Chasing the eclipse 4 - OK-OH

US 40 crosses the US ‘From Sea to Shining Sea’ often parallel to Historic Route 66.  We often look for a Route 66 stop along the way to explore.  Fran, showing her Irish roots, chose Shamrock TX.

The town is noted as having the tallest water tower in Texas  So that was our first stop.

.

.

Like in many towns, murals are used to attract the tourists.  Many nice murals to be seen in Shamrock.

.

At least to us, the town should be noted for having the only piece of the Blarney Stone outside of Ireland!  In the late 1950s the town negotiated to have a slice of the Blarney Stone delivered.  It was not a popular decision with the Irish, but the stone arrived in an armored car with police and military escort in 1959.

.

On a mother-daughter trip, Fran's mother and sister all went to Ireland.  There they had the chance to kiss the original Blarney Stone.  So Fran also need to kiss this stone.

We stopped at this Route 66 art deco diner for lunch.  The diner is pretty much original, but the Conoco station and bus stop is now a gift shop.

Elvis was here!

There was a town councilman in the diner.  He was excited to talk about Elvis, as his mother was his waitress!  As he chatted on, I forgot to ask about the coins on the Blarney Stone.  I know why coins are left on graves, and the denomination of the coins have meaning.  But the Blarney Stone?

Google didn't help, can you?

Shamrock in now noted as the official, and biggest, St Patrick's Day destination in Texas.  As 20,000 ‘Irish’ descend on the town for 4 days of parades, music, dancing and green beer.

High winds increased with gusts to 60+ as we continued to pass through Oklahoma.  We joked about these puffy clouds wanting to join us for the eclipse.

After entering Arkansas, we soon dropped south to US64 to follow the Arkansas Wine Trail.

We’ve done this before, from the east.  From the west this time our first stop was Mount Bethel.  It was our favorite last time and their dry reds were still very good and reasonably priced at $14 ea.

To paraphrase Suzi:  "Oh Fran"

Fran, the awesome navigator, found a nice recommendation for Petit Jean State Park, just a few miles after the end of the wine trail.

We did not know at the time we headed that way, that USA Today ranked Petit Jean the best state park destination in 2023! That article is HERE!  The parks they rated:

• No. 10:
Curt Gowdy State Park - Cheyenne, Wyoming


• No. 9:
  Lost Dutchman State Park - Apache Junction, Arizona

• No. 8:
  Red Rock Canyon State Park - Cantil, California

• No. 7:
  Palisades State Park - Garretson, South Dakota

• No. 6:
  Cape Disappointment State Park - Ilwaco, Washington

• No. 5:
  Tishomingo State Park - Tishomingo, Mississippi

• No. 4:
  Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park - Middle Brook, Missouri

No. 3:
Cheaha State Park - Delta, Alabama

No. 2:
Custer State Park - Custer, South Dakota

No. 1:
Petit Jean State Park - Morrilton, Arkansas




We’ve now been to 4 parks on this list.  How about you?

Our campsite was right on the lake.

The roads were beautiful and uncrowded.

We enjoyed the short hike to Cedar Falls.

Fran on the Bear Cave Trail.

The Gravesite of Petit Jean

And her forever view over the Arkansas River

Certainly wish we had more time there.

Back on the road, as US 40 drops south to Little Rock, US 64 continues due east and that’s the direction we want to go.  The wind remains relentless!  Our campground sign was blown down as were several signs along the highway.  We stopped a bit early to do some laundry.

The following morning we wanted to follow Jim and Barb’s tire tracks and taste a bit of the Bourbon Trail.  Alas the wind continues and now rain!  Heavy at times … ARG.  We crossed a few very narrow bridges!  

The next skinny bridge had an accident, which backed up traffic for miles!

We pulled into a Cracker Barrel near Georgetown KY at the far end of the trail, without  bourbon :( Nice long pull through parking for RVs in the back).  When we arrived there were 2 RVs and 3 SUVs taking advantage of the overnight spots.  We scored the far spot with a patch of grass that allowed us to extend our slide.

There was a little traffic noise from I-75 and a couple trains.  But it was FREE! and the wind died down overnight.

Traditionally our first stop as we approach the family home is Marion’s.  Their pizza is just that good and a bit different.

When we first put the Michelin Agilis tires on, Rick asked how we liked them. HERE

Rick – So glad we did not wait!  They are quieter than the LTX they replaced and roll smother, and handle the rain well.

It should be a consideration for anyone looking for tires.  However like the LTX the tread captures the gravel many stops use.  So there is that first mile of pings as they are released.

Next up the ECLIPSE!

Road Trip 2021 - Dayton wrap-up

Our time in Dayton has come to an end.  Although not all projects on the house were completed we made good progress.

The bathroom and bedroom are complete!

New vanity, mirror, vinyl flooring 

.

Hardwood floors, fresh paint & trim, new bed and curtains

We ran into a delay in the kitchen when Lowes provided gray flooring vice the beige Fran had ordered.  But at least the cabinets have been refinished.

