Big Guy in Mercer County

Celina, Ohio, the seat of Mercer County, isn’t far from the center line of the swath of totality that swept across the state during the solar eclipse of April 8, 2024. The original plan called for the new giant at the Mercer County Fairgrounds to be completed on the same day but the eclipse was preceded by heavy rain that resulted in a one-day delay. Any disappointment that caused was instantly erased when the 27-foot wooden sculpture was unveiled.

The sculpture is the work of Bear Hollow Wood Carvers of French Lick, Indiana, who had nine carvers from five different states on-site in the project. This is the second sculpture of similar size that Bear Hollow has constructed. The first was built a year ago in their hometown. There is a good overview of the Mercer County project here.

Having visited installations of Thomas Dambo’s trolls in Clermont, KY, and  Dayton, OH. I couldn’t help but make comparisons. They are quite similar in size and appearance. However, with “Wood Carvers” being part of the name, it’s not surprising that Bear Hollow’s creations have more carved details.

On the afternoon of the day I took these pictures, Mercer County Fair Manager Cara Muhlenkamp and Bear Hollow Wood Carvers co-owner Jason Emmons were on hand to give the giant a name  After two months of nominations and voting, the name Nelson won out over many others. I was not there for the announcement but do have a link to the video. In the picture of the hand in the previous panel, a glimpse can be had of what Muhlenkamp refers to as the “cutest little tushie” in the video.


I visited the giant on Tuesday by adding about thirty miles to my normal drive to Greenville. I also added a new name to my list of personally approved breakfast stops. The Bay Restaurant has good food, good service, a great view, and is conveniently located for both fishers and giant hunters.

Book Review
Tracing a T to Sebring
Denny Gibson

This book is an odd one that probably doesn’t deserve a review in even this little corner of the internet. On the other hand, this little corner is just about the only place where its oddities can be discussed. It is identical in concept to 2021’s Tracing a T to Tampa. Both tell about retracing an Ohio-Florida trip 100 years after the Model T Ford-powered originals. There are two huge differences, however. The Model T trips were undertaken by my great-grandparents and modern knowledge of them comes from my great-grandmother’s real-time reporting. For the 1920 trip, her writing covered the drive to Florida, significant time in the state, and the drive home which included some real sightseeing in the east. Only 48 handwritten pages exist from the 1923 trip and that barely gets them to Florida, covers very little of their time in the state, and none of the drive home.  The second big difference between the two books is that Tracing a T to Tampa contains a fair amount of background on the travelers and the times in which they lived. That information does not appear in Tracing a T to Sebring.

Both “Tracing…” books have obvious personal and family connections. Among the reasons for publishing both books was a desire to preserve Granny’s letters and make them available to the family. But the story those letters tell is of interest well beyond the family. Anyone curious about early auto travel or just life in the 1920s in general can probably enjoy them. I would like to think those same people can enjoy the expansion and updates I have tacked on. Actually, I guess I really only believe that about the first of the pair. It’s not impossible for people unrelated to Frank and Gertrude to enjoy this oneway tale of their second Florida trip. Nor is it impossible for it to be enjoyed by people unfamiliar with the “…Tampa” book. But I do think it’s not very easy. It really is a sequel and one that almost requires reading the earlier work to appreciate. It also helps if you have some idea of who Frank and Gertrude were. This book is clearly in a niche more deeply than any of my others. My relatives and/or folks who read and enjoyed Tracing a T to Tampa will probably like Tracing a T to Sebring. Everyone else, not so much.

Tracing a T to Sebring, Denny Gibson, Trip Mouse Publishing, 2024, paperback, 9 x 6 inches, 62 pages, ISBN 979-8875936098.

Available through Amazon.

Reader reviews at Amazon and Goodreads are appreciated and helpful and can be submitted regardless of where you purchased the book. All Trip Mouse books are described and signed copies are available here.

Trip Peek #135
Trip #169
Miles of Possibility 2022

This picture is from my 2022 Route 66 Miles of Possibility trip. The scene is Ron Jones’ customized 1956 Chevrolet parked in front of The Eagle Performing Arts & Conference Center in Pontiac, Illinois, where all conference presentations took place. Obligations at home had me driving non-stop to the conference but that wasn’t really a problem because Pontiac is just about the closest Route 66 gets to my home. There were two days of presentations at the conference along with three evenings of comradery and entertainment and enough free time to work in visits to the many museums in Pontiac.

