Tag Archives: Ohio

Support Your Local Cryptid

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I can’t really claim to be a big supporter of cryptids of any sort but I can claim to support my local cryptids more than any of the others. I have taken a few pictures of Bigfoot signs and statues but I’ve never gone out of my way to do it, and I’ve never for a moment thought of going to Scotland solely to look for that critter reported to live in Loch Ness. I have, however, visited Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a couple of times primarily to admire the Mothman statue, and when I heard about the first-ever Frogman Festival, I figured attending it would just be proper. You can’t get much more local than a cryptid sighting a mile and a half from where I once lived and less than three miles from where I live now.

Some background, I suspect, might be in order. I’ll start with a definition. I now know what a cryptid is but I didn’t a few years ago and the word is not one I use daily. From Wikipedia: “Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but are not recognized by science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by the scientific community.” Mothman, which has been sighted about 120 miles from my home, is a cryptid and I believe the pictured inflatable is a representation. Here is a picture of a more solid, but not necessarily more accurate, rendition that’s in his hometown.

The Loveland Frog or Frogman is a cryptid that some cryptozoologists believe lives, or at least lived, in or near the Little Miami River around Loveland, Ohio. There are numerous descriptions floating around and even some reports of more recent sightings but essentially all descriptions mention sightings in 1955 and 1972. The creature is sometimes described as having webbed hands and sometimes as having human-like hands. Sometimes it’s very frog-like and sometimes it is basically a human with the face of a frog. Sometimes it’s about three feet tall but sometimes it’s closer to six feet. There are many other variations too. Legends and cryptids are often like that.

Vendors were a major part of the festival. It was announced at the start of the presentations that there were fifty-two vendors present representing twelve states. They filled the majority of the space offering clothing, books, games, a variety of craft items, and some really serious masks. Some very impressive works of art could also be found.

Here is an aspect of the festival that was a complete surprise to me. A company named MetaZoo was identified as the festival’s official sponsor. The name meant nothing to me but I soon learned that it is a gaming company and that a big tournament was part of the festival. I said that vendors had the majority of space but that’s because vendors were set up in the hallways. Space inside the main room was about evenly split between vendors and gamers. I don’t know much about the game itself but it looks like wizard hats, swimming goggles, and other paraphernalia could be important. I did learn from one of the people supervising the tournament that the play was one-on-one with winners advancing. The final rounds will be held at the tables with overhead cameras sending the action to the large screens. At the moment, all tables were being used so that random preliminary games were taking place at those tables.

I took in some but not all of the festival’s eight hours of presentations. The first picture is of one of the event’s organizers, Jeff Craig, introducing the first speaker. Dee Elliott talked about the effect of “hauntings” on three small West Virginia towns. Ashley Hilt’s presentation was entitled “Mothman” but it ended up touching on other sightings as well. I realize it looks like Mickey Mouse ears on the pair of audience members but they are actually frog eyes. Quite a few attendees were wearing frog eyes or something similar.

James Willis’ “Frogman of Loveland, Ohio” presentation was the main thing I wanted to see and I was certainly not alone. This was a standing-room-only presentation that was worth the price of addition. Willis dug into original police and newspaper reports to construct a rather thorough history of the legend. It’s the first time I’ve heard a version of this saga that makes sense.

The City of Loveland seems to have embraced its local cryptid. The picture at left was taken during the recent Hearts Afire weekend which I reported on here. That’s the city mascot greeting a young visitor on the bike trail.

I suppose it’s too early to know if this will become an annual event or was a one-time thing. It was clearly well-attended which I assume means it was a success. I had fun and learned more than I expected and will be on the lookout for a big festival or a big frog.

 

Two Tours in Champaign County

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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.

Horses on Parade

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In the very first year of this blog, I attended a triple header of holiday horse parades and documented them in two posts. I wrote about a nighttime parade in Greenville here and nighttime parades in Springfield and Lebanon here. There was a fourth parade that I mentioned but did not get to see in 2011. The parade in Springfield was their first and I don’t believe it lasted much beyond that inaugural year. Greenville’s 10th annual Hometown Holiday Horse Parade took place a couple of weeks ago. The nighttime 33rd annual Lebanon Horse Drawn Carriage Parade took place last night and the daytime version, which is the parade I missed in 2011, took place yesterday afternoon. This time I made it.

