while driving to Rabbit Hash, continuing on to the one-of-a-kind river town after my stop was rather natural. Besides, if I hadn’t, I could not have put “bunnies” in the title. I grabbed an ice-cold ginger ale at the general store, then sipped it as I watched the Ohio River flow by.

This intersection, just east of US 42 about two and a half miles east of Big Bone Lick, marks the community of Beaverlick. I believe there used to be limit signs here, but I found none today. If I didn’t imagine them, I’m guessing they are hanging on a college dorm wall somewhere. Until a year or so ago, there was a Beaverlick Trading Post at US 42, but it is now an ice cream stand, and almost all of the signage has been changed. They’ve not yet taken care of a couple of side doors, however. Places like Big Bone Lick and Beaver Lick (now Beaverlick) were salt licks where various animals came to get a little salt in their diet. They were named for the lickers, not the lickees.

To complete what has turned into a survey of the area’s smile-inducing place names, I stopped at an establishment that appears to be the last remaining enterprise acknowledging that the community of Sugartit once existed. It’s just a few miles north of those spots made famous by salt-licking beavers and big boned animals.

Book Review
Route 66: The First 100 Years
Jim Ross and Shellee Graham

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It’s a beauty. That was my initial thought when I first held this book in my hands and flipped it open. I wasn’t surprised, of course. I’ve seen enough of Jim and Shellee’s work to make me expect great photography and writing, a top-tier knowledge of history, and a rock-solid commitment to quality. I’m not quite as familiar with Reedy Press, but what I have seen smacks of the quality targeted in that previously mentioned commitment. My instant declaration of beauty came from seeing great images accurately reproduced on thick glossy pages. Including the text in my appraisal took only a little more time.

Route 66: The First 100 Years differs from some of the authors’ previous books in that it does not rely almost exclusively on their own photography for the book’s images. It’s a history book, so naturally, historic images are used; however, contemporary pictures from other photographers are also included, with each being properly credited.

Unlike many other Route 66-related books, Route 66: The First 100 Years is not organized geographically. Nor is it organized chronologically as history books often are. There is a slight hint of chronology in discussing the roads that preceded US 66 in Chapter 1, “Revolutionizing Travel”, and covering “Renaissance” and “Preservation” in the last two chapters. In between, chapter subjects might be eras (e.g., “Hard Times”), collections of people (e.g., “Ladies of Legend”) and businesses (e.g., “Trading Posts and Tourist Traps”), or something else. Whatever the subject, a wide-ranging set of examples is included. But 100 years and 2400+ miles cover a lot of space and time, and anyone with more than a passing familiarity with Route 66 will probably come up with a personal favorite or two that didn’t get included. The selection process could not have been easy, but the selections are excellent.

Every chapter, like the vast majority of real-life road trips, has a “Detour”. The book’s detours are deep dives into one of the chapter’s subjects, and not all of them are obvious. The detour for the “Revolutionizing Travel” chapter is “The Ozark Trails”. This was an early named auto trail, or actually a system of auto trails, that, in my experience, doesn’t seem to get enough recognition. The “Hard Times” chapter takes a detour into an area that has been overlooked far too often for far too long: “The Green Book and Threatt Filling Station”.

It’s probably not all that surprising that Route 66: The First 100 Years overflows its twelve numbered chapters. It starts with a full page of Acknowledgments, followed by a Forward written by Route 66’s storytelling king, Michael Wallis. Jim and Shellee follow that with a Preamble, then include an Epilogue, Road Facts, and a few other sections after Chapter 12. One of these sections, titled “Happy Trails”, is a collection of roadside photos taken over the Mother Road’s first 100 years. Many are of unidentified travelers, but there are some real celebrities in the mix. There’s Jack Rittenhouse standing beside a California U.S. 66 sign, Lillian Redman by an Arizona 66 sign, and Cynthia Troup gazing at a U.S. 66 sign in New Mexico. As I said earlier, 100 years and 2400+ miles cover a lot of space and time. Jim and Shellee have done an impressive job of capturing the big picture and quite a few of the small picture details, too.

While writing this, I took a look back at a post from this blog’s first few months of existence. My review of “Route 66 Sightings” by Jim and Shellee, along with their good friend Jerry McClanahan, was one of the first reviews published here. I was surprised to see that its last sentence starts with the exact same words that begin this review: “It’s a beauty”. Maybe I’m in a rut, but at least I’m being honest.