In the trip’s prelude, I commented about how nice it was to have a conference to go to after all of the shutdowns and delays COVID-19 had caused. I had plans to make up for the express run to the conference with a few days on Sixty-Six but it was not to be. One day after the conference ended, I learned that one of the attendees had tested positive for COVID and I soon had my own positive test results to deal with. My symptoms were nearly non-existent but my drive home was even more expedited than the drive to the conference had been.


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.

CincItalia 2024

It looks like CincItalia came into being in 2010 so it is not an ancient Cincinnati tradition I need to feel guilty about not attending in years gone by. But it was something I was aware of and thought sounded interesting so I was kind of pleased when things worked out for me on Friday. Yes, it is a church fundraiser and that is something I’m trying to cut back on but I realize that my flesh is entirely too weak to completely avoid a little backsliding now and then.

One of my first stops at the festival was in a large building where some presentations take place and where a couple of culturally significant items are displayed. One is a Sicilian Festival Cart from Palermo, Italy, described by the sign propped against it. The other is a plaster cast used in replacing a bronze statue stolen from Cincinnati’s Eden Park in 2022 as summarized on a nearby sign. A fuller telling is here. A photo of the currently displayed statue is here.

I was here for my evening meal and thought of it as essentially just another dining-out occasion and not so much as a wild festival. With that in mind, I made one “browsing” pass through the area identified in the opening photo as “Little Eataly” and then selected my three-course meal.

Toasted ravioli made a great appetizer and lasagna was perfect for the main course. That’s CincItalia Pils, brewed by West Side Brewing especially for this event, in the cup. Mini-cannolis were three for the price of two. I forced myself.

Plus there were plenty of food and beverage choices that I did not get around to.

No self-respecting Cincinnati church festival would omit several raffles and other games of chance but that’s another thing I did not get around to. I did poke my head into one of the cooking demonstrations but it was full and I’m pretty sure it would have been over my head anyway.

I definitely enjoyed the many “Leonardo’s Fun Facts” that I spotted but I know that I missed a bunch.

Even though I was there, as I’ve said, only for the food, I did stick around for a bit of the Naked Karate Girls show. These guys are definitely entertaining and one or two of them may even know some karate. If so, that would mean their name isn’t a complete lie.

The festival is a three-day affair with Saturday and Sunday presented as family-friendly events. I assume that means, among other things, that the carnival-style rides I saw parked around the edges will be operating. Saturday runs 3:00 to 11:00 and Sunday runs 1:00 to 9:00. Friday’s 6:00 to 12:00 run was billed as adults only but I’m not sure whether that meant a wild Bacchanalia throughout the grounds, some dirty jokes from the bandstand, or old folks nodding off at sundown. I left before I found out and before I nodded off.

ADDENDUM 2-Jun-2024: These photos were not part of the original post but, after tagging a Facebook link to it with the line “There’s a party on the Buddy LaRosa side of town.”, I thought them appropriate. Yes, LaRosa’s Pizza had a trailer there and San Antonio Church had a booth. That’s the church where Buddy sold his first pizzas using sauce made from his Aunt Dena’s recipe.

Melee Day

I’ve read a fair amount of Sword & Sorcery fiction and played a little Dungeons & Dragons but my medieval role-playing never made it beyond washing down a turkey leg with mead at the local Renaissance Festival. On Saturday I was a slightly out-of-place spectator where some sword-related role-playing was happening with people who take it very seriously and have the bruises to prove it. This weekend Cincinnati Siege 2024, “The biggest armored combat event in Ohio”, is taking place in nearby Mount Orab under the auspices of the Cincinnati Barbarians.

It is a two-day event which means it is half over. 1-on-1 duels are happening today. I attended 5-on-5 melees yesterday. I arrived just a few minutes after the 10:00 AM opening time and found a meeting in process. Most of the participants were wearing yellow shirts which I later learned identified the event marshalls so I imagine they were going over rules and procedures. I can’t say for sure that they put extra emphasis on the “No Stabbing” thing but it seems like a good idea.

The first combat was scheduled for 10:30 and would actually start a few minutes after that. I used some of the time to look over the small merchandise area.

When I returned to the arena, metal-clad fighters were gathering and it wasn’t too long before the first of them began entering the wood-fenced field of combat.

And in short order, contestants were merrily clashing, bashing, and slashing — but not stabbing — each other in groups of ten.

