A Big WACO Birthday

Posted on September 17, 2023 by Denny

It was one hundred years ago that the Weaver Aircraft Company moved to Troy, Ohio, and became Advance Aircraft Company. The company’s origins were in 1919 and some name changes had already occurred. One more was yet to come. The planes the company built were always known by the Weaver-based acronym WACO and in 1929 the company formally became the Waco Aircraft Company. The company no longer exists but its memory is kept alive at the WACO Museum and Airfield

I have attended the annual WACO Fly-In a few times including last year. My first visit was in 2006 and I also documented a visit in 2014. This year’s event was much bigger than any of those. The normally ample parking near the museum was filled long before we got there. We parked in an area on the other side of the airfield and rode a shuttle back.

Organizers had hoped to attract 100 WACOs for this 100th anniversary. I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen but there were certainly a lot more there than the twenty or less I’ve seen in the past. I estimated there were 50 to 60 WACOs on the ground. Unlike in previous years, the main airplane parking area was reserved exclusively for WACOs with all other planes relegated to the far side of the airstrip.

In a conversation with another attendee, I learned that this plane was one that I used to watch from the banks of the Little Miami River as it flew over Kings Island in a daily air show. This was in the 1970s when the name WACO would not have meant much to me.

WACOs are beautiful machines whether they are on the ground…

…or in the air…

…or somewhere in between.

Heck. Even the naked engines can be kind of pretty.

To close, here’s a look at a WACO from every angle: WACO Pirouette

Lunken Airport Days 2023

Posted on September 3, 2023 by Denny

As I imagine the case is everywhere, Labor Day weekend is pretty crowded with activities around here. I picked Lunken Airport Days to fill my Saturday primarily because I had never attended before. It was also the closest of the events I considered and was the only one that was free. Lunken (LUK) opened in the 1920s and was Cincinnati’s principal airport until Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) opened in 1947.

Airport Days is hosted by Cincinnati War Birds so basically features military aircraft. Several classic cars are on display and there are even a few civilian airplanes such as this 1940 WACO. The 100th anniversary of WACO Aircraft Company will be celebrated leter this month at the museum and field in Troy, Ohio.

Military planes included a 1942 BT-13A VULTEE, the next to last B-25 ever built, and a 1944 P-51D Mustang. Seated in the foreground of the Mustang phot is one of the local artists participating in an informal “Lunken Days Sketch Outing”.

But the biggest plane on campus — actually one of the biggest planes ever built — was the B-29 Superfortress named Doc. 1644 Superfortresses were built during World War II. Only two are flying today. This remarkable airplane has its own website here.

My attention focused entirely on Doc when I heard that first engine begin to turn. That initial bit of smoke was soon gone and soon all four engines were running smoothly. Doc earns his keep by taking paying passengers aloft Some of this flight’s passengers can be seen here and here as the plane taxies.

After taxieing to the far end of the field, Doc rumbles down the runway, lifts off, and disappears behind one of the airport buildings. Because of the surrounding trees and the plane’s low flight path, I don’t get a shot of the plane in flight until it returns and circles the field.

It is headed south, just as it was on takeoff, when it returns to the runway.

There was just enough time after the flight landed to prepare for the presentation of the flag and singing of the national anthem at noon. I was not able to photograph the color guard as they marched toward the plane but I caught them on the way back.

Although we could see everything the guide pointed out, there wasn’t much room in the cockpit for taking pictures. The tunnel to the rear of the airplane went unused as entry and exit were via vertical ladders.

I could now get closeups of the nose art and bombardier’s position. With plexiglass domes in place of gun ports, I could look right through the plane to the historic terminal.

Airport Days is a two day affair so, if you are seeing this shortly after publication, you can easily catch the second half. The weather looks to be just as delightful today as it was yesterday.

