Showing posts with label virtual. Show all posts
Showing posts with label virtual. Show all posts

Sunday, February 4, 2024

2021-06-27: Geocaching and Sightseeing History in Gary and East Chicago Indiana

Hello again and welcome to our adventures. We're winding down our little side road trip while our "new to us" used American Eagle motorhome is almost ready to take delivery. On this day we explored the towns of East Chicago and Gary in northwest Indiana. East Chicago is my fathers hometown and we'll pay a visit to his childhood home. And over in Gary was the childhood home of a world famous celebrity. So join us as we grab some geocaches and take a look around at what remains of this town...



Our first geocache of the day was in South Bend, Indiana for Saint Joseph County. A virtual geocache (GCA525) was located at the LaSalle Landing Park. Unlike a traditional geocache, a virtual geocache doesn't have a container with a log sheet to sign. You typically have to gather some answers at the location and email them to the creator of the virtual cache to get credit for finding it. The coordinates bring you to this stone monument with the depiction of the French explorer LaSalle, the first white man to visit this region, passing from the St Joseph River to the Kankakee River in the late 1600's.


Next door in the now Riverview and Highland Cemeteries is another historical marker recognizing the Council Oak. It was here that three years after his first crossing, LaSalle met with the Miami and Illinois Indians to enter into a treaty to resist the aggressions of the Iroquois. After surviving two lightning strikes, the centuries old oak tree was eventually taken down by a tornado in 1990.



Also located within the cemetery was a famous resident well known in the sports world. Knute Rockne (GC276Q6) emigrated with his parents from Norway to Chicago at the age of five. After graduating high school, he worked at the post office for four years to save enough money to enroll at the University of Notre Dame. He earned All American Honors playing football for Notre Dame in 1913. After a few years playing professionally, he ended up back at Notre Dame. During his 13 years as head coach of the Fighting Irish, he achieved an astounding record of 105 victories, 12 losses, and 5 ties, as well as 3 National Championships. Rockne died in a plane crash in 1931 at the age of 43.



Driving over into Lake County, we arrived in Gary, IN. The first thing I see that I remember hearing about was the U.S. Steel plant. It was where my grandfather worked. Gary Indiana was named after Elbert Gary, a co-founder and longtime chairman of U.S. Steel. When U.S. Steel bought the land to build the factory, they also created the Gary Land Company to design and build a town for their workers. At its peak, the Gary plant was the highest producing steel plant in the world.



Near the entrance to the plant is the EJ&E 765 locomotive (GC1VPVD). The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern train engine was built in 1929 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. When the EJ&E railroad switched its fleet to diesel engines, U.S. Steel saved it from being scrapped. It sent it to northern Minnesota's Iron Range, where it moved iron ore and taconite bound for Gary Works and other steel mills. Retired and restored it now sits at a roadside park for all to enjoy.



Turning south down Broadway, we passed some of the abandoned buildings around town. With the 1970's came a declining steel market and massive layoffs. U.S. Steel has laid off nearly 30,000 employees. The population of Gary has gone from 175,000 in 1970 down to 69,000 in 2020. It's turning into a modern day ghost town with an estimated 13,000 abandoned structures around town.

One of those buildings was the Palace Theater. Built in 1925, it featured vaudeville acts, live stage shows, and motion pictures bringing in more than 2000 patrons every weekend. From the very beginning it was one of Gary's most popular entertainment venues. But as the city began to decline so did ticket sales. The final live show was performed on January 3, 1972.



I'm switching the next two stops in order for the story to flow better. Over in East Chicago, Indiana, my father grew up in this house on Vernon Ave. This 3-bedroom, 1-bath, 877 square foot house was built in 1930. My father was born in 1932. Along with his parent, I believe he lived here with his four siblings until he joined the Air Force.



He once told me, after returning from his 50th high school reunion, about this girl that once lived down at the end of the street. Her name was Katherine and she walked with a limp. Going to the same schools, they sometimes were in the same class. When she was 19, she married Joseph Jackson and they moved to this house Gary. Joseph became a crane operator at the steel plant where my grandfather also worked.

Joseph and Katherine had 10 children over the next 16 years. This house built in 1949 was just a 2-bdr, 1-bath, at 867sf would be a bit crowded for this large family. One of those children was international pop superstar Michael Jackson. After the family's "Jackson 5" musical group signed their Motown contract in 1969, Joseph moved the family away from Gary to California.