Combatants are not allowed to rise once they have fallen and toppling opponents is the single goal of of every contestant. Sometimes that is accomplished by sheer strength, sometimes by a well-placed blow from a blunt but heavy weapon, and sometimes by simply crashing into them. The run-and-crash technique was often effective if the target was caught off guard but, if not, a runner’s momentum could easily be used against them.

Teams included unarmored members who carried extra weapons, supplied water, attached and adjusted armor, and just generally handled all the tasks that people encased in steel plates and chain mail can not do.

There was a cease-fire for lunch with music provided by Toxic Nobility from Dayton, Ohio. I had been looking forward to some relaxing and period-appropriate Gregorian chants but that was not to be. I have a hunch you can guess what style of music these guys performed. They were pretty good at it as far as I could tell.

The smashing and bashing, of course, resumed in the afternoon. Event advertising said that there were eighteen teams competing and I read somewhere that the teams fighting their initial bouts in the afternoon were not the same as those appearing in the morning. I believe that but can not verify it as I could understand very few of the PA announcements and could identify very few of the teams.

Eventually, the top teams from the morning session reappeared to compete with the top afternoon teams. I did not understand the overall tournament structure and standings but I didn’t know anyone so just rooted for everyone. One of the few things I did know was that each contest was “best of three” and in the afternoon I verified my guess that a round was ruled a draw if the last members of both teams fell over at the same time. This was not uncommon since falling warriors frequently took an enemy or two down with them. I also learned that a battle ended when a single member of one team remained against three or more of the opposing team.

There were no real injuries as far as I know but there were a few times when a fallen fighter was slow to get up. Medics were called in a couple of times but in all the cases I was aware of the player eventually stood up and walked away.

Things got even more serious in the final rounds and there were a couple of protested calls. Of course, I have no idea what they involved since I didn’t understand the rule, the violation, or the call or the lack thereof. In at least one instance, the protest was resolved by viewing a smartphone video taken by an unarmored member or friend of one of the teams.

In the end, all protests were resolved and champions were determined. For women they were: 1st Rust in Peace, 2nd Ordo Obelios “Waffles”, and 3rd Order of the Pegasus. For men they were: 1st Warlord Combat Academy, 2nd Knyaz USA – Medieval Fighting Club, and 3rd Company of the Pale Horse. I don’t believe the fellow at right was on any of those teams but I really liked him and wanted to post a picture. I think that’s because he somehow reminds me of Monty Python’s Black Knight. I’m sure there are many excellent videos of the day out there but my own smartphone recording of a rather mild random battle of the day is here.

Mound Cold War Discovery Center

I don’t know that rainy days were actually made for museums but the two do fit together nicely. A visit to the Mound Cold War Discovery Center was a very nice fit for this week’s rainy Friday. Before stumbling upon a reference to the Miamisburg, Ohio, museum, I had no idea of the area’s role in both the Cold War and the “hot war” that preceded it.

When I first read — or possibly heard — that there was a museum nearby dedicated to nuclear research and development, I pictured a musty warehouse-type place with some old lab equipment on display. What I found was an excellent presentation of history and science put together by Dayton History. The complex may have once contained some unattractive buildings but the museum is housed in an inviting former administration building built in the 1980s.

The Manhattan Project started in New York, but it soon involved locations throughout the entire country.

As noted in one of the photos above, the Dayton Project was responsible for the separation and purification of the plutonium used in “Gadget” and “Fat Man”. “Gadget” was the bomb exploded in the Trinity Test on July 16, 1945. “Fat Man” was the bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. “Little Boy”, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, used enriched uranium rather than plutonium. That’s “Fat Man” in the photo at left. “Bockscar”, the plane that dropped “Fat Man”, is displayed at the Air Force Museum in Dayton along with a full-size replica of the bomb.

Construction of the first seventeen buildings comprising Mound Laboratory began almost immediately after World War II ended. The facility opened in early 1948 to support atomic weapons production.

One section of the museum offers some general science information without any obvious direct ties to Mound Laboratory. Perhaps its purpose is to tamp down visitors’ concerns over strolling about an area where radioactivity was once a major feature.

Yes, it does look like letting visitors know that a little radiation never hurt anybody just might be a goal.

Due mostly to the invention of the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator which uses radioactive fuel to generate electricity, Mound Laboratory made significant contributions to a variety of ventures into space. Eventually, all of its missions were ended or moved elsewhere and the complex is now an industrial park much like those in other towns.

Anyone unfamiliar with the area and wondering where the laboratory got its name can probably figure it out with a glance out the museum’s front door. Read about that here.