Lebanon’s nighttime parade typically has well over 100 entries. The daytime parade is a bit smaller. The highest numbered unit I saw was 80 and there were a few gaps in the numbering. The pictures at left are of carriages carrying the parade’s Grand Marshal and the couple seen waving in the opening photo. The Grand Marshal was not identified on the carriage, I’ve found nothing online, and I didn’t recognize him. Maybe you can.

Some elegant horses followed including a pair sporting glittery blue hooves.

The number of small ponies in the parade kind of surprised me. I felt a little sorry for some of the tiny creatures pulling Santa Claus-sized individuals. I also felt a little sorry for some passengers who, although they looked quite cute, didn’t seem overly happy with the hats they were made to wear. The pony may deserve some pity, too.

Even though I know that the Grinch’s heart “grew three sizes that day”, I am still a little surprised every time I see him as a symbol; of Christmas. Given the parade’s name, I was also surprised to see one of those new-fangled carriageless horses.

There was certainly no lack of power near the parade’s end where a couple of six-horse teams appeared. Secure in the safety of both size and number, a member of one of those teams had no qualms about openly laughing at me as my cold hands tried to focus the camera on his face.  

Sideshow Signage

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Those who read through the comments on my The Signmaker’s Circus post already know that old circus banners were an important part of that American Sign Museum event earlier this year. Others will have just learned that. Some thirty hand-painted banners from the 1940s and ’50s hung from the walls of the area set up for the celebration and added considerably to the event’s authentic circus feel. An event devoted entirely to those banners took place at the museum on a recent Tuesday.

I arrived at the November 1 event a few minutes early and, knowing where the banners were hanging, headed directly there. Along with a few others, I happily snapped photos of the eye-catching wall hangings until I heard applause coming from elsewhere in the museum. I can only assume that the applause was triggered by the introduction of museum founder Tod Swormstedt because when I reached the real event Tod was telling the story of the banners and The Signmaker’s Circus. The banners were hanging in an empty warehouse that also belonged to their owner. They weren’t really on display but had been hung “just because”. Tod saw them, immediately envisioned them at his museum’s upcoming anniversary party, and asked. Told that, yes, he could borrow them, Tod drove to the Boston area with a helper, rolled up the banners on an upper floor of the warehouse, carried them down a fire escape, and hauled them to Cincinnati. He had been fielding questions about them ever since but not tonight. Tonight he introduced the banners’ owner, David Waller.

David began by telling us that there was almost always some deception in the banners. He made his point with a photo of a woman who was certainly quite small but not nearly as small as depicted on the canvas that identified her as the “world’s smallest mother“. He then claimed that similar deception had occurred tonight. Most of us had been drawn to the event, he said, expecting to hear an expert on circus banners. Instead, we would hear from a mere collector of such banners. Maybe that was an attempt at real deception but few were fooled as David proceeded to prove himself an expert on the banners as well as their creators and subjects.

I guess the title of tonight’s event was a little deceptive but I’ve no doubt it was unintentional. Although promoted as “Under the Big Top: Circus Banners of the 1940s and 1950s”, the event concerned banners advertising sideshow attractions that rarely, if ever, appeared in a ring in the Big Top. Many were people with deformities that attracted the curious. Today that naturally leads to thoughts of exploitation, and no one doubts that was sometimes the case, but sideshows provided income to many who would have had a tough time otherwise. When exploitation was mentioned, Otis the Frog Boy, who owned a car modified so he could drive it, wondered if people would prefer he was on welfare. Sylvia, the Big Footed Girl, made a good living for many years although, unable to wear shoes, she balked at appearing in the cold north. Many sideshow performers padded their paychecks by selling postcards and other items. Part of the spiel about Johann Petursson, the Viking Giant, was that he wore rings the size of napkin rings. He sold copies of his rings as souvenirs. Sometime after one of these rings came into Waller’s possession, he met a buddy’s new girlfriend from Iceland. When the conversation turned to circuses, she told of having a giant for an uncle and produced a childhood picture of her sitting on Johann’s lap. Waller gave her the ring.

