Author: Roadtirementvintage

Travel into history

/ Roadtirementvintage / 29 Comments

Why they celebrated the new concrete paving!

One journey that is enjoyable is following the Old National Road, aka US 40. For one thing, you are not on an interstate! Anyway, near Brownsville, Ohio, east of Columbus, you’ll find the Eagle’s Nest Monument. It was erected around 1916 after a 29 mile stretch of the then unimproved and often nearly impassable road was replaced with concrete. The stretch of highway ran from Zanesville to Hebron. The large granite rock has some great markings, including a rough Conestoga wagon.

The Eagles Nest monument

Conestoga wagon etched into the granite

 

 

 

 

 

You are 220 miles from the start of the National Road in Cumberland, MD.

Get off the interstate and travel the Old National Road anywhere along the route in any state. The signage is excellent and easy to follow, and you won’t be bored!

Offering a vintage Ball jar with wire bail

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We are offering a vintage Ball canning jar in our online Etsy store. 

The Ball Sure Seal line of canning jars were staples in turn of the century kitchens. The Ball script tells of manufacture from 1910 to 1923. Standing 7 inches plus tall, the extra wide mouth is over 3 inches wide. The glass cover is held in place with the wire “lightning bail”, named for the speed in which it may be closed! The base sports the number 8.

These vintage Ball jars have so many uses beyond canning. They look great in any room. This jar is easy to open for filling with anything from buttons to wine corks.

The listing for this piece of Americana (complete with many more photos) can be found here.  Sher and I invite you to take a look at our Roadtirement Vintage Etsy Store. You might find something you can’t live without!

World’s largest…everything?

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Casey , Illinois has the world’s largest golf tee, windchimes, mailbox and other things. It is worth the side trip off of I-70 at Exit 129, about 35 miles west of the Indiana/Illinois line. These “large” items are a hoot to see.

World’s largest wind chime

March 2015

September 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, we’ve been there twice now. Had to see if that rocking chair had shown up yet.

A one ton oddity

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The 28 inch diameter, 2000 pound granite sphere floats on a cushion of water pumped up from a fountain below. The socket of the granite base is precision carved to allow an 8/1000th inch thick layer of water that the ball rests on. Even a child can rotate the ball!

This marvelous floating granite ball fountain is in front of the Nature Center at Holliday Park in Indianapolis. 

A bath tub? Seriously?

/ Roadtirementvintage / 19 Comments

The Florida Flywheelers is an antique tractor club located in central Florida.  Twice a year, in January and February, the Flywheelers have huge five  day tractor shows coupled with flea markets and swap meets on the over 200 acre facility.

Yes, this is a motorized bath tub.

The grounds are so large that most people drive around the site. While golf carts are the most prevalent transportation, other “custom” means of travel are also seen. There is a nearly constant parade of vehicles driving down the aisles where vendors and tractor exhibitors are set up. You never know what you’ll see driving around!

The king of the sea

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King Neptune on the Virginia Beach, VA Boardwalk

Compare Neptune’s size to the bike rider!

Neptune and his turtle

The octopus

The bronze statue of King Neptune is the spectacular creation of artist Paul DiPasquale. It was dedicated in 2005 and to this day reigns over the sea (and the boardwalk). Neptune holds his trademark trident with a hand on a sea turtle. He is also surrounded by many other sea creatures on the statue base.

We lived in Virginia Beach in the 90’s and loved the beach and boardwalk, spending hours and hours enjoying the ocean waves. Imagine our surprise when we returned in 2016 and saw Neptune as we strolled north along the boardwalk. Photos do not do him justice. Virginia Beach is a marvelous vacation destination with year round activities. Hopefully the city will be getting back to post pandemic conditions sooner than later.

Pirates on the Gulf

/ Roadtirementvintage / 5 Comments

We spent the winter of 2019 in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Our RV Resort was located in Harlingen. One of the many day trips we took  was to the quaint town of Port Isabel. This was two years ago. All of the election brew haha was yet to come, and of course nobody was imagining the tragedy of the pandemic that was still over the horizon.

Sher with a Port Isabel pirate

I had to get into the act as well

 

 

 

 

 

 

Down on the Port Isabel waterfront we came upon some, ah, mean looking pirates. Not ones to miss out, we could not pass up the photo ops. With a hearty “Arrr, matey” and a “shiver me timbers” the images above became part of our photo record of the day.

Sacred Devils Tower

/ Roadtirementvintage / 36 Comments

Remember this from the 1977 “Close Encounters” movie?

Close up shot of the columnar structure. Each “column” is about 8 feet across!

The Devils Tower is a sacred site to Native Americans and is an NPS National
Monument. Located in the Black Hills of northeastern Wyoming, this remarkable geologic butte stands nearly 900 feet tall from it base to the top. The rock is igneous and was formed when the molten lava intruded into layers of sedimentary rocks. Those rocks weathered away, leaving the Devils Tower that we see today.

There is interesting history of both the geology of the tower, as well as the history of human involvement of the site. This was the first National Monument, so designated ten years before the National Park Service was founded. Study the Devils Tower website for details about the park, its history and current covid restrictions.

We visited Devils Tower back in 2015.