Musical Review
Above the Sand
Mason Community Players

Posted on August 2, 2023 by Denny

When I wrote about my first visit to the Loveland Stage Company, I spoke of the guilt I felt for taking so long to take in a play there. The same sort of guilt surrounds my first time attending a Mason Community Players production. MCP is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year which means it is six years older than LSC. I suppose I could feel extra guilty for ignoring the Mason group even longer than the Loveland group but, although I’ve lived near Mason, I have never actually lived in Mason so feeling equal levels of guilt regarding my being late to the party at both theaters seems more or less OK.

But I also feel another kind of guilt regarding this review. I have no special or early access to plays so my infrequent reviews of them are often near or even after the end of their run when few or no performances remain. I always feel a little guilty about that. That feeling increases when the production is one I want to recommend because it’s extra good or somehow unique. All that is true of Above the Sand meaning I really feel guilty about the timing of this review.

Producing any play is an accomplishment. There are certainly some particular challenges in doing it with amateurs and volunteers and doing a musical must add even more. Performers need to be able to sing and maybe dance a bit, and musicians are needed to accompany them. Community theater productions will never be a match for well-financed Broadway companies but their audiences don’t expect them to be. When a community theater company produces a successful Broadway musical it can benefit from having one or more professional productions as examples without getting dinged for not having Barbra Streisand or Gregory Hines in the cast. The production I attended Thursday night had all of the listed challenges without one of the aids. Amateurs and volunteers did indeed sing and dance accompanied by offstage volunteers playing instruments but they were not copying from anyone. This was the world premiere of Above the Sand so there was no previous production to provide an example. This gang didn’t need one.

The premiere run ended on Saturday. Not knowing how long online information will remain available, I’ve taken the liberty of copying this short description from the Mason Players’ website:

Above the Sand is written and composed by MCP member Tom Davis. It tells of the challenges and triumphs of Wilbur and Orville Wright as they bring the power of flight to the world. The story takes the audience on a journey from a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Washington, D.C., and Paris, France. Above the Sand is a piece of local history that has affected life around the world. It shines a light on the struggles of those who dream an idea into reality, then ultimately triumph.

As mentioned, any community theater production requires a lot of effort, and a musical production even more. That effort is not wasted with the script Tom Davis has created. With spoken words and lyrics, it touches all key points of the Wrights’ achievement. It avoids sounding like either a science or history lesson while being a little bit of both.

I’m always intrigued by how a single stage of limited size gets used to tell stories involving multiple locations that are sometimes huge spaces. That is another challenge that this production encounters and handles quite well despite not having a Broadway-sized budget. By flipping panels, hanging pictures, and swapping some furniture, the action moves between sand dunes, living rooms, workshops, France, England, and more. In a program note, director Lara Gonzalez talks of collaborating and creating “throughout the rehearsal process”. Much of the collaboration naturally involved Gonzalez and Davis but I’d be surprised if there wasn’t at least one idea contributed by every cast and crew member.

I’ll give a shout out to the actors portraying the Wright siblings although every member of the cast of nearly twenty turned in wonderful performances. Corey Meyer (Wilbur) has the least experience of the three younger Wrights although I certainly would not have known that without a program. Nico Morello (Orville) and Eva Bower (Katharine) have both been on stage quite a bit. I had sort of mentally tagged Eva as the most polished of the cast and learned that I could be right when I read that she was first on stage at age 9.

I have no idea what, if anything, comes next for Above the Sand. I know of no plans for future performances but I sure hope that there will be some. I was entertained Thursday night, and exposed to a little science and history too. I don’t believe any of the science or history facts were really new to me but some of the emotion was. I’ve read numerous articles and books about the Wright brothers and their early flights. I’ve watched more than a few documentaries too. None of them conveyed the sense of awe from the world at large that I witnessed Thursday night. Maybe it came from the music. Or maybe it came from the personal involvement that a live performance requires. At some level, I know I have considered that the existence of powered flight changed the basic way that an awful lot of people looked at the world but it had never registered as strongly with me as it did in that theater. Before December 1903, many people had considered it impossible; others thought it merely quite difficult. The first group was now indisputably proven wrong. The second group was proven right and no longer had to guess at just how difficult it was. It took some time for the news to circle the globe and even more time for some people to accept it but that did not alter the fact. Somehow a group of people singing about something they were witnessing offstage drove that home better than any words on a page or images on a screen. Hooray for music. Hooray for live theater. Hooray for man’s ability to progress and to be amazed at his own progress.

