Thread: Ramblings From The USA - 1

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Also watch the movie Elizabeth town, since you are driving similar routes featured in that movie! The last half of the movies is a road trip to cool places . Worth watching the trailer below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyPq2BS8Ug0

Originally Posted by stovens

Also watch the movie Elizabeth town, since you are driving similar routes featured in that movie! The last half of the movies is a road trip to cool places . Worth watching the trailer below.

Yeah, not the best timing Steve. They were in Elizabethtown last night, hitting the road this morning heading towards Louisville, KY and then I believe NNE via I71 towards Dayton via Cincinnati? That's just from memory, but do know that they wanted to do the big Air Force museum outside of Dayton. Looked like the movie road trip was Elizabethtown south towards Memphis, so it would have been last week's travels. It does look like an interesting movie though....

I expect good suggestions for the trip NNE from Louisville might be welcomed tonight when they stop, for planning the next leg.

Actually the movie encompasses quite a few states towns and famous places, not sure of everywhere, but they are definately traveling thru where parts of the movie filmed. It is a good flick if you can get pasted the stupid job/tenis shoe premise.

A friend posted a link saying that the Skydome at the National Corvette Museum, where the big sinkhole was repaired, is slated to have a Grand ReOpening tomorrow, 9/3/15 as part of the big 21st Anniversary celebration. jb & company were there yesterday, I expect. National Corvette Museum Skydome set for grand reopening | Hemmings Daily

Signal strength last night was rated 'fair'.
Fair to whom?
Not to this poor bugger that's for sure.

Net result (yeah; bad pun, I know,) I couldn't receive all my e-mails, only five got through, (which resulted in a flood of fourteen when I clicked on just now,) nor could I access the CHR nor Maverick sites...technology!
Bah!

So here's yesterday first...I've yet to write today's:

Tuesday 1st September/

Got away about 8:20, the theory being that we’d be moving contra to the rush hour traffic.
Good theory; but it didn’t work…the first ten to fifteen miles were dead slow.
But we trucked on and eventually got to Bowling Green and the Corvette Museum.
If I were to win Lotto to-morrow it would be my ultimate dream to buy an early sixties Corvette (the really good looking ones,) chop the boot (trunk) out of it and build a rough-as-guts 6 x 1 wooden stake-board deck in it.
Thereby upsetting the most people for the least possible effort.
Although I can appreciate fine machinery, the GM design team sorta lost the plot with later models…with their sloping snouts they make me think of a pregnant shark.
(Ducks for cover right here…)
But I did enjoy the museum, it’s well done, well displayed, and well explained.
Top marks; and recommended even if you’re not a Corvette nut.

I noticed on the way out here that pretty well all of the farms were cropping, with very little livestock apparent. And most animals I saw were miniature horses.
What’s the point?
They’re too small to ride, too small to race, they don’t produce milk or wool…and there’s not much to them to eat either.

Kept on trucking to Mammoth Caverns National Park.
Unfortunately we hadn’t taken into account that we would cross a time zone around here, making it impractical for us to do any ‘at length’ exploring of what was on offer.
The times the tours departed, and the time they took just didn’t fit.
Bugger!
But what we did get to see was still pretty impressive.
(Whilst here I picked up a little felt mouse, about five inches long, in the gift shop, under the watchful eye of the attendant and held it with the tips of my fingers in the palm of my right hand, stroking it with my left hand.
“Frisky little critters,” I said, “you’ve got to keep a good hold on these.”
If you hold them thusly, when you snap your right fingers shut, the critter shoots up your arm, your left hand hiding the action of your right.
So that’s what I did.
She jumped as if she’d been shot!
Then started to laugh when I did it again.
“Very clever,” she said, “very clever.”
I’ll bet she practised that move as soon as I’d walked out.)

I’d noticed on the way in to the caves that the bush was all second growth; but with very little undergrowth…what I’d noted was correct as we found out at the caves.
Most of this area was requisitioned by the Govt to form the park, and had been cleared and farmed at one stage; that explained the second growth.
The lack of undergrowth was explained as we were driving out…I noticed deer…yep; they’ll browse it out alright; there’s very little undergrowth where there’s deer about.
Bloody vermin…as bad as possums for destructiveness.

So…head for Elizabethtown, and Swope’s Auto Museum…we’ve got about an hour up our sleeves.
And couldn’t find the place.
(Seems we didn’t go far enough.)

