Casey Capers - USA: Vol 17 No 7 – 30 September, 2013

Late Friday afternoon, 30 August we pulled into the Friendly Hills Campground located seven miles north of Zanesville, Ohio for the Plain & Casual Moto Guzzi Rally. It is held the Labor Day long weekend each year.There was not much level ground, so we dropped our trailer at a nearby gravel pit and parked the bobtail near the rally site. Joe came in on Saturday and he backed his whole rig in near us.

Friday evening was pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and catching up around the campfire. A group went looking for glow worms. I had not seen glow worms before, so I enjoyed the excursion.

Wikipedia: Glowworm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae that glow through bioluminescence. They may sometimes resemble worms, but all are insects.

We found quite a few, and it was interesting. The 'chatter' likely scared them underground!

Saturday, Jim and I and Jerry went for a ride around the area. Great winding roads over rolling hills – lots of fun. Stopped at The Banana Peel for coffee and a big loop back to Zanesville.

Ohio roads.

Back to Zanesville and parked the bikes and went for a walk near the river and historic downtown area.

Tourist Brochure: In the 1890s a settlement was established at the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum Rivers by Colonel Ebeneezer Zane. He and his son-in-law blazed Zane’s Trace, the original Pioneer Trail into the Northwest Territory. Trails and ferry crossings were established at three major rivers. Transportation continued to play a major role in the development and history of the community. Zane’s Trace later became the National Road, the first federally-funded highway in America. For several decades was America’s busiest land artery to the West, the "Main Street of America". (US Route 40.)

In 1814, the city's well-known Y-shaped bridge was initially constructed to cross the junction of the Licking and Muskingum rivers in the centre of Zanesville. (Ripley’s Believe It Or Not featured Zanesville’s Y Bridge as “the only bridge in the world which you can cross and still be on the same side of the river”.

The current bridge is the fifth structure at this site.

This photo is of the tourist sign - an aerial view of the Y Bridge.

This photo I took from Putnam Park overlook of the Y Bridge.

Intersection on the Y Bridge.

Sand, clay and iron made Zanesville and Muskingum County ideal for the manufacturing of steel, glass and pottery. Zanesville was once known as the “Pottery Capital of the World”.

I noticed many large pottery vases around the area – the local icon decorated and painted. A grouping of them on the western side of the Y Bridge.

Another landmark is the Muskingum River Canal and Locks – a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Internet: Southeastern Ohio’s Muskingum River and its navigation system of 10 hand-operated locks dates from 1837 when area pioneers recognized the potential of the river as a shipping route for steam-powered vessels. The system of locks and dams permitted navigation upriver as far as the Ohio and Erie Canal.

Trivia: Famous Western novelist Zane Grey, a descendant of the Zane family was born in the city.

Stopped at two bars beside the Muskingum River – Muddy Misers Lock 10 Tavern and Weasel Boy Brewing.

Lesley, Jerry, Joe and Moses at Weasel Boy Brewing.

The sample platter of Weasel Boy beers.

Weasel Boy was fun - the bar attendant, Jackie was informative and looked after our group.

Joe didn't have a bike there, so he rode with Moses and yes, that is a pink helmet. Heading back to the campground we met Chad at the stop sign. Taking one of the new moto guzzis for a test ride.

Saturday evening dinner was catered by the campground people and was excellent - then awards, door prizes and more campfire fun. Weather was great – very warm days. There was a big thunder, lightning and downpour early Saturday morning but didn’t worry anyone too much.

Friendly Hills Campground.

Load from Wisconsin to North Carolina.

Joe, Jim and I left around 11am Sunday morning. Joe was going to New York City and we ran with him for a while.

In North Carolina we stopped late Sunday afternoon at a truck stop. Monday was the holiday – time for another day on the motorbike in Mocksville, Davie County. We did a drive by where we had to deliver on Tuesday, a look around the downtown area and stopped at Joppa Cemetery to see Mocksville’s main tourist attraction – the gravestones of Daniel Boone’s parents, Squire and Sarah Boone.

Internet: Squire Boone (1696 – 1765) and Sarah Morgan Boone (1701 – 1777). In 1750 Squire and Sarah joined the growing southward movement of Pennsylvanians, and concluded their long trek in the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina. Daniel was their sixth of eleven children. Daniel Boone (1734 – 1820) was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the US. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky.

Stopped for breakfast at Chip’s Cafe in the small town of Union Grove, and had great French Toast. Both of us opted to not experience the ‘livermush’, apparently a local favourite as it was on the breakfast menu three times.