Two Tours in Champaign County

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Denny

After talking about it for quite some time, my friend Terry and I finally headed off to Ohio Caverns on Wednesday. Since touring the caverns would only take an hour or so, we decided a stop at the Champaign Aviation Museum in nearby Urbana would help make the trip worthwhile. As we looked over items displayed in the lobby, Pat appeared and offered us a guided tour. In addition to filling us in on each of the airplanes on display, Pat explained the extensive restoration work that goes on here and took us into areas where that work was taking place. Later arrivals joined us, and at one point there were six visitors in our little group. What we thought would be a brief interlude turned out to be a two-plus hour stop that was both entertaining and educational.

I had visited the museum in 2012 during the Doolittle Raid’s 70th anniversary celebration at the Air Force museum in Dayton. In the blog entry associated with that report, I mentioned that I had taken some pictures here but did not use them because I was more focused on the events in Dayton. At that time, the C-47 pictured at left was a rather new acquisition. Here‘s a picture of it that was taken then.

Champaign Gal is the museum’s fully restored B-25. I saw her fly in 2012 along with about twenty others. The Stinson 10A is one of several such planes used to scout for submarines during WWII. Although there is no absolute proof, there is strong evidence that this plane was responsible for sinking a German submarine using the small single bomb that the scout planes carried. The third plane is a Viet Nam era Grumman C-1A from the carrier Lexington.

A phenomenal amount of restoration takes place here with the biggest current project being this B-17 named Champaign Lady. The engine nacelles have been completed and are literally waiting on the shelf for future mounting. The ball turret is also ready for installation. It was one of the items we looked over in the lobby. This is a massive project that was begun in 2005. Here is a picture from my 2012 visit.

Restoring an airplane like the B-17 involves salvaging parts from other airplanes, fabricating many other parts, and lots of volunteers working lots of hours. Pat told us that more than 80% of Champaign Lady will have been fabricated here when she is complete.

It didn’t take long to get to the caverns from the museum. They are open year-round but this is not their busiest season. When tour time came around, we were the only paying customers so we basically had a personal guide.

Discovered in 1897, Ohio Caverns is the largest cave system in Ohio and bills itself as “America’s Most Colorful Caverns”. Color does start showing up early in the tour.

During the summer, a choice of two tours, Historic and Natural Wonder, are offered. The Winter Tour includes highlights of both. We passed many interesting rock and mineral formations before entering this narrow passage but they became more abundant once we were through it.

This is the Crystal King, the largest stalactite in Ohio. Our first view of was through a passage blocked by chains then the winding passage we were following passed quite a bit closer to it.

I admit that I was not very attentive and don’t remember the names of any of the “rooms” we passed through or the formations they contained. Names might help with History but they really aren’t required to appreciate Natural Wonder.

The website says there are 38 steps going in and 60 coming out. The path between them is close to level and the distance below the surface is affected mostly by variations in the height of the hill above the cave. The guide had to tell us when we reached the maximum 103 feet below ground because there’s really nothing distinctive about it. Going down those entrance steps barely registered. Going up those exit steps, however, definitely did. Guys our age just seem to naturally notice things like that.

Big Ol’ Ford Airliner…

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Denny

…did not carry me too far away but it did carry me nearly a century into the past.