Again, it wasn't until 50 years after graduation at his high school reunion, while sitting around a table reminiscing with classmates about whatever happened to this person and that person, he learned about the girl who lived down the street.

While sitting at a stoplight in East Chicago, Indiana, this building at the opposite corner caught my attention. The Calumet Trust and Savings Bank was constructed in 1916. From what I could gather on the internet, it was abandoned at one time with a partially collapsed roof and water in the basement. But the outer walls and columns are still intact. If only I could have it lifted and moved somewhere else.



OK, back to heading out of town and picking up more geocaching counties. Taking I-65 south into Newton County, I stopped in the Roselawn Cemetery (GC2BE8R) for our next geocache. I didn't take the time to look around cause I wanted to keep moving.

In Jasper County, the next geocache took us to this old abandoned school house (GC8P79B). It was hard to get a decent photo with all the trees surrounding it. But from what my research has found is that it was called the "Newton Township School" and was built in 1923. It was closed in the early 1960's with the rural school consolidations. I couldn't find the geocache here for the school. But I did find another at a nearby stop sign for the county.



Still moving south on I-65, I was able to find a quick geocache (GC8QDK6) in Benton County as we barely passed through the corner of that county. A mile to the east and we're in White County and finding another quick roadside geocache (GC8QDK3).

We continued eastbound on US-24 into Carroll County. I stopped at Yeoman Cemetery (GC1FV19) for another geocache. There are just over 1000 internments dating back to 1844.

Our last geocache for the day was at the Davis Cemetery in Cass County (GC3KB5K). The Davis Cemetery has over 3000 internments dating back to 1836. From the Find-A-Grave website: "William was a soldier in the Revolutionary War serving a total of 70 months. He married Lydia Busson in NC, about 1781 and parents of 10 children. They began housekeeping in VA just over the NC line. When the war was over they moved to Warren County, GA, now Columbia County, and lived there 21 or 22 years. The family moved to Preble County, Ohio in 1805 and lived there until 1835 when they moved to White County, IN then to Cass County, IN. Children: Arron, Joseph, Mary, Newberry, William, Jeptha, Mahala, Diadama, Clementine, and Clarrisa."
 


That's it for today. We still have nearly two hours of driving to get back to Decatur. Thanks for joining us.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

2021-06-26: Visiting the RV Museum and Hall of Fame in Indiana

So today was one of those "checked an item off the bucket list" kinda day! Since owning my first motorhome way back in 2005, I've always wanted to visit the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana. Now that I'm in the process of purchasing another motorhome I finally get the chance. It was a wonderful journey back through time. So come and step back in time with us as we look at RV's through history.



We continued our road trip journey from yesterday finishing a few stops in Ohio. Two quick geocaches were found in Williams County at the Fountain Grove Cemetery (GC60CNV, GC358WN). There are over 7500 internments but I didn't spend anytime looking around.

From there we drove up to the NW corner of the county. That corner also happens to be the intersection of three states: Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. We found the virtual geocache at that location (GC2018). Even though the geocaching website has it located in Michigan, in reality it is located in Indiana. There's also a traditional geocache (GC3499B) there but we didn't have any luck finding it.


One more quick geocache (GCM8N1) at a cemetery in LaGrange County. The Riverside Cemetery in the town of Howe, Indiana has over 2300 internments dating back to 1816. The one grave to point out was the one detailed by the geocache hider. Christina Irene Hahn D' Sullivan was more commonly known as "Crissy the Skunk Woman." She was born in 1845 and died in 1925. She had many pets throughout her life. By the time she reached her 70's, she had many skunks as pets living inside her house. For the full story, click on the GC# link at the beginning of this paragraph.
 


And finally we arrived at my bucket list item, and there's a geocache there too (GC33Y84). The RV Hall of Fame and Museum first opened in 1991. The current 100,000 square foot facility opened in 2007. The museum is located right off of I-80/I-90 between Elkhart and Bristol, Indiana. There are about 50 vintage and antique RV's on display dating back to a 1913 Earl Trailer and Model T Ford. It is believed to be the oldest non-tent travel trailer in existence.



I'll highlight a few others in coming photos. The information I'm providing comes from the display boards at each RV.