Internet: Livermush is a Southern US food product composed of pig liver, head parts, and cornmeal. It is commonly spiced with pepper and sage.

We had most of the day on the motorbike. Took some back roads and got onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and rode north. Stopped at an overlook and hiking trail entrance Jumpinoff Rocks. Internet: the half-mile trail leads up to a rock outcropping that, legend holds, may prompt you to jump off into the deep blue mountains beyond!

I did the hike, Jim opted to stay in the parking lot talking to several bikers there. They said to let them know if it was worth the hike. It was a fairly easy hike with ascents and descents and cool and damp temperatures in the tall shady trees, which was nice as I was wearing leather jacket, jeans, boots, etc. The jumping off rock was enclosed with a stone fence making a viewing platform.

I was warm by the time I got back, but it was a nice bit of exercise, and I did let the bikers know that the view was beautiful, but it was the same view as they could see at the overlook without doing the hike.

We stopped for lunch in Elkin, North Carolina and found Fiddles Pub. Very interesting place; there were fiddles along the walls and fiddle décor. Lunch was delicious and sampled a couple of local beers.

Fiddles Pub in Elkin, NC

Back to the truckstop and loaded the bike. Tuesday morning, 3 September we delivered the heat exchangers to Ingersoll Rand in Mocksville. Then over to Randleman, NC to load more heat exchangers and delivered them Thursday morning near Tampa, Florida at a hospital under construction.

Then to the house in Daytona Beach for a few days. Jim worked on the truck for a couple of days, spent a bit of time with Jimmy. A couple of evenings we walked to the boardwalk to relax a bit and enjoy the beach and boardwalk.

Daytona Beach amusements at The Boardwalk.

Daytona Beach.

Sunday afternoon was the first Buffalo Bills football game of the season. The Bills lost narrowly to the New England Patriots, but Jim is excited about the season, hoping they will have many more wins.

On Tuesday we left the house and went to Savannah, Georgia to be ready to load the next morning at the Georgia Port Authority docks.

Georgia Port Authority at Savannah, GA.

Georgia to Alabama.

Loaded six crates of Siemens and delivered them the next morning in Deatsville, Alabama to a power plant. North to Birmingham and loaded at Birmingham Rail & Locomotive.

Alabama to Kentucky load.

Had some light gauge railway line and parts and we delivered them to a power station construction in Ghent, Kentucky on the Ohio River. There was ammonia warnings and high safety and emergency procedures. The first time we have had to run the truck through a wash on the way out of a plant. Over a grid that had high pressure water spraying upwards and under the truck.

Driving onto the truck wash.

Getting the underneath of the truck washed before leaving the site.

Friday afternoon over to Cincinnati, Ohio to a Siemens plant and loaded a 2000hp electric motor, a big machine and a full tarp.

We had an afternoon in Buffalo on the way to Albany, New York. Got in about noon on Saturday, did a little visiting and left Sunday morning. Jim wanted to get to Albany in time to watch the Buffalo Bills football game against Carolina Panthers.

There is a truckstop in Fultonville and Jim felt sure there would be a sports bar close where he could watch the Buffalo Bills game. Wrong – we walked all over that town and the only bar was closed on a Sunday. Good thing he has the satellite radio, so he got to listen to the Bills win!

Internet: The Village of Fultonville is on the south bank of the Mohawk River. The Mohawk River is part of the Erie Canal at this location.

I enjoyed the walk around the small river town, though very depressed and many structures are crumbling.

Old Fultonville warehouse.

This beautiful County building stood out.

The Town of Mohawk is on the north side of the river.

Barge Canal and Mohawk River - Internet: The Mohawk River is a 149 mile long (240 km) river and the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. It is a major waterway in north-central New York State. Barge Canal, part of the Erie Canal which connects the Hudson River and Port of New York with the Great Lakes at Buffalo.

Monday morning 16 Sept, we delivered the big electric motor in Voorheesville, New York on Monday morning and over to North Syracuse to load at G A Braun – website: Braun laundry equipment is used worldwide; in hospitals, hotels, cruise ships, commercial and industrial laundries, and in government and correctional facilities.

Three washers and three dryers - New York to North Carolina.

We had three washers and three dryers on the trailer and we delivered them to Quality Textile Services in Raleigh, North Carolina. They are industrial launderers and dry cleaners – a huge concern.

Over to the coast to Jacksonville, North Carolina and loaded large crane parts at the Marine Corps Air Base New River - a new airplane hanger had been built there and several trucks loaded the crane sections. The weights were heavy, but the crane section allowed no wind resistance, a nice load.