In 1922, Henry Ford invested in the startup Stout Metal Airplane Company then purchased the entire outfit two years later. The most notable of numerous modifications made to Stout’s original design was the addition of two engines. Ford Tri-Motor production began in 1926 and ceased in 1933 which coincided almost exactly with the period when the Waco Model 10 was produced. There were several Model 10s present at the Waco Fly-In I attended a couple of weeks ago.

Ford produced 199 Tri-Motors in a span of eight years. In one year less (1927-1933), Waco turned out 1,623 Model 10s. Both airplanes were civilian passenger planes and both were icons of the early days of human flight but similarities between the two don’t go far beyond that. The Ford was all metal while the Waco was mostly cloth-covered wood. The Waco was an open bi-wing with a compartment for two passengers positioned in front of one for the pilot. The Ford was totally enclosed with a pilot and co-pilot sitting ahead of, depending on model, up to seventeen passengers. With a stewardess often part of the crew, it is generally thought of as the first airliner. That these two aircraft were contemporaries and both highly successful is certainly food for thought.

As of Friday, I can list another difference between a Waco 10 and a Tri-Motor. I have never flown in a Waco. On Friday, I took a ride in a Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-B at the Greene County Airport near Xenia, Ohio. As was the case with the subjects of a couple of last year’s adventures (Smooth As Glass and An Airy Plane Ride), I learned of the touring Tri-Motor through Brandi Betts’ Make the Journey Fun blog. Brandi flew in the plane during its Chillicothe stop and reported on it here.

I guess I was eager to fly like it was 1929 and arrived at the airport before the airplane was even rolled out of the hangar. While chatting with some of the event organizers, I was told it was OK to step inside the plane for some photos which is how I got these shots of the empty interior. Sharp eyes might notice that not everything is triplicated in the cockpit. Tachometers plus pressure and temperature indicators for the outboard engines are mounted on wing struts near the engines.

Before the day’s first flight, the Ford was taxied down the runway for refueling and I was able to watch the three radial engines fire up and the propellers start turning. The into-the-sun shot near the top of this post was also taken at the start of the gas run.

Shortly after the plane’s return, the first set of passengers was given a short briefing and permitted to board. Note that every seat is a window seat and every seat is an aisle seat. Six of the ten seats as well as the extra-charge co-pilot’s seat were occupied by males of a certain age. The other seats were empty.

Not only was every seat a window seat, the windows were real windows and not those too-low and too-small foggy portholes found in today’s airliners. It was even possible to look out the opposite side of the plane. Photos here are of the water-filled gravel pits northeast of the airport, OH-73 crossing Ceasars Creek Lake, and downtown Dayton from eight or ten miles away. Plus I got a pretty good look at the ground during our final bank to return to the airport,

Assuming the event is more heavily attended during the weekend, showing up on Friday morning worked out well in avoiding crowds. The downside was that I wanted to take photos of the next flight and I had to wait a while for it to fill. When it did, I again got to see those props start turning then watch the plane head into the sky.

Flights are about half an hour from engines on to engines off with fifteen to twenty minutes of that being airborne. Having waited to see the takeoff, it only made sense to wait for the landing.

The Transcontinental Ait Transport logo this plane now wears was also the one it wore first. The plane first flew on December 1, 1928, and became the property of TAT in January 1929. Its complete history is told here. The TAT story is a short but important one. Although crossing the continent was not accomplished entirely in the air, the company did put Ford Tri-Motors to work for about a year expediting travel between the coasts. Overnight trains were used to connect New York with Columbus, OH, and Waynoka, OK, with Clovis, NM. Tri-Motors carried travelers between Columbus and Waynoka and between Clovis and Glendale, CA. The fare for a forty-eight-hour one-way trip was $352.

Rides will be available at the Greene County – Lewis A Jackson Regional Airport until 5:00 PM today (Oct 2, 2022) and at some other spots in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky during the rest of October. Check it out here.