We drove through some quite extensive roadworks on our way to Elizabethtown; and a couple of things intrigued me: along the sides of the cuttings, every eighteen to twenty inches, through some very tough rock were what looked like exposed slightly off-vertical shot-holes…that had obviously never been fired.
What’s the reasoning behind that?
Are they to guide the digger operator? Or to make it easier for him to rip the rock apart?
It’s got me fooled.
The other thing…what on earth are they spreading on the easier contours?
Turns out it was big round hay bales spread from top to bottom of the grade, pinned in place, and then sprayed with what appears to be a papier-mâché coating of paper and grass seed.
What a good idea.
That would help control erosion, and also give the grasses something to help them get established.)

Ah well…look for a Super 8 instead.
And bloody terrible internet. I can receive mail…but that’s it. No surfing of sites.

Disclaimer: be aware that the views and the opinions expressed by the author of this missive are bloody good ones.

jb, I posted earlier that there's apparently a huge 21st Anniversary Celebration Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Corvette Museum, with the Grand Re-opening of the SkyDome happening at 9am on 9/3. It looks like it was a pre-registration event, so it's likely not a big loss that you hit it when you did vs a few days later. Did you take the tour of the factory assembly line next door? It's said to be quite a thing to see, too.

As for the hay bale binder shot with a wet mix of paper & grass seed, it works very well for things like a highway ROW where all you want is cover, but it SUCKS for establishing a nice lawn. The weed seeds in the hay far outnumber the grass seed, so while you may get quick cover you'll fight weeds for two to three years before getting a nice stand of weed free grass.

Mammoth Caverns - I'm confused. The transition from Central Time to Eastern Time is one hour earlier, but it doesn't occur until you're well away from Mammoth Caverns National Park, about 20 miles before Elizabethtown, so there was no time change from your arrival in OK City to Mammoth - all Central Time. It's sad to think that an hour one way or another caused you to miss the tour of the cave. It's one of the big ones.

Wednesday 2nd September.

First stop was fuel, then one of the local banks for advice, (very helpful too, seeing as we’re not customers of theirs) then a liquor store, where I asked the man what his best dark beers were.
“Black Butte Porter, and Founder’s Dirty Bastard.”
‘’Right, I’ll take a half dozen stubbies of each.”
I’ll try one tonight.

On to Swope’s Vintage Car Museum, 1100 Nth Dixie Ave.
Found it this time, and spent about an hour and a half there.
About sixty cars there, mainly from the early twenties to the mid sixties.
I’d rate it about an 8.5…well worth a detour.

Okay…truckin/; on to Louisville…the grass is green for this time of year, and there’s plenty of it…although we saw very little livestock the pasture itself suggested it being grazed by cattle.
Also a bit of cropping and a lot of fallow land; American farmers don’t seem as clued up as the Kiwi cockies when it comes to rotational grazing. I’ve not seen much evidence of laneways or races.
On to a Mexican Restaurant called Gustavo’s in the town of Crestwood, where, after Bob Parmenter’s suggestion, I thought I might try another traditional Mexican dish.
Tamales…umm…no, too much pastry-type stuff.
But I’ve tried them, I don’t dislike them; but they’re not my cup o’ soup,

The owner is a bit of a character, bloody nice bloke, and once he knew we came from Godzone we could hardly shut him up!
He badly wants to come to New Zealand, and I’d love to see him come…a fella like that would be welcome at our place.
(Although we sometimes got out tires wangled; with him speaking Mexican American and us speaking Kiwi English…but the messages got through! I think,)

And on to…Premium Outlets, 400 Premium Outlets Drive, Monroe, 45050.
A plaza devoted entirely to factory shops.
Not my idea of fun afternoon…but Rosie and Rick enjoyed it…and if they enjoyed it; then that’s all good with me.
I sat in the car and read my book; and I enjoyed that.

Okay…so it’s approaching 5 o’clock…let’s lookfo r a motel…so here we are in a Super 8 Dayton South, Miamisburg OH and the interweb works!
All good,

USAF Museum to-morrow!

Disclaimer: be aware that the views and the opinions expressed by the author of this missive are bloody good ones.

Originally Posted by rspears

jb, I posted earlier that there's apparently a huge 21st Anniversary Celebration Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Corvette Museum, with the Grand Re-opening of the SkyDome happening at 9am on 9/3. It looks like it was a pre-registration event, so it's likely not a big loss that you hit it when you did vs a few days later. Did you take the tour of the factory assembly line next door? It's said to be quite a thing to see, too.

