Air Force Museum - Dayton, Ohio

August 28
Friday

Driving from Columbus to Dayton thru the Midwest I finally realized what I had been missing seeing --those Burma Shave signs that were posted on the fence posts in the midwest in the 50s!  As a kid I kept a notebook and had dozens of the corny/clever poems saved. Here's one of my favs from my memory:
                    His cheek was rough
                     His chick vamoosed
                    And now she won't
                    Come home to roost.

Arrived at cousin Gary's place and sat in his backyard visiting and watching all the birds that come to his feeders --  hummers, cardinals, finches, woodpeckers in an old tree in back.  It really is a little paradise. He raises tomatoes but starts them early and they are about gone now. A few years ago he developed the Platfoot tomato which was sold in tomato cataloges, but "just putters now".

 We planned to tour the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. Gary asked if I wanted to go in the Mazda or the Corvette?  Is he kidding, the Corvette of course.

   

The museum is huge with 6 different sections to see, all crammed with planes and related info.

Gary was a good guide having retired from GM and worked at the base as a tool designer.

There are several different areas to tour in this huge building - Early Aircraft, WWII, South East Asian War, Korean War, and the Space Race.

Even a section of Bob Hope touring to entertain the troops.

We started in the Early Years Gallery with the Wright Brothers history in Dayton.

 Some of the jackets worn by the WWII fighter pilots.

Into the Space Race, Sputnik was there, but only a replica.

 More menacing forms of aircraft showed up as we went further into the Space Race exhibit.

 These are only a  few of the hundreds on display in each area.

This is the capsule carrying the astronauts that splashes into the ocean upon returning to earth.

Once again, the Air Force Museum wasn't on my list but this trip is about new discoveries and this one turned out to be very interesting. I only wish I had taken notes to i.d. each aircraft for this blog. You will have to go see for yourself, it's definitely worth a trip.

On the way home on the freeway I noticed the odometer on Gary's Vette had 200 mph listed. He said he thought it would only do about 180.  Just then he punched it and sent me back into my seat. WOW!  What was that?!  He said that was 100 mph in about the equivalent of 3 city blocks.

The fastest I've ever gone on land!

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

August 26
Wednesday

I'm losing it! Spent last night without my phone so couldn't make calls. It wouldn't charge even tho plugged into the outlet in the Doodle. So read instead. Just before going to bed decided to go out and see if the cord was securely in the electric post. It was, but I hadn't flipped the switch to turn it on! Did so and my phone started to charge.  Honestly, I wonder if I'll even be able to find my way home when this trip is over!!!

In Cleveland to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was struck by how much it looked like San Francisco but without the hills, sitting by Lake Erie.

If I didn't know better I could have been at the Louvre in Paris, the R&R Museum looked so much like the I.M. Pei glass triangle entrance of that great museum, but on a larger scale.

City views from the plaza.

Spent several hours inside soaking up the good vibes from all the greats, Elvis, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Paul Simon.

Early Stones, I almost didn't recognize Mick.

Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon when they were still Tom and Jerry.

Paul wrote Art that he has a new song called "Bobbie".

Wonder what happened to it.

Great original costumes.

This is what happens when you give your phone to an old person to take a picture.

The don't run fast so they aren't going to steal it, but they are shaky and this is the result.

I looked at it before he left and said it was OK because I didn't want to embarrass him but intended to wait till he left and ask someone else to take another. But he kept hanging around and then I forgot.

This is Elvis' gold lame tuxedo, of course.

Les Paul and Mary Ford. We used to watch them on the Grand Old Opry on TV in Indiana.

Cafe on top floor. 

Great views.

Rolling Stones covers.

Forgot they started in San Francisco in 1967 and 10 years later moved to New York.

Parked at a lot by the Lake.

Had lunch at this shipping  container that has been, as the sign says, turned into a culinary hot spot.

Good food.

Fun day rockin' down Memory Lane.

Ohio

August 25
Tuesday

Upon leaving Falling Water I headed south to Gallipolis, Ohio, the town of many pronunciations. For the record it's Gallipolice.  It was described in Blue Highways as the most beautiful little French town on the Ohio", so I had to see it.
Apparently a lot has changed since 1982 because it was only ordinary and even a little shabby at that, but it did have a pretty park along Main Street bordered by the Ohio River.

The drive to southern Ohio was not wasted because just across the river was West Virginia,  the only state East of the Missippi for which I had no folder of places to see.  Getting to the other side on the bridge, indeed, I found nothing worth even taking a photo of.  But I did touch soil so have bragging rights now and can put West Virginia on my map.

These are the states I've visited so far on this trip since June 15,  almost 3 months and  9293 miles ago.

At the RV park just as I was feeling lonely, Bonnie came by walking her two Shelties, Lad and Gizmo.
 She recommended I see a Pencil Sharpener Museum nearby.
        Why not?!





T

This tiny museum  is no bigger than my Doodlebug and houses Paul Johnson's collection of 3,400 pencil sharpeners all sorted by category.

There's everything from Barbie to the space race to the fallen World Trade center.

Some people just get old and die. For Paul the point is to stay sharp until it happens.

On the way to Dover coming thru Zanesville, I did a double take seeing these sheep coming down the sidewalk.

They had escaped from the Cottrill Bronze Art Studio down the block

One was even wearing ice skates!

It was closed so I couldn't go in.

In Dover arrived at the Warther Museum to see the button collection.