Seventy-Seven Years After

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Denny

On Tuesday, Richard Eugene Cole, the last of the Doolittle Raiders, died at the age of 103. The following post first appeared on April 19, 2012, one day after the seventieth anniversary of the Doolittle Raid. That was long enough ago that Oddments, eventually made obsolete by this blog, were still a thing here. An Oddment page contains the bulk of my reporting on the seventieth reunion. There is a link to it in the blog post as well as here.

On April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25s launched from carriers on a one-way bombing raid over Japan. The physical damage it caused might not have been all that significant but it delivered a much needed lift to moral in the United States and prompted some rethinking and altering of plans by the Japanese commanders. Four of the surviving raiders continue their week-long reunion today and tomorrow in Dayton, Ohio. On Tuesday and Wednesday, airplanes like the ones that made the raid were on hand at the reunion. I was there both days and have an Oddment entry here. Pointing to that entry and providing a place for comments are the primary reasons for this blog entry but…

…I also revisited a couple of interesting eating establishments.

Breakfast was at the 60 year old Hasty-Tasty Pancake House just a couple of miles from the Air Force Museum. I’ve eaten here before but don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it in either a blog post of a trip journal. A wonderful Dayton eatery where the waitresses that don’t call you “Honey” call you “Sugar”.

Many of the B-25s headed back to Urbana after the flyover and so did I once the memorial service had concluded and traffic cleared a bit. Several of the planes are staying at Grimes Field for a day or two and there is a nice museum that includes a DC3 cargo plane you can climb inside. I took pictures there that could have been included in the Oddment page but I feared that would be overkill.

Crabill’s Hamburgers, at the west edge of Urbana, is even older than the Hasty Tasty although it has moved once. I did mention it when I stopped last summer and none other than David Crabill praised crisp hotdogs. I resolved to try one on my next visit and this was it. Andy cooked the ‘dog just right while I downed my dinner then the friendly but unnamed (Oops, sorry.) waitress obliged me by putting relish on just one half so I could taste it both ways without buying two. The Tootsie Roll is the reward everyone gets for cleaning their ~~plate~~ waxed paper.

Boats, Bikes, and Biplanes

Posted on September 16, 2018 by Denny

Just about the time that last week’s post was being automatically published, I set out to join some friends at a floating house on Norris Lake in Tennessee. I hit rain shortly after leaving home and it pretty much stayed with me through the first half of the drive. It was dry when I reached the lake although a large portion of the sky was cloud covered. The clouds would be present for almost all of the two days I was there. No so the dry.

But, even though a dry sky was not a constant, neither was it completely absent and we did get in a couple of waterbourne cruises. And we got in plenty of relaxation and scenery study with very pleasant temperatures.

On Tuesday, I left ahead of the others and headed to Bowling Green, Ohio. When the first Motorcycle Cannonball passed through Tennessee in 2010, I was there as vintage bikes carried their riders over the Cherohala Skyway and on to an overnight in Chattanooga. The 2012 and 2014 events eluded me completely, but I did get a look at the 2016 group during its scheduled lunch stop at a Harley Davidson dealership near my home. My drive to Bowling Green was to connect with this year’s group. Timing was tight, but I was on pace to get there during the evening display period — until I hit Cincinnati. Traffic slowed, slowed some more, crept along fitfully, and finally came to a halt. Men appeared about three cars in front of me and began placing cones across I-75 while directing traffic onto Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway. Cars just a few yards ahead of me were trapped on the other side of those cones. I later learned that the closure was triggered by an overturned truck. Heavy traffic and surface street construction didn’t help one bit, but I did eventually make it back to the expressway about four miles and an hour and a half later. I considered simply heading home but didn’t. Of course, none of the Cannonball motorcycles were on display when I reached Bowling Green and even the vendor and organizer tents were being emptied. I found a cheap motel to roost in for the night.