Route 66: The First 100 Years, Jim Ross and Shellee Graham, Reedy Press (May 22, 2025), 11 x 9 inches, 208 pages, ISBN 978-1681065823
Available through Amazon.

Where the Airstream Wheels Start

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One reason the Airstream Heritage Center has been on my “someday” list for such a long time is that, while I find travel trailers interesting, they are not something I aspire to, and therefore don’t think about a whole lot. Another is that it’s close enough to my home that I knew it would be a simple day trip when the time came. Early in the week. I briefly followed a long flatbed trailer with three small new Airstreams strapped to it, and that reminded me of just how close to me their point of manufacture is. That reminder, along with an idle Thursday, led to a leisurely drive north. A popular Airstream slogan is “Home Is Where Wheels Stop”. Those Airstream wheels are mounted and start turning in Jackson Center, Ohio.

The Heritage Center is attached to the front of the 750,000-square-foot trailer manufacturing plant. The admissions desk is just out of frame on the right. On the left is a new trailer and a display of Airstream-branded gear. The gift shop, where my museum tour will eventually lead, is on the right. The museum entrance is straight ahead. The online reservations for the factory tour would not let me select a date prior to June 10, so I assumed the tours were full or otherwise not available. Not so, said the girls at the museum desk, and they signed me right up.

First up in the museum is a timeline that begins with the birth of Airstream founder Wally Byam in 1896 and ends with the building of this facility in 2018. Displayed at the timeline’s very beginning is the canteen that Wally’s grandfather, Loren, carried in the Civil War. It is claimed that this whole Airstream thing came to be because Wally really liked to camp, and his wife, Stella, did not like sleeping on the ground.

This is the very first Airstream Clipper ever built. It was hand-delivered by Wally Byam to the President of Mexico in 1936. At some point, it became the property of a traveling circus. It was eventually discovered near Mexico City and, once identified, restored. The placard contains some photos and an abbreviated history.

In the late 1930s, Airstream produced some wooden trailers that resembled large teardrop trailers more closely than the familiar rounded-end models typically associated with the name. The sign explains that this 1938 Airlite “…had an aluminum skin applied over the original Masonite exterior which helped to preserve it”. Airstream halted production during WWII but got the wheels rolling again in May 1947 with the Airstream Liner, which was basically a much improved Clipper. That’s a 1949 Liner pictured. The third photo is of a 1949 double-door Whirlwind model.

Here’s a trio of particularly well-traveled examples. In fact, Oscar and Etta Payne’s 1957 Bubble could be the most travelled Airstream of them all. With a legitimate claim of having gone “Around the World in 859 Days”, it is one of four Airstreams from the 1960 European Caravan to tour Russia in the Soviet Union. Virgil and Grace Golden ordered their 1963 Tradewind specifically for the 1963-64 Around the World Caravan, but it made many more journeys than that. The white 1955 Cruiser was used by Wally and Stella Byam on the 1956 European Caravan. It was painted white to match the Byams’ white Cadillac tow vehicle.

I had driven to Jackson Center thinking I would have no factory tour, and I would have been quite happy with that. Of course, learning that I could tour the factory made me even happier. The picture at right was taken just outside the museum. Corporate offices are upstairs. Trailer manufacturing is through those doors straight ahead. No photos are allowed.

There are approximately 500 employees in this building and about 1200 in all Airstream facilities in Jackson Center. The city’s population is roughly 1450. Our guide, Dan, did an outstanding job of describing every phase of the operation, and the tour does an outstanding job of selling the product. Airstream has a reputation for high quality. That top-tier quality, along with worker safety and satisfaction, is a primary goal is evident throughout the factory. It looked to me like the premium prices these trailers command are justified.

Factory tours are free, and the museum is cheap — $5 or less. Currently, the company’s website (https://www.airstream.com/) appears to be experiencing some issues, including those that prevented me from reserving a tour in advance. Hopefully those are resolved soon. At present, website issues do not interfere with access to a factory tour video that is almost as good as the real thing.

Sign Museum Threefer

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I visited the American Sign Museum on Thursday. Technically, I visited it twice, once during normal hours and once in the evening for a special Tod Talk. The Tod Talk, “Acquiring and Restoring the Frisch’s Mainliner Sign”, was the reason I was there on this particular day, but I also wanted to see the freshly installed genie pictured at right and the museum’s first-ever special display. Ergo, a threefer.