This one is a 1916 Telescoping Apartment built on a 1915 Model T Ford. Selling for $100, these Telescoping Apartments were built in San Francisco as aftermarket camping accessories for early trucks. To travel, both side-cabinets slide in and the rear section telescopes into the main compartment and is secure for travel. Warm water for the shower is produced by radiator heat from the engine.





This is a 1931 Chevrolet based custom made "Housecar" was one of the enticements offered by Paramount Studios to get Mae West to leave the Vaudeville circuit and begin to make movies for them. It is designed as a chauffer driven lounge and not as a "camper" unit.



It features a small hot plate stove, an icebox, and a small table to enjoy lunch or a spot of tea. It was used for several years to transport Miss West from her home or hotel to the shooting locations. The story indicates she had a rocking chair on the back porch where she could enjoy the breeze when appropriate.



I could see myself owning and driving this one down the road! The Star Streak II is the second of two custom, all aluminum motorhomes built by Paul Jones. Built in 1988 using a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado chassis and a 1976 Oldsmobile Toronado 455 cu. in. engine. It was designed and built specifically to fit in a standard residential garage door. Length is 270 inches, weight 5400 pounds, and height 83 inches.



Made in upstate New York, a 1929 Wiedman Housecar built on a 1928 Stuart Truck chassis. These camper bodies were available either as accessories, shipped directly to a purchaser for installation, or mounted by the factory on a chassis of the buyer's choice. The large panel on the driver side was the platform for a fold-down bed with a canvas cover on the more deluxe models. It is bolted in place on this model.



This is one of two scale model displays of various RV's. They go back to the early days of diecast models and RV toys.



So that's it for today. Another bucket list item checked off. Tomorrow we explore my father's hometown of Gary, Indiana. And while there we stop by a worldwide celebrity's childhood home a few blocks away from my fathers. Until then...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Friday, December 29, 2023

2021-06-24: More Sightseeing and Geocaching Cemeteries, Old Bridges, and Yard Art in Pennsylvania

In today's edition of the AwayWeGo's Adventures, with the RV still getting worked on, we spent another day in Pennsylvania sightseeing and geocaching. While out exploring today we found a couple of old bridges, a couple of cemeteries, and some custom auto art made of old cars and parts. Like the "Buzz Box" says: Look Inside by clicking on the link and seeing some of the unusual and creative pieces of yard art.



So yesterday was a lazy day off the road. We spent an extra day at the hotel to catch up on a weeks worth of laundry and just relax in front of the TV.

This morning after breakfast we drove west across Pennsylvania on I-80. North of Pittsburg, I exited the Interstate and drove north on US-19. On a previous road trip a few years ago we picked up US-19 on the south side of Pittsburg and drove it all the way down to Florida.

Driving north up the road, we caught a pair of racoons crossing the road. I had barely enough time to stop, grab the phone, and take a photo.





Our first geocaching stop was a little further up the road but still in Mercer County. In the town of Clarks Mills was the Perry Chapel Cemetery (GC51V01). The cemetery has just over 700 internments dating as far back as 1851.



About a mile up the road another geocache (GC51V05) brought me to this old railroad bridge across the Old Shenango River. I tried to find some historical information on this bridge but wasn't having any luck.





Taking another backroad about mile to the north of town and another geocache (GC51V0P) brings me to yet another old bridge. Only this time I did find some information on this bridge. The 82 foot long single span Pratt through truss bridge was built in 1885 by the Penn Bridge Company of Beaver Falls, PA. It is supposed to be demolished but hopefully it will never come to that. I like finding these old bridges.



Moving on up into Crawford County, I stopped for a geocache in the Johnston Cemetery (GC8Y2J3) near Keborts Corners. It's a small country cemetery with less than 100 internments dating back to the 1850's.



The final geocache of the day was a virtual cache and one that was on my bucket list for nearly ten years. But I'm just now getting around to this area of Erie County. Schaefer's Auto Art (GCJ8M8) was created by Dick Schaefer in 1988. Using his imagination while working in a junk yard, he began welding pieces and parts together to give them life.