It was an entirely different scene when I returned for the morning launch. The Cannonball website lists 123 entrants and it looked like almost all were ready or getting ready to roll. Only motorcycles built before 1929 were permitted in this year’s event. The trio of Nortons consists of a 1915 model sandwiched between a 1923 (#115) and 1925. The website lists #32 as an Indian but that’s obviously a Henderson in the second picture. Beyond it are two 1911 Excelsiors. The third picture shows 1928 and 1927 Indians followed by a 1928 BMW.

And of course they made sidecars before 1929. Here we have Gene Harper with his 1924 Indian Chief and Doc Hopkins’ 1916 Harley Davidson. You just can’t get much cooler than traveling coast to coast in a wicker basket.

I don’t know who this gal is but I do know that the event simply could not function without her. She jumped in the air, waved the starting flag, and shouted encouragement as each bike departed. This was the beginning of Stage #5 which ends in Bourbonnais, Illinois. The ride will end in Portland, Oregon, on the 23rd.

On Saturday I made it up to the WACO Fly-In in Troy, Ohio. WACO airplanes were manufactured in Troy between 1920 and 1947. My first time attending was in 2006. I also documented a 2014 visit and I made a couple of undocumented stops between 2006 and ’14. Both my memory and notes support the idea that there were more WACO airplanes there on my first visit than at any of the others. My memory, without any notes to support it, thinks there might have been more non-WACO airplanes there this year than on previous visits.

But regardless of numbers, seeing these beautiful airplanes up close and watching them fly overhead is always a thrill and the day’s perfect weather made it even better.

WACO Homecoming

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Denny

Troy, Ohio, was once home to the most successful airplane manufacturer in the world. That manufacturer, WACO Aircraft Company, ceased production in 1947 but the city keeps the memories alive with Historic WACO Field at the south edge of town. A museum, learning center, and runway see action all year long but the annual fly-in brings in quite a bit of extra action, particularly for the runway. I attended this year’s fly-in on Saturday, the middle of its three day run.

The dozen or so WACOs parked on the ground made a colorful and impressive display. I have the feeling that there were more of the planes here on my first visit to the fly-in in 2006 but I can’t quantify that and a dozen WACOs is still a lot of WACOs.

There were plenty of “don’t touch” reminders but attendees were otherwise free to walk among the airplanes for up close viewing. Only after I got home and started to prepare this post did I realize that it is likely that not all of those gorgeous planes I admired were vintage. It had somehow escaped me that the WACO Aircraft Corporation of Battle Creek, Michigan, started building reproductions of the WACO YMF in 1986. The reproductions have the word “classic” in their logo so I should have been able to easily identify them if I’d only known to look. On the other hand, it was probably better not knowing and believing that all those great looking machines were older than me.

A tremendous increase in museum space since I was last here means that several airplanes, including some that were displayed outside in 2006, are now displayed under cover. Maybe that contributed, just a bit, to my sense of fewer WACOs on the field.

A big attraction is the availability, for a fee, of rides in the open planes. Passengers, two maximum, sit in front of the pilot. These pictures show a vintage (no “classic” in the logo) WACO taxiing from its spot among the other aircraft, gaining speed down the grass runway, then smoothly rising above the corn. My guess is that that’s a buddy and not a paying passenger in the front compartment.

I’ll close with a 1993 WACO Classic YMF (I learned that later.) coming in with a pair of happy customers, seat backs in the upright position, sitting up front.

Cleveland Air Show

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Denny

My sailor son has had some good assignments and some that weren’t so good. The one he has currently is better than good. He was once a journalist but in today’s Navy, he is a Mass Communications Specialist or MC. He is one of two MCs presently assigned to the Leap Frogs, the Navy’s demonstration parachute team. He is stationed in San Diego but wasn’t there when I visited a couple of weeks ago because he was traveling with the team for performances in Milwaukee and Chicago. They were also to be part of the Labor Day Air Show in Cleveland, Ohio, and that was close enough to Cincinnati for me to make it.