Clearly, many of these banners made preposterous claims and stretched truth to the max. Many of the attractions were complete fakes that used mirrors, trick lighting, and other gimmicks. It might be a little hard for some of us to believe that people were that gullible just a few decades ago but what may be even harder to believe concerns an attraction that was 100% real and involved no trickery whatsoever. Once upon a time, tattooed women were so rare that people paid money to see them. Betty Broadbent retired in 1967.

The House That Harry Built

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It had been several years since I last visited Chateau Laroche on the banks of the Little Miami River. I don’t know that I was ever what could be called a frequent visitor but I have been there quite a few times over the years. The first was in the mid-1970s and the last was, as I said, several years ago. Sometime last summer, when I realized just how long it had been, I decided I needed to stop by the well-known local landmark and have been waiting for an idle day with good weather. That combination finally appeared on the first Tuesday of October.

Chateau Laroche is more commonly known as the Loveland Castle. It is almost entirely the work of Harry Andrews who was born in 1890, began construction of the castle in 1929, and continued building until his death in 1981. I don’t know exactly when Harry moved into the castle but he had been living there for a long time — sleeping beneath the dome he happily reminded visitors had been declared impossible by professional architects — when I first met him.

Domed ceilings had been constructed entirely of stone hundreds of years in the past, Harry pointed out, and there was no reason they couldn’t be built today. He built this one by adding one row of stones per week. The office is where he did his writing and notarized signatures. It’s where one of my favorite Harry stories took place.

I’d used Harry to notarize a couple of car titles but this time I needed my signature notarized on an affidavit for some out-of-state legal difficulties. The castle website identifies Harry as the state’s oldest notary and claims he never charged more than a quarter. I don’t want to start an argument but I’m pretty sure he was charging fifty cents at the time of this 1978 visit. Four signatures were required and I handed Harry two dollars for his services. Having read over the affidavit and realizing that some sort of fine would be involved, Harry returned a dollar explaining that it looked like I was probably going to need some extra money.

The office and Harry’s living quarters are blocked off by gates and kept essentially as Harry left them. Much of the rest of the interior also looks pretty much the same as it did although it’s not maintained as fervidly as the personal spaces.

I was surprised to find a locked gate blocking access to the castle roof. The castle is owned and maintained by the all-volunteer Knights of the Golden Trail, an organization with origins in Sunday school classes Harry Andrews taught in the 1920s. There were about a hundred knights at Harry’s death. There are about three hundred today. Sir Fred and Sir Eric were working on the roof and explained that too many years of too many feet (“especially high-heeled shoes”) had created a crack and a leak that threatened the castle. They told me the crack was quite visible in the ceiling of the banquet hall (the room with the big table) and I checked it out when I went back down. Work is underway to seal the crack to head off further water damage but the roof will likely remain closed to the public permanently.

Protecting the structure is clearly of utmost importance but I was disappointed nonetheless. The rooftop deck was always a favorite spot of mine and was the scene of another Harry story. At the time, I lived just a few miles away and a neighbor’s truck-driving brother was visiting after dropping off a loaded trailer. For some reason, we decided to take his semi-tractor to the castle. For reference, it looked quite similar to this one that recently sold at auction. I rode in the middle of the cab and recall ducking reflexively as we approached low branches in the tall truck. We eventually ended up sitting on the castle rooftop chatting with Harry. The tractor could be seen from there and Harry asked just what that strange-looking vehicle was. “Why, that’s a White Freightliner”, its red-bearded owner proudly answered in his best West Virginia drawl.

With the castle’s tallest tower inaccessible, I grabbed a picture of the Knights of the Golden Trail logo from the balcony. Then, after exploring the garden area for a bit, I got a picture of the balcony itself.

The dungeon is actually reachable from inside the castle but the curved stairway is quite low and unwanted head-banging was all too common. Today visitors are encouraged to access the locked cell and its long-suffering occupant through an exterior door.

Steps leading from the castle to the road in front of it are currently closed so I walked up the road to take this picture. The archway marks the closed steps. The wide doorway beyond the steps is the garage. There can’t be very many castles around that were originally built with a garage. On the way back to the parking lot (nicely paved, BTW) I slipped down by the river to get the opening photo. Another memory l have is of canoeing past the castle and seeing it through the trees from a similar angle.