North Carolina to Florida.

A new hospital high rise building is being added to Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando and the crane was needed there. We delivered Thursday morning in Orlando and went to the house for the afternoon and caught up with Lis and Harvey for dinner. Stayed the night at the house and left the next morning and loaded in Mims, Florida, just 70 kms south of Daytona Beach.

Florida to Illinois AVGAS fuel tank..

Loaded a bulk AVGAS fuel storage tank at Fuel Tech Inc. Two Landstar step decks there to load two tanks. We could have gone back to the house for the night, but instead continued north to meet with Jimmy and have a night on the town in Nashville! He beat us there by half a day, also we met with Daytona Beach trucker friend, Chuck at the truckstop. Chuck drives for Upstaging and for the past seven months has been on Taylor Swift’s tour. She was at the Nashville Convention Centre that night. Had a quick catch up with him, but he had to start work at midnight, so opted not to go to town with us.

Got to lower Broadway Street about 5pm, checked out Roberts Western World first, we always enjoy them, but we had all seen the featured band previously this year, so decided to check out some of the other bands and bars, plus we were hungry! First time we have seen a 'short' line at Jack's Barbeque which is next to Roberts.

The line was only out the door and past the next building (usually it is past about five buildings!). We got in line and probably only had a half hour (?) wait. Oh, yes, it is great barbeque! Jimmy had pulled pork, Jim had brisket and I had ribs – ALL were delicious.
This restaurant is one that does NOT have live music – but we could actually converse over dinner.

With full bellies we went bar hopping. Visited a couple of new ones – Whiskey Bent Saloon and Swinging Doors Saloon.

All the bands were great, but it got very crowded. The Taylor Swift concert and also the Tennessee Titans football team was playing San Diego Chargers on Sunday in Nashville, so there were lots of football fans out and about as well. After midnight we decided to head back to the trucks – it was a fun time.

Lower Broadway St - the Nashville Convention Centre, and the line of Taylor Swift trucks.

Jimmy, Jim and I at the Nashville Hard Rock Cafe.

Nashville Hard Rock Cafe guitar.

Breakfast with Jimmy Sunday morning and we headed north about 11am.

Stopped the truck at a small truckstop a few miles from where we had to deliver in Illinois near the Illinois and Indiana state line. There were two sports bars, so Jim was looking forward to watching the Buffalo Bills – but two New York teams were not of great interest to Illinois/Indiana, so neither had the channel to watch it.

Watched the Indianapolis game and saw some score updates from time to time on the ticker tape. Back to the truck and the satellite radio again. The game was tied and the Indianapolis game had finished, so the last 10 minutes of the Buffalo Bills/NY Jets game was on the local channel. The NY Jets scored and the Bills are now 2 losses and 1 win.

Delivered at the Carmi Airport on Monday morning. A small town in Illinois near the Little Wabash River which is the border to Indiana. Took a few hours to unload both truck, that afternoon we loaded at Westech Building Products near Mount Vernon, Indiana.

I saw signs for Port of Indiana:

Internet: The State of Indiana annually ships over 70 million tons of cargo by water, which ranks 14^th among all US States. More than half of Indiana’s border is water, which includes 400 miles of direct access to two major freight transportation arteries: the Great Lakes/St Lawrence Seaway (via Lake Michigan) and the Inland Waterway System (via the Ohio River).

The Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon handles about 4 million tons of grain, grain products, coal, fertilizer, cement and minerals annually. It is located in Mount Vernon, Indiana on the Ohio River, 15 miles west of Evansville.

At Westech Building Products we loaded skids of the plastic fence posts and took them to Carp Building Exteriors in Carp, Ontario near Ottawa. Crossed the border at Thousand Islands area of New York on Tuesday evening.

It definitely is not summer anymore – 4 degrees C (37 F) on Wednesday morning!!

Delivered in Carp on Wednesday morning and loaded four large air handlers in Kingston, Ontario in the afternoon.

Internet: A 'air handler' is a large metal box containing a blower, heating or cooling elements, filter racks, sound attenuators and dampers. They usually connect to a duct work ventilation system that distributes the conditioned air through a building.

Kingston, Ontario to Indianapolis, IN - air handlers.

It was the last part of the month and the manufacturers wanted the freight moved, but the destination delivery did not want them until 3 October, so they paid extra to keep them on the truck for a week. It worked out nicely for us, Jim wanted to spend a few days in Buffalo and that was on the way.