The museum has owned a pair of the giant Carpeteria Genies since 2003, but one was held in off-site storage until last week. Wonderfully restored, it now stands beside the entrance to the museum’s parking lot. I failed to get a picture of the genie at the front door (which is admittedly looking a little faded these days), so I have included one from the museum’s 2012 grand opening at this location.

When the museum expanded last year (New Stuff to Look At), it was said that there was now enough space to potentially accommodate some temporary exhibits. The first such exhibit, Glow & Behold: Cincinnati’s Historic LGBTQ+ Bar Signs, is in place now. One panel supplies an introduction. Another notes that “…there were more drag queens and kings, known then as female and male impersonators, working on Vine Street in Cincinnati in the 1880s and 1890s than there are today.”

The exhibit includes photos of several businesses that no longer exist, along with retired signs (Remember where we are.) from both defunct and very active establishments. Saturday night’s “Signs & Spouses: A Sparkling Celebration of Marriage Equality” was inspired by this exhibit.

As closing time approached, I took advantage of the relatively empty museum to grab pictures of the Frisch’s Mainliner sign and its flying machine in pieces on the ground without humans milling about. I will be learning a lot more about this sign in a couple of hours.

Between the time that the Tod Talk was announced and when it actually happened, the sign was moved from the storage site to inside the museum, and so was the talk. The email announcing the move let us know that this would allow a cash bar, etc. To my surprise, “etc.” included a genuine Frisch’s hamburger from the still-operating independently owned franchise restaurant in Bellevue, KY. I had eaten during my time away from the museum, but I hadn’t eaten THAT much, and I didn’t want to appear unappreciative, so…

The talk began with Erin Holland, the museum’s Director of Education and Engagement, delivering a greatly abbreviated version of her March presentation on the overall history of Frish’s and its advertising. Then Tod Swormstedt, the museum’s founder and the Tod of Tod Talks, stepped in to share stories about acquiring and taking possession of the Mainliner sign.

The instant that hints of the Mainliner closing began to circulate, the fate of its incredible sign became a topic of concern for many locals and the ASM in particular. As restaurants closed and lawsuits opened, it wasn’t easy to learn just who owned what. It took some creative sleuthing by Erin to contact the owners of the sign. That resulted in a mid-December meeting with three men identified at the time only by their first names. Although they tried to imply that there were others interested in the sign, it was pretty obvious to Tod that not many would actually want a sign of that size, fewer still would have the means to remove it, and no one else could possibly accomplish that by the suggested end-of-year deadline. Even so, there was no additional contact until Christmas Eve, when the museum was told it could have the sign, and yes, that end-of-year deadline was real and very firm. In anticipation of that happening, Tod had sown some seeds in the ASM phenomenal community of helpers. Although the timing could hardly have been worse, the sign was taken down and transported to a museum storage area in a single day.

Every day is a big day at the ASM, but some are bigger than others. The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so various projects are often scheduled for those days. Monday, May 19, saw two really big projects completed. The huge genie in the opening photo was erected in front of the museum, and the Frish’s Mainliner sign was moved inside it. Natalie Grilli, photographer for the upcoming book on the museum’s first twenty-five years, was onsite and busy bouncing between the two giants in motion. Natalie was also onsite Thursday evening. Pictures and some of the videos of the moves we saw on Thursday can be seen on the ASM’s Facebook page.

The group then moved out to where the Mainliner sign now stands, and I silently congratulated myself for taking those unblocked photos earlier. Tod now pointed out some of the sign’s features and described some of the plans for its restoration. Those plans are far from complete, but he said restoring the rotating propellers is definitely part of them. A printout of that photo displayed next to the sign was waiting on each chair, and I’ve included a scan of mine here. Note that the original chase lighting was incandescent and ran through the airplane. At some point, this was removed from the plane and converted to neon tubes on the sign body. The plugged holes can be seen in the picture of the airplane interior above. This is also something that Tod hopes to restore. The separate section with the Big Boy has been lost and will likely not be restored.

Something that may be obvious but still should be pointed out and cheered is that the restoration of this sign will take place in the middle of the museum in full sight of visitors. This will certainly present some challenges for those doing the restoration, but it is sure exciting for us mere spectators. Also in the realm of spectating, the sign can be seen at its original home during my own final visit to the Mainliner. A link to pre-order that 25th anniversary book I mentioned is on the museum’s support page