Maine to Texas - Travel Day - Kentucky

We had a short drive to Two Rivers Campground in Carrollton, Kentucky.  We’re here for 2 nights.  This is a very nice park.

We called ahead to make sure we could get into our assigned spot before noon and were told to come on, the site was open.

Since we are retired, we haven’t had to drive in morning traffic in a long time.  It sure does slow down the drive!

We got to our site around 10:30, got set up and immediately headed out for a round of disc golf.

This is the #6 disc golf course in the WORLD.  It’s 24 holes.  Mark enjoyed playing it.

969 foot long hole!

Today's travel from Marengo, Ohio to Carrollton, Kentucky - 195 miles

Next time: We hit a home run with our next tour.

Maine to Texas - We All Scream For Ice Cream

After our great tour of the American Whistle Company we headed to Utica (Ohio) to the historical 1817 Mill and the home of Velvet Ice Cream.

We arrived with enough time before the tour to walk around the museum.  There were some wonderful displays,

Some of the displays were interactive.

Mark having some fun.

The mill was built in 1817. There were some nice displays and information about the mill.

Seed Separator

Roller Mill.

Our tour started off with a short video about the Dager Family.  After the mill closed it was a few other things before the Dager Family purchased the historical building in 1960. 

The Dagers are now on their 4th generation of ice cream makers.  Their family started making ice cream in 1914.

Over 6 million gallons are made each year.

This is a small batch operation.  The ice cream is only sold in the northeast.

Unfortunately we were pretty far from the action so it was hard to get very close pictures.

They make over 60 flavors.

The mixers they use today are much larger!

Diagram of the ice cream process from cow to cone.

The tour was free and only lasted about 30 minutes.  All of the flavors are for sale in the ice cream parlour.

I had Moose Tracks (my favorite flavor).  Mark had Triple Chocolate Chunk and Salted Caramel (they were both delicious).

The only magnet I could find was a chip clip.   There isn’t a lot to see here but it was a nice tour and the ice cream is worth the trip.

The End.

Next time: Kentucky

Maine to Texas - Whistle While You Work

While in Marengo, Ohio I found a very fun sounding factory tour in Columbus so we bought tickets on-line for a 10 a.m. tour ($5 each).

American Whistle has produced the classic brass whistle since 1956. 

How does the ball get inside the whistle?  (Hint: It is put in after the whistle is completely made!).

Unfortunately pictures were not allowed of the machinery but there was a wall showing every step of the process.

We started out with an introduction on how whistles are made and a little about the company.  Our guide was very funny and entertaining.

They use brass to make their whistles.  Solid brass whistles deliver a consistent high frequency.  They have recently started making plastic whistles here too.

They offer a variety of finishes on solid brass whistles, most commonly nickel-plated, but also brass, bronze and even 24-karat gold.

They make about 1 million whistles a year and are the only manufacturer in the world that can custom stamp a logo on the whistle.

Their specialty whistles come in these beautiful wooden boxes.

How does the ball get into the whistle after it is made?  The (previously) cork balls are now made of a synthetic material that is pressed and then popped into the opening of the whistle.  It can be done by hand or with a special machine.

There are several “How It’s Made” videos made at this factory that show the complete process that we saw first hand.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThElMQitWoc

They are the only manufacturer of rubber Safe-T-Tips in the United States (slips over the mouthpiece of the whistle and protects the teeth and lips from impact and extremes in temperature).  And, they manufacture the official Boy Scouts of America whistles.

After the tour we each received a free whistle.

This factory tour is definitely magnet worthy.

Next time: You Scream, I Scream . . .

Maine to Texas - Travel Day - Ohio

We had a nice easy drive today from Woodland, PA to Marengo, OH.

No traffice jams!  In fact, there wasn’t very much traffic the whole 5 hour drive.

We’re spending two nights at the Cardinal Center Shooting Center and Campground.  It’s a very nice campground with large spots. 

In the afternoon we drove about 40 minutes to the Reservoir Ridge Golf Course.  This is Mark’s first disc golf course in Ohio.  It's a very nice 24 hole course.

Travel Day 4: Woodland, PA to Marengo, OH - 270 miles.

Next time:  Day 5 - Whistle While You Work - It’s going to be a lot of fun!

Maine to Texas: The Ultimate Elk Experience

Day 3: Still in Woodland, PA.

We had a full day to spend in this area so we headed out to “The Ultimate Elk Viewing Experience”.

We turned down a road too soon but it ended up being a beautiful drive through a heavily forested area.

We had the road to ourselves and were able to stop and do a little bird watching along the way.

This flock of Wild Turkeys crossed the road in front of us.

And a Red-tailed Hawk soared overhead.

We eventually got on the road we were supposed to be on and it wasn’t long before we saw cars pulled over and people pointing up the hill.  We got out to see the elk.  Turns out, the elk were so far back in the dark woods they were barely visible.  We didn’t stay long before getting back in the truck to go to the visitor center. 

What a treat it was to see this massive bull elk.  From what we could see he had a harem of about eight ladies.

They moved out of the trees and across the road at a brisk trot and were gone.  We were extremely lucky to be driving up to the visitor cnter at that exact moment.

About 1,000 elk live here and are the largest herd in the northeastern U.S.

By the mid-1800’s unregulated hunting had wiped out the state’s native elk herd.  Reintroduction began in 1913 when 177 Rocky Mountain Elk were brought into Pennsylvania.

We made it to the beautiful visitor center.  There weren’t a lot of visitors here today but from the number of parking spaces it looks like this place could be very busy in the summer.

Inside the visitor center is a large gift shop.

There are also a lot of very nice displays.

Elk skull

We paid $5 each for a 30 minute video in the 4D Theater.  It was a very nice, informative movie.  There was even smell-o-vision which I think is where the 4D comes from.

While discussing prescribed burns, smoke comes out of the fire ring in front of the screens.

Three large screens showing different images kept us turning our heads to see it all.

I’m as tall as an elk!

This nice statue is right outside the visitor center.

We drove around for a while and came across some areas that are planted in the spring with various grains for the elk. 

This area had been strip mined and is now reclaimed into grasslands. 

The elk are best seen at dawn and dusk so we felt very lucky to see our small herd.

Stay tuned - more to come on our travels from Maine to Texas.