I took some photos coming back into the USA from Canada at the Thousand Islands border crossing.

The Thousand Islands area.

We arrived at Joe and Michelle's Thursday afternoon. It was cooler temperatures, but weather during the day was very nice.

Friday Jim and I went for a bike ride to the town of Le Roy about 25 miles (40 kms) from Attica. I wanted to visit a museum there.

Le Roy is the birthplace of Jell-O gelatin dessert. Jim and I did the Jell-O tour and the lady who greets us had me sing the Aeroplane Jelly song with her! A previous Australian visitor had taught it to her.

Website: In 1897, Pearle Wait, a carpenter in Le Roy experimented with gelatin and came up with a flavoured dessert which his wife, Mary named "Jell-O". He tried to market his product but he lacked the capital and the experience. In 1899 he sold his formula to a fellow townsman for $450.

Trivia: Bill Cosby was the spokesperson for Jello-O for 30 years from 1974. There is a Bill Cosby display and a video running of all the Jell-O commercials with Gomer Pyle, Lucille Ball, Andy Griffiths, and many more.

All the flavours.

Several displays of Jell-o molds.

Today Jell-O is made by Kraft/General Foods in Dover, Delaware.

The small museum was fun, there are 18 flavours of Jell-O here and I have been taking the grape, watermelon and other varieties back to Australia with me for years.

Below the Jell-O Museum is a Transportation Exhibit which was fascinating for us. The horse drawn sleighs were something I had not seen before. This exhibit was included in the $4.50 entry for the Jell-O Museum. Very, very interesting - we loved this part.

A 1908 Cadillac.

A sleigh, looks like the jingle bell collar nearby!

Also, in front of the Museum is Le Roy House. The town is named after one of the original land owners, Herman Le Roy and this was the family home. It was open to visitors and a very informative local couple showed us around and answered questions. Built in 1820, it has a vault, wine cellar, open-hearth kitchen, children's room (mid 1800's furniture and toys), and a rare collection of pottery. One room was the original Lands Office.

The beautiful house and gardens had many uses until 1930 when it was preserved by the Historical Society. During the 100 odd years it was used as a family home and then a dormitory for the university. Beautiful antique furniture, painting, etc. Le Roy House was included in the $4.50 entrance fee as well - excellent value for an afternoon of Western New York history!

Le Roy House.

Saturday morning Michele and I went to Baillie's soccer game at Attica High Schoolm, "Blue Devils". She is playing Junior Varsity, she is Grade 9 now. That was fun, exciting with 0 score at all.

Visited Jim's sister and family on Saturday afternoon - they had been making apple cider. They have many apple trees on their property and were loaded with fruit this year. An apple grinder and press is required to make apple juice. Larry and Pat had been hard at it all day and pressed 17 gallons of juice. It is delicious - sweet cider!

Larry and Pat making apple cider.

The apples are tossed into the grinder and the large wheel turned to break them up, and the pieces go into the barrel tub which has a mesh bag to catch the skin, seeds, stalk and mush so they don't go into the juice.

When the tub is full, the bag is folded over and a wooden disk covers it, then wind down the press slowly and the apple juice is collected at the bottom. Many different techniques to get the clearest cider. We were drinking very fresh apple juice! Quite labour intensive though! The bottles have to be clean and sterilized before filling and all the equipment cleaned thoroughly so no bacteria develops.

Usually OK to store the fresh juice in a cool place for 2-3 weeks. After that - natural yeast makes it fizzy and it becomes alcohol. Pat adds yeast prior to that and makes "hard cider".

I had a go at grinding the apples.

11 month old Kathryn helped herself to the apples! Cute!

We caught up with other people: Jim's Mom each day, nieces and nephews, Jim's cousin, Art and Anne Marie for dinner.

Joe and Michele had a big project - widening their driveway entrance so two trucks could park there! It had to be done last weekend to take advantage of some free dirt and dirt moving equipment. Joe had already cut trees down.

The county had to replace pipes under the road. A lot of gravel and soil had to be removed and rather than travel to another location to dump it - they only had to go 50 feet to dump it in Joe's driveway. A neighbour was taking out a hill for more pasture so he bought fill for two days and raised the area about 8 feet (a lot of dirt!). They spent the weekend spreading it and compacting it. Monday morning the county started digging and spread a hard top layer. Worked out nice for Joe. Got the job done!

The weather stayed nice the whole time we were there and we had 'Stella' the moto guzzi to ride. We put a new tarp over the roof of the motor home in preparation for winter.