2024 Appalachian Festival

I know I have gone to the Cincinnati Appalachian Festival before but I don’t know when. It was first held in 1970 so I could have attended fifty years ago. That seems ridiculous, of course. Surely I’ve attended more recently than that. I believe that I must have but the truth is that I have no clear memories to support that belief and I most definitely have no physical evidence. As crazy as it sounds, it seems at least possible that my visit on Saturday was the first in a half-century or so.

Like any good festival, there were food vendors. There were also crafts and other items offered for sale along with numerous displays with nothing for sale at all.

Demonstrations of various aspects of life in the area during past times were offered. Blacksmithing and weaving were both very important parts of Appalachian life.

Maybe I should have spent more time among the vendors and taken more pictures of the exhibits but I guess I was more interested in the music. Two stages presented a non-stop parade of Bluegrass and other forms of American Roots Music. The only groups I saw on the Up Close & Personal stage were Sherry Stanforth & Tangled Roots and the Forest Hills Bluegrass Band. I had actually seen FHBB earlier on the other stage but did not immediately recognize them because I’d not heard the Dobro earlier.

Here is the Forest Hills Bluegrass Band on the Appalachian Heritage Stage with the fellow at stage-left playing a banjo. The middle picture is of the Wayfarers (check out that bass) with Sammy Adkins and the Sandy Hook Mountain Boys filling out the panel.

I also checked out some of the non-stop action in the dancing tent. That’s the Country Steps Cloggers in red and two different lines of the Kentucky Bluegrass Cloggers in blue.

As much as I enjoyed the bluegrass and cloggers, I believe I spent more time watching the Native American dancers.

A skilled drum circle backed the dancers and often supplied singing and chanting too. When the dancers and drummers took a well-deserved break, a talented flute player (and maker) filled the space wonderfully.

A lot of energy went into the dancing but it was quite apparent that the dancers had also put considerable effort into their authentic dress.

I have many more pictures of the Native American dancing but will move on after these scenes from a dance depicting ritualized combat between two warriors.

Coney Island was the site of the festival. The former amusement park had been operating as a water park until it was sold in December to a group associated with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for development into a concert venue. The giant Sunlite Pool has already been demolished and I’ve no idea what else will disappear soon. I’m hoping that this entrance where riverboats once delivered patrons to the park — and through which I once walked while on a dinner cruise during 1988’s Tall Stacks — will be spared.

The festival continues today, May 12, 2024, 10:00-6:00.

Trip Peek #134
Trip #80
Bob’s Last Art Show

This picture is from my 2009 Bob’s Last Art Show trip. The name is what Bob Waldmire or someone close to him chose for an event where all sorts of the dying artist’s works were available. The beloved Route 66 icon had opted out of any aggressive treatment for his colon cancer and was calmly approaching the end. Attending was never in doubt and making it a normal road trip, complete with an online journal, seemed natural. At the time, picking the photo of Bob pricing some artwork to represent the trip seemed right but I’ll admit that I’m a little less comfortable with it in this Trip Peek setting. The trip included some time on both Historic Route 66 and the National Road so there were other options but this was the reason the trip even happened. Bob was one of a kind. I wish I’d got to know him better but consider myself fortunate to have known him at all.


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 #133
Trip #28
On the Lincoln Briefly

This picture is from my 2004 On the Lincoln Briefly trip. Basically a drive along the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor in Pennsylvania, it was my first documented trip on any portion of the Lincoln. I was still employed at the time and this was one of those trips where I tacked vacation days onto a business trip so most of the cost of transportation was covered by the company. The picture is of the coffee pot in Bedford, PA, and I also got my first look at the teapot in Chester, WV, on this trip. In the intervening twenty years, the two pots and several other Lincoln Highway icons have become fairly familiar but it was all brand new to me then. I went a little bit off course to visit the Gettysburg Battlefield and a little farther off course to visit the Flight 93 Memorial at Shanksville. There was not yet anything permanent at the crash site. Just a lot of flags and a few yards of chainlink fence stuffed with mementos. None of my subsequent visits with the engraved stone walls and informative displays have been as moving as that first time with those simple gifts from a mourning public.


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.

JHA Conference 2024

I knew long ago that I would be attending the 2024 Jefferson Highway Association Conference in Alexandria, LA, but only recently decided to also join the pre-conference sociability run. The first day of my expressway-centered drive to the start of the run had been posted and updates from the run and the conference will follow. The journal is here.