Well that's it for today. Along with geocaching, tomorrow we add sightseeing stops at the Great Lakes lighthouses to our traveling journey.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Saturday, December 16, 2023

2021-06-21: Driving Through History Along the Lincoln Highway in West Virginia and Pennsylvania

Welcome back family, friends, RV'ers, Jeepers, Geocachers, and fellow travelers. On this Day 2 of our little road trip in the GeoJeep while the motorhome is getting serviced, we're continuing eastbound on the Lincoln Highway / US-30 through West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We're picking up new geocaching counties to complete our map. And made an unexpected and unplanned stop when we passed the entrance of the September 11th Flight 93 National Memorial. So join us as we drive through history.


Leaving Ohio this morning and crossing over the Ohio River, we entered the northern tip of West Virginia and a needed geocaching county. Located in Hancock County was the World's Largest Teapot (GC21926). You can read the full history of the Tea Pot on the geocaching page, but here's a summary. It was originally constructed as a hogshead barrel for Hires Root Beer in Pennsylvania. In 1938, a pottery store owner named William Devon purchased it and moved it to Chester, WV. Here he added the handle, spout, a tin exterior, and a glass ball knob for a lid. Several ownership changes and locations later, it was last restored in 1990 and placed at it's current location at US-30 and Highway 2. Now whether or not it really is the largest teapot, I couldn't tell ya. Because I've also seen one in Texas making a similar claim.



Crossing over into Beaver County, Pennsylvania now and getting closer to Pittsburg, I had no interest in driving through the big city. And US-30 just happens to go through the middle of it.

So in the town of Harshaville I turned south on Highway 18 and headed towards the Racoon Creek State Park. There we went on a short hike for a virtual geocache (GCFF06) at some old CCC buildings and an earthcache at the Frankfort Mineral Springs and Falls (GC1K7NZ). Those copper color stains on the rocks are where the spring waters come out through the rocks.


With all the trees, shade, and spring water, I think the temperature down here was probably 10-15 degrees cooler. It was a beautiful area. This is Candy and her granddaughter taking pics of each other.


I continued south down to I-70 east to bypass the big city. I then pick back up on the Lincoln Highway southeast of the city in Westmoreland County. The next geocache was called the Giants of the Lincoln Highway (GC2XHWZ). The "Giants" are the oversized roadside attractions created to advertise businesses to the numerous automobiles traveling the Lincoln Highway, such as the giant teapot I wrote about earlier. This one here was an oversized gas pump statue. The 1940's Bennett Gas Pump is 25 foot high and weighs over 4900 pounds. This Giant was installed at the future site of the Lincoln Highway Experience. The students chose the gas pump design because the installation site is the former home of Donato’s Filling Station (1930s-1940s).



Continuing our way eastbound, the original plane was to drive non-stop through Somerset County as I had already had that one completed on my geocaching counties map. But as we were driving along there's a sign that says "Flight 93 National Memorial." Two seconds later as we passed by the entrance it finally hit me to the significance of Flight 93. U-Turn!



I'm sure we're all familiar with the tragedy that happened on September 11, 2001. So I'll just describe the photos. Above is the view from the memorial looking out towards the crash site.



The next photo below is from the crash site looking back towards the memorial at the top of the hill.



Next photo highlights the panel of names of the passengers down the one side of the sidewalk. Todd Beamer is the passenger who spoke those famous words "Let's Roll" before they took on the hijackers.



A closer look up the hill towards the memorial.



Below: The Tower of Voices is a 93-foot-tall musical monument about halfway between the Lincoln Highway and the landscaped memorial of Flight 93. Forty chimes represent the voices of the 40 courageous passengers and crewmembers who took a vote to come together and fight terrorism on that flight. There is no other wind chime tower in the world like the Tower of Voices.



After an hour and a half at the Flight 93 Memorial, it was time to get back on the road.

Bedford County is next down the road and the town of Schellsburg is on the list. Centuries before the Lincoln Highway, this old trading route passing through here was used by the Indians crossing the rugged mountains. As settlers began pushing west, the British Army made improvements to the trail in 1758 during the French-Indian War and it became the Forbes Road.



A German immigrant named John Schell settled in the valley in 1798. A few years later in 1806 the old Historic Church (GC8XJ1E) was built and the first burial outside the church. It wasn't until 1860 when Peter Schell, the son of John Schell, formed the Chestnut Ridge and Schellsburg Union Cemetery (GC8XJ11) was created. The town of Schellsburg was chartered and became official in 1908.
 