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people touring the castle with me. At one point, I estimate there were as many as fifty curious folks exploring the building and grounds. Many were young homeschooled students from nearby. Apparently, even though the actual schooling takes place in small family units, much of it is somehow coordinated and medieval history is a common subject this time of year. Their parents were there, of course, and there were also several youngish couples without children including one I spoke with from Indianapolis. All seemed suitably impressed. The KOGT have done a fine job of taking care of Harry’s house and keeping it available to be appreciated by others.

Big Ol’ Ford Airliner…

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…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.

Mo’ O’fest

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Last week I went to the largest Oktoberfest in the country. This week I went to the closest. And maybe the newest. Several Loveland, Ohio, businesses have been celebrating the occasion for several years, and last year the city itself decided to get involved. Somewhere a town or city might be holding their first ever Oktoberfest but the second ever Loveland Oktoberfest is still something pretty new and an indication that the first one was enough fun to make it an annual event.

As I did with Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, I targeted Friday shortly after opening. In this case, that was 4:00 when I was again able to avoid the larger evening crowds.

Not only did my timing allow me to enjoy a little open space, it allowed me to hear this new-to-me band. Alico does not deliver typical Oktoberfest fare. There isn’t an accordion or tuba anywhere on the stage. The young and talented duo perform rearranged covers mixed with originals that left me quite impressed. I thought the drummer looked kind of familiar and have since learned he is Joe Nasser who was once with Erin Coburn’s band. Spencer Anthony handles guitar and vocals.

City-sponsored parts of the event were concentrated in Nisbet Park and along the bike trail but several businesses had their own activities going on as well. I skipped the biergarten and grabbed a Lovetoberfest Marzen at the trailside Narrow Path Brewing Company.

Then I headed over to Cappy’s Wine and Spirits for their Stein Hoist competition. Several businesses held contests for both men and women with the winners moving on to a Saturday Night city-wide event. The opening photograph shows the final two women contestants toasting each other before one arm faltered to decide the winner.

I didn’t stay for the men’s competition but headed off to Hometown Cafe for dinner. This picture of the cafe was taken shortly after my arrival. It was significantly more crowded when I picked up my schnitzel and spaetzle and walked down the trail to eat it accompanied by dinner music from the Schnapps Band. 

Three in a Row

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Life seems to always get busier as autumn approaches. That’s no doubt partly pure perception as we try to pack as much as possible into the last days of summer but it’s also partially real. Maybe event schedulers once avoided some conflicts by delaying things but there is a limit to how late in the year outdoor activities can be moved without a high risk of cold weather. This week found me participating in blog-worthy outings on three consecutive days. On Thursday, it was the Open Doors: Camp Washington- The Home of Makers walking tour. On Friday, I made it to the first day of Oktoberfest Zinzinnati and on Saturday, a friend and I attended the WACO Fly-In where the photo at right was taken.

The first stop on the Camp Washington tour was at the Crosley factory. An effort is underway to convert the place where radios and appliances were once manufactured into apartments but it has a long way to go. Camp Washington was once filled with factories, meat processing plants, and some oil storage. The 1937 flood damaged many buildings and most of those on Spring Grove Avenue were destroyed by a fire fed by oil floating on the flood waters. The middle picture is of the tallest building in the area to survive. The third picture is of the surviving office building of one of the meatpacking firms.

The only building we entered on the tour was the former hotel and bank that most recently housed US (Uncle Steve’s) Chili. It is now owned by the Cincinnati Preservation Association and slated for renovation. I’ve eaten breakfast and 4-ways here but had never been beyond the first floor. The tile (Rookwood?) fronted fireplace is on the third floor and I also got a shot of a neighbor from that floor. One of the things I remember about US Chili was a large petition calling for removal of the disrespectful (to George) mural seen in that overhead shot and from ground level here.

The tour had started at the American Sign Museum and would technically end there but it more or less disbanded at Valley Park where a farmer’s market was wrapping up for the day. I have driven by the park quite often and have noted its WW I monument but this was the first time I’d actually approached it.

Besides being the host and an interesting Camp Washington building in its own right, the American Sign Museum pulled signs from a pair of former Camp Washington businesses from the attic and offered up some musical entertainment. As marked by a reproduction sign on a parking lot wall, the museum building was once home to Fashion Frocks. I was well aware of that but had never seen any of their products. Tonight the museum had a frock and some advertisements (“Value Priced $7.98”) on display.