On Friday, I drove to near Cleveland while the Leap Frogs practiced and prepared for the show on Saturday. In the evening, Fletcher, my son, and I got together for dinner. He gave me a pass for the show and told me to text him once I was there. I arrived a little after the gates opened at 9:00 AM and I sent my text. A couple of messages and a few minutes later Fletcher and I found each other near the announcer’s stand. At dinner he had made some comment about getting me a good view. He now guided me past the fellows guarding the entrance to the reserved seating and the VIP area. I was soon standing with the Leap Frog ground crew right next to the landing zone. The jumpers were already airborne. The Army’s parachute team, the Golden Knights, were also performing at the show and the two teams were opening the show with a combined jump delivering both the Canadian and United States flags. The two national anthems were sung as their respective flags slowly descended from the sky. The two teams would both do separate shows later in the day.

The picture at the top of the article was taken at the later Leap Frogs show as were the two at the right. I apologize for the lack of names but, since I don’t remember them all, I won’t use any. The group’s size varies from time to time and, with only four jumpers, is at the small end of the range just now. It has been as high as fifteen and the count will start increasing before long.

Not only are these guys incredibly skilled, they’re pretty darned nice. As soon as possible after landing, they were shaking hands and talking with spectators over the fence. Once the show part was actually over, they moved to where show attendees had easy access while they packed their ‘chutes. Everyone who approached them was greeted with a smile and sometimes, when a youngster looked a little shy, it was the Leap Frog who did the approaching. The little fellow in the first picture spoke with a couple of the Leap Frogs before settling down to help pack a ‘chute. The second picture shows two sons being photographed by their proud fathers. One wears a parachute and stands beside the ‘chute’s owner. The Leap Frogs happily pose with all who ask. The second son is kneeling on the right side of the picture. Yep, that’s my boy Fletcher.

With the parachutes packed the team agreed to a photo for me then a photo with me. I said they’d pose with anybody.

In the evening, these guys jumped onto second base with the US flag while the national anthem was being performed before a Cleveland Indians game. Fletcher did the announcing for that one. It took the jumpers quite a while to leave the field as they were greeted and high-fived by fans at the front of the stands. Then, after they were off the field, there were plenty of folks wanting to say hello or thanks or ask for a picture. When they came up to their seats to watch part of the game, they were greeted with applause and cheers and more requests for pictures. Two young fans approached with baseballs to be autographed.

Although they were my favorite attraction and the reason I was there, the Leap Frogs were not really the only thing going on at the air show. Among the many in air attractions was some fantastic wingwalking — and hanging — by Jane Wicker, some impressive aerobatics by Sean D. Tucker, and a great performance by the navy’s Blue Angels.

It has absolutely no connection with the air show but I really enjoyed my 3 cheese omelet at Grumpy’s Cafe and wanted to give them a shout out. Great food and prices and a very friendly staff. The tasty Cajun potatoes have just a little zing and I ended up with a glass of water in addition to that small cup of coffee. Most folks will be just fine with them.

Happy Belated Birthday to My Blog

The first Sunday that saw me fail to make a real blog post was the first Sunday after the blog passed the one year mark. Ironic, eh? This blog was launched on August 7, 2011. On August 12, 2012, I was in the middle of a road trip and had run out off pre-written articles with no time to finish one that wasn’t quite ready. So, after fifty-two consecutive Sundays of posting something with at least a little food value, I posted an apologetic surrender in a basically empty post without realizing that the date was anything special. The next week I posted the My Gear article that I’d managed to finish while on the road and the following week posted an article about a hamburger joint after I’d been home a few days. It was the very next day that I got to thinking that I’d been doing this awhile and looked into things to discover that I’d made it exactly one year before stumbling.

A semi-educated guess is that there were about 3800 page views in the blog’s first year with the top three posts being the book review of The Long Ride, an article on an endangered local historic building, the Twenty Mile House, and an article on a day at the World Choir Games in Cincinnati.

Seventy Years After

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Denny