Home Is Where We Park It:  Edwards Funeral Home, Marion, Ohio

July 7 2019

Temperature 78 Degrees

Pre DISH Days

Wyandot Popcorn Museum

After the storm moved through yesterday the temperature just sunk.  Thankfully, it stayed that way through the night and even today.  It is really comfortable as of now, low temperature and no humidity.  Another storm also rumbled through today and that also helped to keep the temperature and humidity on the low side.  Ohio is definitely the wettest state we’ve been in to date.

What do you do when you have no DISH?  Yes, no DISH!  We just didn’t want to be bothered with putting it out.  Who knows also how safe and secure this area is.  I must say I don’t feel like it would be an issue to leave it out.  This is a very quiet and peaceful neighbor.  Hey, when most of your neighbors are a bunch of stiffs what does one have to worry about!

What do you do then for entertainment?  Mexican train of course.  We played for hours, just like we used to way back when.  We had a lot of fun and the hours just disappeared.

We also got out and about.  Our reason for stopping here was to visit a very special museum we had discovered while reading another blog.  It was the Wyandot Popcorn Museum located in Marion’s Heritage Hall.  I know what you’re probably thinking, you went to visit a what?  You know the old saying Never judge a book by its cover the same goes for a museum Never judge a museum by its name.  This turned out to be an absolutely fascinating museum.  Come on, we’ll show you.

The entrance into the Museum itself.

Everything is coming up popcorn!

This is a general view of the Museum looking left and right.

 

 

 

Now for some of the special exhibits.  The first is what I call the Paul Newman Popcorn Wagon.

Look at the attention to detail, the pin-striping is simply breathtaking.

Touring the Museum I discovered that the name commonly associated with popcorn, popcorn machines and wagons, and popcorn trucks is Charles Cretor.

This is the 1899 Cretor’s #1 Popcorn and Peanut wagon.  This rare antique is the third oldest Cretor Wagon in existence.  It was the first professionally restored antique and set the bar for future restorations.  This is what it looked like before it was restored

This is what it looks like today.  The difference is like night and day.  The attention to detail, the paint, the lettering, the molding around the top, just beautiful.

The Cretor’s Number 2 wagon was a great favorite among business owners and street vendors.  It was inexpensive and reliable.  It was advertised as a sure fire money making machine.  The pitch was just set it up in front of your place of business and the smell of fresh popcorn will bring customers to your doors.  Cretor’s promoted it as the most successful and best money getter of any machine on the market at an equal price.  This got me to thinking, could this be a new way of raising money for gas for the RV?  Roll into an RV park, set up, bring out the wagon and being selling bags of peanuts and popcorn!

The next is a rather unusual Cretor wagon.

The wagons of the late 1800’s were nearly all small, hand pulled carts for use on street corners or at fairs, or public events. After 1900, larger horse drawn wagons began to appear. By 1900, Cretors introduced the Special – the first large horse drawn popcorn wagon. It was an immediate success. Three variations of this wagon were created and for the first time in 15 years, C. Cretors and Company showed a nice profit. The machines were, for the most part, still nearly custom made, holding to the Cretors tradition – meeting the specific needs of specific customers. This was also the time period that electricity was becoming the wave of the future. Charles Cretors created the first popcorn machine with an electric motor. Charles did what he knew best – to give his customers the best he had to offer and the best they could buy anywhere.

Then there was this.  The first driven popcorn wagon, the forerunner to the modern day concession trailer.  It is one of only seven remaining Cretor’s Popcorn trucks of the Model T style.

 

The above are just some – some – of the many wagons on display.  Each either painstakingly restored or in the process of.  It was absolutely fascinating to see the many variants of popcorn machines and carts and wagons.  There’s more, though, for instance I learned that popcorn is an actual planted corp.  I also learned that the majority of commercial popcorn is what is called the pearl type.

Ever wonder how popcorn became part of the movie theater experience?

An early popcorn theater machine – catch the last three sentences starting with assured trouble-free operation. . .