Nope.
Bugger!
Didn't know it was there.
Oh well...maybe next time?

Originally Posted by rspears

As for the hay bale binder shot with a wet mix of paper & grass seed, it works very well for things like a highway ROW where all you want is cover, but it SUCKS for establishing a nice lawn. The weed seeds in the hay far outnumber the grass seed, so while you may get quick cover you'll fight weeds for two to three years before getting a nice stand of weed free grass.

Yeah...I worked that out too!

Originally Posted by rspears

Mammoth Caverns - I'm confused. The transition from Central Time to Eastern Time is one hour earlier, but it doesn't occur until you're well away from Mammoth Caverns National Park, about 20 miles before Elizabethtown, so there was no time change from your arrival in OK City to Mammoth - all Central Time. It's sad to think that an hour one way or another caused you to miss the tour of the cave. It's one of the big ones.

I was looking at the times the tour ended locally; and what the time would then be in Elizabethville.
We didn't want to be stumbling around 'in the dark' looking for a feed and/or accommodation. And the times didn't fit.
Ya go with the flow sometimes.

If you spend the nite in Dayton there's a Motel 6 at I70 and Main St. in Englewood and they have smoking rooms. I know that because it's where I stayed in February when I was there to bury my step father. It's right behind a McDonald's

MapQuest Maps - Driving Directions - Map

Originally Posted by johnboy

We drove through some quite extensive roadworks on our way to Elizabethtown; and a couple of things intrigued me: along the sides of the cuttings, every eighteen to twenty inches, through some very tough rock were what looked like exposed slightly off-vertical shot-holes…that had obviously never been fired.
What’s the reasoning behind that?
Are they to guide the digger operator? Or to make it easier for him to rip the rock apart?
It’s got me fooled.

They will most likely wait until traffic is at the lightest, close the highway and set up an appropriate detour, then load, shoot, and muck the dross, and re-open the highway. They quite often will do this at night. They drilled the holes at a more convenient time, or when they had the drill rig handy.

.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

If you spend the nite in Dayton there's a Motel 6 at I70 and Main St. in Englewood and they have smoking rooms. I know that because it's where I stayed in February when I was there to bury my step father. It's right behind a McDonald's

MapQuest Maps - Driving Directions - Map

Thanks Ken.
We're hoping to get to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery today too, and being mindful of your previous comments may head for that motel.

Originally Posted by Rrumbler

They will most likely wait until traffic is at the lightest, close the highway and set up an appropriate detour, then load, shoot, and muck the dross, and re-open the highway. They quite often will do this at night. They drilled the holes at a more convenient time, or when they had the drill rig handy.

.

That's what I would have expected; I could have understood that, but these cuttings were excavated back to the shot-holes.
When a hole is blasted, the surrounding rock is fragmented...but these holes were clearly delineated, eighteen to twenty inches apart and twenty to thirty feet deep across the entire face of the cutting.
They'd never been shot...

Originally Posted by johnboy

That's what I would have expected; I could have understood that, but these cuttings were excavated back to the shot-holes.
When a hole is blasted, the surrounding rock is fragmented...but these holes were clearly delineated, eighteen to twenty inches apart and twenty to thirty feet deep across the entire face of the cutting.
They'd never been shot...

jb, they may be cutting out the roadway to reduce the incline, leaving the hillside along the shoulder, well off of the road surface. I can show you places down in SW Missouri, NW Arkansas where the road surface passes between shear rock walls forty to fifty feet high, and similar angled bore holes are clearly visible top to bottom. Drill, excavate on one side, then start shearing off the rock in sections. Don't know if they may use small, precision directional shots to speed the process, but I could get the full story with a phone call.

Here's a picture of a deep, terraced cut as an example of what I think you may have seen. Not sure of the location....

roadcut.jpg

I know the thing Johnboy is talking about-I think that they were blasted deep at the bottom of the hole and that the upper rock split off along that line of holes----

What he is talking about would be done for mining

Well jb, since I have apparently become your culinary guide on this trip, I hope you enjoyed the Black Butte......one of my favorites. It's made just south of us in Oregon so I hope they "export" the good stuff back east. Ah tamales!! Yummy stuff, though a lot of joints get the ratio of filling to wrapping off.............probably for cost control.