Friday, April 27, 2018, FMCA Headquarters Campground

Loren and Sharon headed home to Michigan, but we felt there was more to see and do in Cincinnati, so we returned to the FMCA campground for another week. The trip was 30.6 miles (86,395.7 total) today because we took a slightly longer route to avoid the less than desirable Round Bottom Road and a particularly tight roundabout that I did not want to revisit.

Sam and I walked the lake loop at least once and most times twice a day during our stay. I think maybe the brood of goslings below were hatched during our stay. I saw the adults swimming alone several days before my first sighting of the 11 babies one morning.

One of the top reasons for extending our stay was to visit the Cincinnati Museum Center located in the Union Terminal. Sadly, it was closed for renovation, but we understood it would reopen on May 4th. As it turned out, some children's exhibits were reopening, but the renovation of the terminal would not be complete until late 2018. With no chance to study the architecture of the Union Terminal we decided to wait until we return someday.

We did manage to spend some more time in the unique Jungle Jim's International Market. We spent hours wandering through the aisles taking in the wacky and wonderful variety of foods and products representing countries around the world. We spent too much money in there, but it provided us with a lot of entertainment making it worth it.

I bought some more hot sauce at the risk of Joani throwing me out of the RV.  I had to, right? Check out the hot sauce department. There were more than 1,000 square feet with shelf after shelf of delectable choices. I think there were more than a dozen varieties of Dave's Insanity Sauce! 

There was a locked cabinet for the serious stuff. The Pepper King below was $129.95 for 30 ml (that's just slightly more than 1 ounce). 

Jungle Jim's had a lot of interesting things scattered throughout the store like a cabin cruiser in the seafood department. Not a model - an actual, full-sized boat that at one time motored around on a lake somewhere. I saw a pair of 16-inch shells from a U.S. Navy battleship. They weighed about one ton each and had a maximum range of nearly 24 miles. I have no idea why they were on display at Jim's, but I found them fascinating. Maybe that was the point - entertainment for guys who were reluctantly dragged along shopping.

We met quite a few interesting folks at the FMCA headquarters campgrounds. Dean and Joyce (we met during our first stay here last week) were in a 2007 Newmar Dutch Star. They were from Ohio, the Columbus area, I think, and Dean was 1 week from retiring. Bob and Donna had a 35 foot Ventana and had been full-timing for 1 year. They were also from the area and were visiting family and taking care of a bad knee. Tom and Kathy had a 2007 Monaco. They had been full-timing for 9 years and were from the Boston area. They had a lot of great ideas for our travels through Michigan and Wisconsin. In fact, based on their descriptions we are now planning on seeing Door County, WI (one of their favorite places in the country even including some of the National parks).

Tuesday, April 24, 2018, Cincinnati Art Museum

Sharon was still feeling under the weather, but we convinced Loren to accompany us for a bit of culture at the Cincinnati Art Museum.

"See how short my nose is - I would never lie!"

 Mural of Cincinnati by Saul Steinberg (1914-1999)

 Head of a Peasant Woman, circa 1884

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

oil on canvas on wood panel

Head of a Woman, 1922

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

oil on canvas

Memorial Scene, circa 1840

watercolor on ivory, hair, split seed pearls

This is a miniature (about 3" tall) embroidered with a loved one's hair.

Cirrus, 2008

Zaha Hadid (1950-2016)

fiberboard and formica

Hadid's sculpture was originally conceived as a bench, with voids and curves inviting viewers to sit, lean, or recline.  I would imagine if you tried that here, alarms would go off.

Sun on Prospect Street, 1934

Edward Hopper (1882-1967)

oil on canvas

Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite Valley, CA, 1871-73

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902)

oil on paper mounted on canvas

 A Map in the Sand, circa 1905

Frederic Remington (1861-1909)

oil on canvas

Just as a setup for the picture below - our daughter, Kate, went on a field trip with her art class in high school. She returned with an original Blow Oscar similar to the "art" below (which I never quite understood). The artist, R. A. Miller, was highly regarded and Katie had a treasure she cherished for many years. Now, when we see Miller's work, we smile because it feels like we have a personal connection. 

"When asked to explain the origin of the Uncle Sam-like character "Blow Oskar," R. A. Miller stated simply: "I've got an old friend named Oskar, each time he rides by my house, he blows his horn. This piece is him" Miller lived his entire life on his family's farm in Rabbittown, GA, near Gainesville. He worked for two decades in a cotton mill and began making art at age 54 after an injury forced him to retire from factory work."

 Blow Oskar, 1980s

Reuben ("R.A") Miller (1912-2006)

latex paint on cut roofing tin

The Visitors depicts eight friends coming together to make music. Each performer occupies her or his own room of the now faded Rokeby mansion. They are all playing one tune, but as you move from one screen to the next the sound of that musician is dominate.

 The Visitors, 2012

Ragnar Kjartansson (born 1976)

nine-channel HD video installation with sound, 64 minutes

Seated Dress with Impression of Drapery, 2005

Karen LaMonte (born 1967)

cast, sandblasted and acid-etched glass

More Sweetly Play the Dance, 2015

William Kentridge (born 1955)

panoramic seven-channel installation is a 14 minute processional of image and sound

On the way home from the museum we spotted the Century Inn, an old roadhouse (oldest tavern in Ohio) with a sign extolling their Fish and Chips special on Tuesday nights. We convinced Sharon to join us for dinner and enjoyed some tasty treats from a unique local restaurant built in 1806.