A few miles down the road and we turned north on I-99 heading towards Connecticut. The next county to the north is Blair County. My last geocache of the day was in Altoona, PA. Out in front of the Veterans Administration building is the Vietnam War Memorial which also includes a replica of the Wall. The Wall was also a virtual geocache (GCG5X5).



Well it's just after 7 PM and it has been a long day. Time to go find some dinner and a place to crash for the night. It was a great day with that historical unexpected stop. Time to get some rest and looking forward to tomorrow.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

2021-06-18: Summer Road Trip to Buy Our "New-to-Us" Home and Geocaching Through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana

So here we are on this Day 3 of our 5300+ mile summer road trip from West Texas to Indiana to Connecticut, back to Indiana to Florida and ending in NE Texas. The main reason for this roadtrip is to look at and hopefully purchase our "new-to-us" home-on-wheels. Along the way, we'll be picking up as many new geocaching counties as we can and seeing some of the sites along the way. So hop on board the GeoJeep and let's go see what we can find.



Well we didn't quite make it out of Missouri yesterday. We stayed the night in the town of Sikeston in Scott County. We were going to have dinner at the famous Lambert's, where they throw the fresh rolls out to you. But we weren't up for the long lines and over an hour wait! So we came back this morning to grab the geocache (GC2JC3X) for the county and take some photos.







Driving east on US-60, we crossed over into Mississippi County. We stopped for a quick geocache (GC4KW34) in Bertrand for the county and kept moving.

Further down the road I spotted this roadside historical marker and had to stop for a photo. "Rev. Owen Whitfield with the support of local landowner, Mr. Thad Snow, and 1500 black and white sharecroppers camped here in harsh January weather several days in 1939 to protest the plight of Boot Heel sharecroppers. The event received national attention. Owen and Zella Whitfield met with Pres. Roosevelt and ultimately received his support for the cause. This community has dedicated January 10 as Thad Snow - Owen Whitfield Day."



My next three geocaches were all in one corner of a park. There was a virtual geocache (GC710E) and two earthcaches (GC1A369, GC1A36F). Fort Defiance State Park is right at the corner of Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky as well as the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. It is also the lowest elevation point in Illinois.



On November 14, 1803, Lewis and Clark landed here with their Corps of Discovery party. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to explore and survey the recently purchased Louisiana Territory, their six days here was one of the longest stops made by the expedition. Their stay allowed Captain Meriwether Lewis to teach Captain William Clark how to navigate using a compass and a sextant. Because the 3rd Principal Meridian begins at the mouth of the Ohio River, astronomical observations at this point were crucial.



Above: nearly 175 million tons of goods are shipped via the Mighty Mississippi River each year. Below: Candy and her grand-daughter down at the southernmost point of Illinois and the convergence of the two rivers. The Ohio River is entering from the left. The Mississippi River enters from the right-rear and continues down to the far right.



Our last stop for today was just a few miles away in a town called Cache, Illinois (GCR01C). I can't find out much info on the community of Cache, IL other than it was laid out in January 1904. Found a newspaper article in April 1927 suggesting the town was flooded out. Then a few decades later the Cache River was rerouted to empty into the Mississippi River instead of the Ohio River. Whatever happened to the town, this bridge isn't singing anymore.



While researching the town for this blog, I came across some articles for a cemetery called "Seven Mile Graveyard" located between Cache and Cairo. The Find-A-Grave website had 7 memorials listed, but no photos. I came across another 8 newspaper articles of people that were buried there and added those memorials. Then I came across a more recent article of the cemeteries demise:

Excerpt from the Southern Illinoisan, April 30, 1999:
"The cemetery was incorporated in 1853. In 1878, many people who died in a yellow fever epidemic were buried there. By 1921, the cemetery was overgrown and unkempt. In 1955, the land was purchased and the cemetery was bulldozed and turned into a pasture, a piece of history turned to dust and memory."

So sad. Perhaps one day someone can further research local records and discover the location of the cemetery. Maybe even more names of those long forgotten souls can be discovered and added to the Find-A-Grave website. And if just one descendent can make that genealogical connection, even better!

Well we still had about 430 miles of driving to get to Decatur, Indiana by tonight. So the rest of my planned geocaches had to be bypassed. That's NOT something I like doing either. Tomorrow morning we go check out our potential new-to-us home-on-wheels!

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.