My guess that things might not be too crowded on Friday afternoon proved more or less correct. I grabbed a sausage sampler at Mecklenburg’s, a smoked mettwurst at Mick Knoll’s Covington Haus, and a Festbier from the “World’s Oldest Brewery”.

I caught lots of good German music but I didn’t catch any of the performers’ names.

I didn’t catch this guy’s name either but if it’s not Cincinnato Batman I’m going to be really disappointed.

 
 

My completely unqualified impression is that the WACO Fly-In had fewer total planes than usual and that a higher percentage of them were non-WACO but that a higher percentage of the WACOs were the real thing rather than modern reproductions. I also had the more reliable impression that the weather was perfect for the event.

The fly-in is a wonderful place to get up close and fairly personal — no touching — with some beautiful aircraft.

We had semi-intentionally timed our visit to include the Parade of WACOs which meant we got to see quite a few airplanes take off and land and sometimes pause for directions.

And cruise by at fairly low levels, too.
 
 
The WACO story is definitely an interesting one.  An onsite marker tells an extremely brief version with a whole lot more available at the museum website. Or you could probably learn a bunch chatting with this fellow at his color-coordinated airfield campsite. 

Sub Terrain and Marine

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This week my friend Terry and I succeeded in seeing something we’ve been talking about for quite a while. That something is in the picture at right. It’s the USS Cod moored in Cleveland, Ohio. We toured the retired WWII submarine on Tuesday after a leisurely drive to within striking distance on Monday. range the day before. That leisurely drive included a little sightseeing and something of an unplanned adventure.

We drove on “America’s Oldest Concrete Street” (1893) in Bellefontaine, then stopped at Indian Mill and crossed over the Parker Covered Bridge near Upper Sandusky.

I knew absolutely nothing about Seneca Caverns and Terry knew only that we would be passing nearby. Both of us thought it would be a nice diversion which is exactly the sort of thinking that can lead to, as it did this time, an unplanned adventure. The pictures here are of our guide Allie, a fairly rare horizontal section of the cave, and an elegant 1893 done-by-candlelight inscription.

Seneca Caverns is unique among Ohio show caves in being formed by an earthquake crack and by being maintained pretty much in its natural state which explains its nicknames of “Earth Crack” and “Caviest Cave in the USA”. These pictures show Terry and others descending one of the stairways made of natural stones, another natural stone stairway without people, and our farthest penetration (110 feet below the surface) into the cave.

After returning to the surface, we still had time to check out the cemetery for Confederate soldiers on Johnson’s Island and the nearby Marblehead Lighthouse before ending our day. Confederate prisoners, mostly officers, were kept on the island between April 1862 and September 1865. More than 200 died here and are buried in this cemetery. By the time we arrived, the lighthouse was closed for the day but we were not overly disappointed. Having just climbed up from 110 feet below the Earth’s surface, we didn’t feel a burning need to climb 50 feet above it.

Our short drive to the trip’s primary target was fairly wet but the rain was really letting up by the time we got there and we were headed inside anyway. The USS Cod was commissioned on June 21, 1943, and completed seven successful patrols before the war’s end. Following the war, she served a variety of training roles until 1971 when a group of Clevelanders campaigned to save her from being scrapped. The submarine was turned over to the civilian group in 1976.

Entry to the submarine’s interior is through a hatch in the forward torpedo room. Stepping back from the torpedo tubes shows folding bunks where crewmen sleep in the space between torpedos. The aft torpedo room is similarly equipped and there are other sleeping areas midship. Other necessities are nearby. The third picture is of the captain’s quarters showing that one’s concept of luxury clearly depends on perspective.

Red light is used to preserve sailors’ night vision and some sections of the Cod are illuminated in red to let visitors see what this was like. Submariners reportedly ate better than any other members of the military. Meals were prepared in this stainless steel galley and most were consumed here. Note the books and games stored near the tables and other entertainment was also available. Movies were sometimes shown in the dining area. One of the four 1,600 HP diesel engines is shown and there is a 500 HP auxiliary engine as well. These engines generate electricity which is stored in batteries to turn the propellers. Two stills at the front of the forward engine room provide fresh water for batteries, drinking, and other uses.

Visitors normally exit the USS Cod through a hatch in the aft torpedo room but that was closed because of the rain. We traveled back through the ship and where we had entered in the forward torpedo room. I exited first and got a picture of Terry climbing the ladder and another proving he made it out.