There was also an entire exhibit on the Wyandot family, from how they first got into the popcorn business, when their sons came into the business, global expansion, the devastating fire in Marion, the rebirth of the plant, and their continues success today.  Go to their web site, go to history, you will find it absolutely remarkable what a family can do when they put their mind to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving away from popcorn, there was an entire exhibit on Cracker Jack.

A display of all items once offered in a box of Cracker Jack.

That was where and how we spent our day today.  It was an absolutely fascinating place to visit and I’m so glad we went out of our way to do so.  If you are ever in this area take the time to do so yourself – you’ll absolutely enjoy it.

Our day on The Road of Retirement has come to a close.  Time to get things in order, pack up and get ready to roll again.  I’ll say goodnight for now and I’ll catch up with you again tomorrow.

Thanks again for joining us on our journey, we’ll see you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Edwards Funeral Home, Marion, Ohio

July 6, 2019

Temperature 88 Degrees

Travel Day

So today was travel day.  We were heading further north into Ohio before taking a detour into PA.

No need to rush this morning since we have this down to a science by now.  Barbara works on the inside and I work on the outside disconnecting us from the mother ship.  Working together we left the park on schedule at 10 am.

The day before as I usually do I ran the first mile or two of the route that the GPS suggested.  I’m so glad that I did because I came across a railroad crossing that would have hung us up with our low tow bar install.   We took a slight detour and everything worked out just fine.

The trip up was an easy one in terms of traffic.  In terms of road condition not so good.  I probably lost a few teeth along the way!  It’s unfortunate to see just how bad the road system is.  Tomorrow, I’m going to have to do a once over on Graybeard just to make sure everything is still attached and nothing has come loose.

Approaching Marion, Ohio the skies began to darken and it was obvious that a storm was brewing.  Question was, would we make it off the road before it broke in all its fury.  We did indeed but not with more than a few minutes to spare.

Where are we?  Of all the places we have stayed over the last two years this one is a first for us.  We belong to an organization called Boondockers Welcome.  In essence it is a network of hosts that provide free overnight parking for RV’ers.  You can stay from one to three or more nights at various locations across the country.

Tonight and tomorrow night we are at one of those locations, it is the parking lot of

They have a gravel lot off to the side of the funeral parlor and this will be our home for

two nights.  It is reasonably level, it has 50 amp available but someone else got here before us that we didn’t know about and grabbed it so we are on generator daylight hours.  Thankfully, the temperature is supposed to be rather mild the next two nights so we will survive.  We have our water tank half full and our black and gray tanks are empty.  Life is good.

 

About that storm, it was a good one and lasted for a good hour.  However, we were here and hunkered down so no real problem.  Oh did it pour though!

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was an easy drive, we have someplace to call home for two nights, and we’ll do our sightseeing tomorrow and then be gone on Monday morning.  What more can one ask for.  Thank you Lord for safe travels and a place to hang our hats.

Thanks for coming along with us, we enjoy having you with us.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  East Fork State Park, Bethel, Ohio

July 5, 2019

Temperature 90 Degrees

This Park is Huge

Hatch Show Print

Today the only real thing on the agenda was the Wishy Washy.

Barbara found an excellent one just outside the entrance to the park.  Probably the best one we’ve come across in a really long time.  Spotless from top to bottom, all machines in working order, and the least expensive one we’ve been in yet.  In no time at all she had all our wash done.  We’re good to go for another couple of weeks.

Coming home we decided to explore our little world and see what the rest of the park was like.  The loops go from A to L and there are a total of 416 sites.  However, only seventeen are FHU.  The rest are a mix of water only, or water and electric.  What we discovered is that those sites are packed, I mean really packed.  Which when I stopped to think about it makes sense.  They cost about one fourth of what a FHU site costs and if you live in the area and are only here on a weekend you probably don’t need a sewer hookup.  I just don’t think I would want to be in the line, though, for the dump station come Sunday afternoon.