Sunday, April 22, 2018, Winton Woods County Park, Cincinnati, OH

A really quick trip, 28.5 miles (86,365.1 total), to the other side of Cincinnati today. Winton Woods was a very popular and highly regarded county park well inside the city limits. That translated to difficult to secure reservations through a weekend. Arriving on a Sunday after the weekend campers left made things much easier - at least until school is out for the summer.

After arriving I chatted with a couple of nice ladies who told me that even though there were only three occupied spaces when we got in, the campground was, in fact, full the night before. Throughout the camping season, folks have to reserve a site 6 months in advance if they want to stay on a weekend. Clearly, the park is a money maker for the county!

I realize I did a poor job of documenting this very nice park, as in, I had no pictures during our stay here. Loren and Sharon travel with a cacti composition that bloomed while we were in the park so I will include a picture of some pretty cactus flowers to fill some space.

And another of Sam rolling in the grass - something must have been extra smelly to require such an effort.

Friday, April 20, 2018, Cincinnati, OH

Yes, that's frost on the windshield as I hooked up the toad to head to Cincinnati. Our trip was what I consider to be about optimal - not too long and not too short (if there is such a thing). We drove 157.2 miles (86,336.6 total).

It was a good day with only one wrong turn near the end of our trip. I can attest that the problem was clearly with Google Maps and not with my navigator. A loop around a few back roads put us back on track to the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Headquarters campground.

We learned about this nice little perk of FMCA membership from Loren and Sharon who met us here only a few minutes after we arrived. The campground had level, concrete paved, full hook-up sites surrounded by lush well kept grass and access to a paved 1.4-mile pathway around a nearby lake. Oh yeah, did I mention you can stay two nights free (plus 5 nights at $20 each) each month?

Thursday, April 19, 2018, Red River Gorge Nada Tunnel, Stanton, KY

Today was our last chance to visit the Nada Tunnel and we were fortunate to have a little sunshine and actual spring-like temperatures. I'm sure the area is beautiful in the summer when the trees are full, but I wonder if you can get the same perspective. We were able to appreciate the heights of the cliffs and the depths of the gorge because we could see through the trees.

Recent precipitation provided plenty of water for the shower that greeted visitors to the tunnel (also the reason there are wet tire prints in the photos below). Being a weekday, there was very little traffic and we could take some interesting shots from the pavement.

There was a very "spooky" feel to this tunnel - I'm just happy I did not have to walk the 900 feet to the other end!

Very creepy feeling indeed inside - this was as far as I would venture. Driving through in the car was not much better. I clearly would not have been happy as a miner.

The pavement was very narrow and there was absolutely no shoulder making me very thankful for the limited amount of traffic we encountered. With virtually no place to pull over along the roadway, I parked at the first trailhead we found. It allowed us to explore the river bank a bit.

I'm not a fan of people who carve into the bark of living trees, but I couldn't help but notice there must have been a "Big Orange" fan through here at one time. I'm just happy he didn't have a can of spray paint to complete his work of art.

It should be clear in the pictures below that the Red River is more green than you might think from its name. I'm sure it's not always quite so calm either.

We met some nice people during our stay at 4 Guys RV Park and I realized that all too often I forget to mention their names. So to correct that oversight I will note that we met Blaine and Carla from Washington state. They were in a beautiful 40 foot Newmar Ventana. While they were not traveling full time, they managed to drive more miles in the last two years than we have put on our coach in our nine and a half years. Jimmy and Donna were in a travel trailer from North Carolina. Jimmy was retired from the Navy and they have enjoyed many long trips but maintain their home in Wilmington. Jamie and Michele were in a brand new 5th wheel - what a beauty it was! Of course, I was impressed with the 60-inch flat screen. With Jamie still working, they will have to wait until they can travel as much as they would like. It was still early in the season so a lot of folks were in and out in one night or on the weekends too quickly for me to get a chance to meet them.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018, Red River Gorge Hikes: Sky Bridge, Whistling Arch, Angels Windows, Stanton, KY

In reviewing the Red River Gorge trail map we decided today's hiking would be in the eastern area where we could see a lot of geological features with a minimum of hiking effort. First up was Sky Bridge which was very much like the Natural Bridge in the State Park but on a smaller scale. During our hike, we only saw a few others on the trail.

From above there was little to let you know you were crossing a bridge. From below, however, it was pretty spectacular.

We loved the swirled markings on the underside of the bridge where the waters had carved the soft stone.

The Sky Bridge trail was a loop just over a mile in length, so we had plenty of hiking left in us for the day. Next up was a nearly level, quarter-mile hike to Whistling Bridge. Joani and Sam posed for me while I got their picture from each side of the arch. There was not much breeze, so I can't say we heard the arch whistle, but I'm sure it must have at some point or it would have just been named "little arch".

Another short trail led to Angels Windows. The windows were just a collection of several small opening that had been carved through the stone by wind and water.

Just as impressive as the area's geology is the tenacity of the trees that have held on for years just hoping the next storm will pass them by without harm.