Cabinets done, but need to see the flooring before painting

Oops – we’ll need a new garbage disposer, the arms are missing on this one.  Didn’t anticipate repair, it’ll have to wait till next time. 

But it certainly wasn’t all chores.  The Fraze Pavilion is a short bike ride away.  Where we enjoyed evening concerts.

Uncle Kracker was a one-hit-wonder with ‘Follow Me’, but put on a fun show doing all of his lesser known songs.

Gladys Knight was there, without her Pips.  She looked and sounded great. but I like her early Motown work much better.

My favorite was TUSK the ultimate Fleetwood Mac tribute band.  The gal was taller than Stevie Nix, but had the look, moves and voice down.  They were great!

The Fraze closed the summer season with DISCO!  That sure got the folks up and dancing.

But there are several other music venues in the area.  The Green, The Rose and The Levitt Pavilion come to mind.  St. Leonard’s is a retirement community that also provides entertainment.  We went there to enjoy The King’s English.  A group of friends that formed in the 60s at the University of Dayton.  And still play 60’s music, mostly for us old folks.

St. Leonard’s provides the snacks, although the wine was $5

St Leonard’s also offers the use of their pool and exercise rooms to the public.  

RiverScape Park along the Miami River hosts many events.  For our last night out we enjoyed the Big Band sounds of the Bob Gray Orchestra.

The little gal singing packs a huge beautiful voice.  She’s retired Air Force and has sung the National Anthem at many events including the Cincinnati Reds.

The gas company provided a day of entertainment relocating the meter in the basement to the exterior.

The connection to the main had to be located and a new line run.

The final result was a clean connection and a new meter with a shutoff valve.  A nice touch, but the house is poured concrete.  At least the exterior walls will not burn.

When the Fraze music season is over the surrounding Lincoln Park is used for other events.  We took the advice of Chapter3Travels, where Laura recommends a late start to popular events.  And indeed the annual Bacon Fest is less crowded in the afternoon.

.

.

We’re in the city of Kettering, which holds it’s annual block party at the Fraze.  The music is provided by the Kettering Civic Band.

With FREE hotdogs and chips.

Her red bag is probably half full of hotdogs … I know we brought 8 home.  :)

Over Memorial Day weekend the Fraze is host to Kettering's ‘Holiday at Home’ with an ‘Air Cooled’ car show, the first day.  Lots of VW bugs.

And VW ‘kit cars’

.

I’ve often thought a VW Thing would be a perfect San Felipe beach cruiser. 

The ultimate VW nerd had a lot of fun with this rig.

.

And an invitation only classics was held the next day.  Just WOW!

.

.

.

And my favorite, which is always a truck - a 1955 Chevy, I even like the color.

On Memorial Day there is the Holiday at Home parade in Kettering.

Fairmont High has a huge presence here, I can sit on the porch and listen to their Marching Firebirds band practices.

The classic fire trucks were on display prior to the parade at the Carillon, I missed the chance to visit them.

.

I had a chance to buy a Nash Metropolitan in the late 1960s.  This one looks great, but it must be a lot of work to keep it in parade show quality.

Hogs with Dogs!  I can’t say I’ve seen this before.  Must have been a couple dozen Harley Davidson cycles with puppies riding along!  All the dogs wore sun glasses.

The Wright Brothers made bicycles in Dayton and bicycles of all types were part of the parade.

.

Fran attended Alter High School, her alma mater has certainly grown since she graduated.

Brown and Gold ... The San Diego Padres colors

The Shriners are present at most parades.  But the little cars were missing here, think some are now getting too old for those and riding scooters instead.

Or 18-wheelers

There was only one Jeep TJ in the Jeep Club.  We must have a classic!  Chuck if you read this you have one, too!

I did take the RV out a couple times, both times was to the dump station!  I used the local $5 indoor station in the past, but not much further is the outdoor Beaver Creek facility.

Nice outdoor facility

And it doesn’t feel like I’m in a hot stinky pota-potty.

Indoor stinky facility

We ate at Marion’s Piazza 4 times with leftovers for breakfast.  There’s six now in the RV freezer to ease our withdrawal symptoms on the way home.  I'd bring back more if they could fit.

The heat index was over 100 for the first 10 days of our stay.  This little bunny stayed under the RV enjoying the cool drippings from the A/C.

I’ll leave with this sweet thought, Ester Price!  I’m not a huge chocolate lover, but I do make an exception for Ester Price.  Glad I rode the bike there, or I might have blown my budget.

On my bike ride back form Ester Price I stopped for the third time at Massaman Thai Cuisine.  A new Thai restaurant just off the bike path in Kettering.  

Pad Lad Na

It’s so good I may give up Marion’s Pizza … NAH!

And a few more Dayton Fun Facts:
1.  Charles Kettering in 1915 invented the automobile starter motor.  Along with his partner, Edward Deeds founded Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. (DELCO).

2.  William Shoyer invented the aluminum baseball bat in 1924.  

3.  Ermal Fraze invented the pop-top can in 1959.

4.  Huffy Bicycles was founded in Dayton.