I had heard there was also a collection of carvings but wasn't particularly interested, thinking of those chainsaw bears for sale by the  roadside. The carving was included in the tour which was about to start so I joined in. I wasn't prepared for what I saw.  The most incredible wood carvings!  Mooney Warther was a true genius, which I was about to discover.

Our tour guide, Jeannie, was a local woman who remembered Mooney fondly for all his eccentricities, like riding his bike all around town with his schock of wild hair standing on end, and talking so loud he scared all the kids.

As she started the tour in his tiny workshop and progressed thru all the thousands of items he carved, his genius came thru. With only a second grade education, he became a master carver and employed a degree of skill for some of his working creations that would have required an advanced degree in mathematics.

He began carving as a kid when he found a knife in the pasture where he was being paid a penny per day per cow to take the cows to pasture.
He was less than 10 years old and helping to feed the family since his father died.

By the time he was in his twenties he had perfected his skill to the point where he carved this locomotive with working parts. The engine is ebony and the white parts bone. It is incredibly detailed. All of the text is carved and inlaid into the ebony.

He was married and to support his family worked in a steel mill.

While there he carved a working replica of it with all the mechanical gear parts running on electricity. With a second grade education.  All of the men are moving, one eating his lunch even has his mouth chewing. Incredible!

In his 70s he began carving totally with ivory but only used ivory from elephants that had died, not been killed by poachers.

His pliers tree is made of over 3000 tiny pairs of working pliers all carved from the same piece of wood.  They all fold up into one piece, taking several hours to fold them all together.

It was exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933.
 Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum wanted to buy it from him for $50,000 and pay him $5,000 a year to exhibit it but he said no he didn't sell his creations. And he didn't, preferring to live simply.

The pliers tree. Not a very good photo, but each one of those branches is a working pair of pliers.
He used to make them for kids around town, and made one for Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show in 10 seconds.

I must look on EBay to see if any are for sale there.

The Museum is on 8 acres and includes the home where he and his wife Freida, raised their three children. The home is open for self guided tour giving a glimpse into the life of this incredible man.

During WWII he didn't carve at all except to  make hundreds of knives for the servicemen to carry using the steel he fashioned his wood carving knives from.  On the handle of each he inlaid the man's name.  Never charging for them, he liked to think that maybe they saved a life.

The tiny home is so simple that you can't help but think somehow Mooney had his priorities in order.









Upon his death in the 1980s his family started a knife business on the property that is very successful, mostly employing family members. I had to have Old Faithful, the paring knife, as a souvenir of this amazing man's life.

Freida's button collection was in a tiny building behind the house.

They were works of art in ivory, ebony and pearl.

It was interesting, but not historic and paled by comparison to Mooney's work.








I continue to be amazed by what I am discovering on this trip.




Had a late lunch at the Beans Cafe in Dover and talked movies with some old guys who gather there everyday for "neighboring".    Fun!

Falling Water

August 23
Sunday

Peggy Long's daughter, Jody, was in Pittsburgh for the Steelers game this afternoon but the connection was too tight to get together. I had a reservation  to see the Frank Lloyd Wright Falling Water home in Mill Run at noon several hours away. I would not be a good jet setter, my scheduling sucks.

SJ Giants mgr Mark, goes to Pamela's for breakfast when in town for a game. I went by but the line was around the block so skipped it. Next time, Mark.

The drive to Mill Run is thru pretty, hilly Pennsylvania countryside and this Sunday morning there was little traffic.

A quarter mile serene drive leads into the area.

This very famous home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Kaufmann family who owned an upscale department store in Pittsburgh which is now part of the Macy's chain.

The Kaufmanns had owned the property known as Bear Run for many years and used it as a camping retreat for their employees. But with the Depression in the 1930s the employees stopped coming because they couldn't afford the $1 train fare from Pittsburgh.

So the Kaufmanns decided to build a summer place for themselves and in the late 1930s hired the architect their son was interning with, Frank Lloyd Wright.  They wanted a home where they would have a view of the two beautiful waterfalls in the stream that came thru the property.

The original building budget was $30K but ended up being $150K mostly due to all the engineering innovations needed for this cantilevered masterpiece to hang out over the water.
 The Kaufmanns OKd the new budget.

 

The result was a very contemporary home that sits right over the water as if it is hanging in mid air.
They gave up the view because they loved the design of the home.  In the living room there is a gate leading to steps where they were able to go down and sit and put their feet in the water.

We were not permitted to take photos in the home but the following interior shots were on the wall in the museum and photographed very well, don't you think?

Living room with a large red pot that swings over the fireplace to be heated for parties. The guide thought perhaps cider.

Dining room.
Under the cabinet on the left are two additional tables that can be added to the existing dining room table for large parties.

All natural woods and stone, so different from the fussy Victorian styles of the day.

Her bedroom.
All the rooms in the home open out thru walls of glass to large terraces overlooking the stream and woods. Lovely.

The Kaufmanns came here summers until they passed away in the 1950s.

Their son inherited Falling Water and kept it until 1963 when he entrusted the home and hundreds of acres of the pristine countryside to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

In 1980 a Visitor Center was built using the same natural materials and contemporary design.  Frank would have approved.  It contains a museum, gift shop and cafe.

It still bothers me that the Kaufmanns gave up their view of the falls because Frank wanted to put the home over the falls. Now to see the falls they must go to a clearing across the creek.  I would have held out for the view.