Going back to Nashville one of the exhibits at the Country Music Hall of Fame was the Hatch Show Print Exhibit.  The Hatch Show Print is one of America’s oldest working letterpress poster and design shops.  For 140 years the company has provided performers of all stripes with vibrant posters that combine color, individuality, and bold letter design.  Today they still print between 500 to 600 posters a year for classic and contemporary performers.

It all began with Charles and Herbert Hatch who learned the craft of letterpress printing while growing up in their father’s printing shop in Wisconsin.  In 1875 they moved to Nashville and four years later opened their own shop. CR & HH Print Shop began making billboard size posters for plastering on the side of buildings and barns.  These jobs required massive wood type and hand craved image blocks.

In 1921 when Charles Hatch died, his son Will T took over the family business.  The company entered a golden age with Will T at the helm.  He was a more than capable business manager and a gifted carver of wood blocks.  The shop catered both to the the many performers that called Nashville home as well as Nashville’s business interests.

When Will T died in 1952 his wife Arlene, his son, and a handful of dedicated staff kept the presses running by embracing new technology and more cost effective methods.  The wood and metal type set was still set by hand giving the Hatch Show Print posters a truly artistic flair.

In 1964 Arlene sold the company and it was subsequently sold several times after that.  This began a long dry spell for the company but thanks to the efforts of Gaylord Entertainment Company and dedicated staff the doors remained open and the ink continued to flow.  In 1992 the company was donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  Today the company continues to thrive and continues to print posters the old fashion way in a space in the Museum dedicated solely for it’s use.

Today, through the continued use of the equipment and tools of letterpress printing and block carving the staff at Hatch Show Print preserve and disseminate the knowledge of a technology that is the foundation of modern graphic design.

Let’s take a look now at how they make a poster.  Today they create posters the same way they were made 140 years ago.  Designs carved on wood blocks combine with movable letters of wood or metal.  These elements are positioned backwards and locked into a frame, secured in a printing press and inked.  The paper is pressed onto the inked type that creates an impression that is right-reading.  Posters with different colors require separate frames for each color.

Here are the print blocks for Nashville radio station WSM-AM and photoplates of various Grand Old Opry performers.  In addition on display are some of the tools used in craving a wood block.

Additional posters and the plates used to create them.

An interesting exhibit from which I learned a lot.  It’s amazing how much there is yet to learn and it’s usually waiting just around another corner.

Time to call it a day on The Road of Retirement.  We need to start putting things in order and getting ready to get on the road again.  Tomorrow will be a travel day as we move further north into Ohio for a tour of another unusual museum.

Thanks for joining us today, we always enjoy your company.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  East Fork State Park, Bethel, Ohio

July 4,2019

Temperature 92 Degrees

Happy Birthday America

How will you celebrate our nation’s birthday today?  With an outdoor barbecue?  Will you attend or watch a fireworks display?  Will there be a parade in your home town?  So many ways to celebrate the holiday.

But I believe above all else today should be a day to take a moment and reflect on the many freedoms we enjoy today because of the efforts and sacrifices of our forefathers.  What, indeed, do our personal freedoms mean to us?  Do we think for ourselves according to our convictions?  Do we exercise our freedom of religion?  Do we participate in our government on all levels?  Do we take the time to offer our opinions and feedback and votes to our elected officials?  Or do we just complain about what they have or haven’t done.  We have untold opportunities and freedoms and privileges.  So let’s celebrate with great fanfare.  Let’s show our patriotic pride.

Today was a day for us to just hang out.  We came here to visit the two museums that we’ve been to.  Now, it’s time to gather ourselves together and get ready to move again.  We’re going a bit further north into Ohio to visit another unusual museum that we stumbled across some time ago.

Till we leave I’ll be doing some preventive maintenance, cleaning windows, checking tire pressure and other little but important things like that.  Barbara is getting meals together that we can just reheat since Saturday and Sunday will be boondocking days.  Time to bring out the paper goods once again.

So that was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Not an earth shattering day but a day which we each enjoyed to the fullest.  Till tomorrow, have a good night.  Thanks for checking in with us.  We’ll catch up with you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!