The fellow at the gate of the USS Cod suggested we walk over to the International Women’s Air & Space Museum which we took as permission to leave our car in the Cod’s parking lot while we did so. Amelia Earhart and Katerine Wright are among the many women honored with exhibits there. 

A Pair of Zippers

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I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone else call those who travel on ziplines zippers but it seems reasonable to me. Of course, John and I weren’t all that concerned about what we should call ourselves while we were flying through the air with the greatest of ease. That last phrase comes from an 1867 song titled That Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze. Yeah, we weren’t on a trapeze and neither were we all that daring or the least bit young. Plus, to be honest, our flying was not actually done with the greatest of ease — or grace. But it was fun.

The two of us have talked about trying a zipline for a few years. For the last couple of years, our excuse has been COVID-19 shutdowns. I don’t remember what our excuses were before that. When Ozone Zipline Adventures reopened earlier this summer, our last excuse was gone. Last week we picked a date based partially on a ten-day weather forecast.  When we headed to the site on Friday morning, it was quite apparent that the forecast had been right for at least one day out of the ten. It was perfect.

Ozone is operated by Camp Kern YMCA near Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve. Multiple ziplines in the trees provide what is known as a canopy tour. A restored 1806 stone house that once operated as Cross Keys Tavern serves as the meeting place for zipline patrons. We were a few minutes early but a note on the front door assured us that we were at the right place and guides and other zippers began arriving in short order. A small bus carried us up the hill where we were helped into sturdy harnesses and supplied with hardhats. We took a picture because we could.

The group paused for some instruction at the base of the first tower. Two guides accompany each group. KJ, on the left, would be our “receiving guide”. He crossed each line first and unhooked subsequent crossers as they arrived. Jesse was our “sending guide”. She connected participants to each line and signaled when it was time to go. She and KJ coordinated crossings by radio. As part of their presentation, one of them mentioned that, if you were nervous, it was best to go early to avoid watching everyone else. When it came time to climb the stairs, no one moved and it eventually became apparent that all the others were waiting for John and me. We were clearly the senior members of the group but we were also the only zipline rookies. We had been silently elected “Most Likely to Be Nervous”.

So John headed up the stairs and I followed. At the top, KJ pointed out a few things as he was hooking up then zipped off into the trees. Then it was John and then me. Only when I was about to step off of the wooden platform did I realize that the vote at the bottom of the tower had been pretty accurate. Until that point, I had been thinking of this as something very similar to going down the big slide on the school playground. I realized how different it was as I looked out at all those trees and not much else. Maybe I had been nervous before but didn’t know it. Now I knew I was nervous but didn’t have time for it. I also didn’t have much time for pictures. I had my little Panasonic with me but it was usually tucked deep in a pocket and did not get used a lot. The picture at left is of a member of our group crossing after I did. I’m not even sure if it is the first or second line.

The third line is the longest of the tour and one of two that cross over the Little Miami River. Because of its length, zipping to the end is not automatic. At its beginning, KJ gave us some pointers on increasing our likelihood of making it and some instructions on what to do if we didn’t. The advice was essentially to do more of what we had been practicing on the first two lines which was to keep your legs tucked in (called “cannonballing”) and your body in line with the cable. If forward travel ended short of the platform, you were to grip the cable (Ahead of the trolley!) to keep from traveling backward and KJ would come out and tow you in. The second picture is KJ heading over the river to be both “receiver” and “retriever”. No one rolled back to the middle of the river but more than half of our group did require a short tow. This was accomplished by KJ hanging almost upside down in his harness and sort of “walking” with his feet on the bottom side of the cable. Pretty impressive.

The line back across the river is a little shorter. Once there, this swinging bridge leads to the last two ziplines of the tour. We had crossed two similar bridges earlier in the day.

The canopy tour really was fun and truly scenic when I could pull my eyes away from what was directly in front of me. My “nervousness” certainly diminished and would no doubt disappear completely after a few more trips but I’m not sure there will be more. With the possible exception of climbing that first tower, there was nothing really strenuous but neither is it the carefree floating I’ve seen in some photos. There’s a reason that retired folk comprised only 20% of our group and I’m sure that was higher than average.