Heading West With No Destination In Mind - Part Four

We turned south on to Route 42 into Medina. One of the first signs we saw made us smile and think of our dear friends, Pattye & Billy Starrett, or as Pattye says “Bullie.” Yes, we found his restaurant … Bullies BBQ!

We ventured further into the heart of Medina and came upon Medina’s Uptown Park Square. Since it was Saturday the sidewalks were filled with shoppers and gorgeous planters. There were two events that had people heading to the square. The Medina Farmers Market, which is an outdoor party! You can find freshly-picked produce, out-of-this-world bakery, artisan cheeses, high quality handmade items and much, much more! 

The other event occurring was at Castle Noel, America's largest Christmas indoor entertainment attraction featuring hundreds of movie props, costumes, New York City animated window displays, and more. Santa is spending his summer here and everyone was invited to join him at “Summer Santa Snapshot” to celebrate Christmas in July and Christmas Movie Actors “Walk of Fame” Ceremony.

The Medina County Fair starts in just two days. The Medina County Fair is one of Ohio's oldest and largest county fairs and will celebrate its 168th anniversary this year.  The fair's mission is "to provide a center of activity for the preservation and promotion of agriculture through the enhancement and management of our fairgrounds". The fair has a rich and interesting background. It evolved from the early agricultural societies of Connecticut and for many years people came together to show their livestock on the Public Square of Medina, long before the Medina County Agricultural Society was officially organized. This fair is just a few years older than the Hemlock “Little World’s” Fair. We started in 1857 and have been growing stronger every year!

We passed by the Ohio National Guard Armory housing the 212^th Maintenance Support Company. It reminded us of our early days in the 134^th Maintenance Company in Rochester New York. We made many lifelong friends there. We deployed with this unit to Operation Desert Storm in 1990/91.

The roof of a barn has 1915 blended into the roof shingles. We have seen several barns in our travels that had years blended into the roofs. We are making the assumption that it is the year it was originally constructed. Sometimes you can see business or family names blended into the roof shingles also. At the Elm Farm, there is a historical marker, why you ask? It is the sight of the former America’s Ice Cream and Dairy Museum. The museum sat on the same facility where the Abell family milked and worked for a lifetime. All the items from the museum and Abell’s collection were auctioned off in 2012, including milk bottles that had been buried for almost a century, the bottles were dug up from under the old Cleveland Indians stadium. The biggest draw to Elm Farm was the real thing – an ice cream parlor featuring homemade flavors of ice cream. The Elm Farm’s original cooler was converted into a 1900 ice cream parlor replica. Abell isn’t the only one interested in preserving his dairy past. Ohio dedicated a historical marker at the site. After all the work Abell put in as a dairy farmer and then creating a museum to house his memories, Elm Farm won’t be forgotten.

Located in Lodi, the Earth Song Discovery Farm is creating a living, working, visible model of sustainable and holistic living to inspire the young people of tomorrow. The farms goal is to unfold the wonders of our world in magical, memorable ways. They use hands-in-the-mud, storytelling, detective investigation, lying on your back-looking up at the stars, conversing with plants and many more surprising adventures to guide your mind to profound discoveries. This is multi-sensory education for the young and old, after all learning is a life-long adventure. Some of the items available at the farm include blueberries, cucumbers, onions, green beans, kale, lettuce, beets, zucchini, greens, herb plants, free-range eggs, honey, maple syrup, apple cider jelly, herbal products, goat milk soap, and organic free-range chickens.

We found a Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn on Route 42. A Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn, or simply Mail Pouch Barn, is a barn with one or more sides painted from 1890 to 1992 with a barn advertisement for the West Virginia Mail Pouch chewing tobacco company (Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company), based in Wheeling, West Virginia. At the height of the program in the early 1960s, there were about 20,000 Mail Pouch barns spread across 22 states. These barns can be found in thirteen states although an increasing number have fallen into dilapidation or have been demolished. The barns, usually hand-painted in black or red with yellow or white capital lettering, read as follows: "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco Treat Yourself to the Best." Sometimes they are surrounded on the left and right by a thin vertical blue border. Initially, barn owners were paid between $1 and $2 a year for the advertisement, equivalent in 1913 dollars to about $20–$40 today. But more importantly, they received a much desired fresh coat of paint to preserve the integrity of the wood. Mail Pouch painted their message on one or two sides of the barn (depending on view ability from the roadway) and painted the other sides of the barn any color the owner wished. Many of the barns were repainted every few years to maintain the sharp colors of the lettering.

In West Salem, there is a drag strip, called Dragway 42. After a very successful 2014 “Hangover Nationals” the dragway was closed for the construction project. The owner is committed to providing a state of the art facility that will last for years to come. To conform to IHRA standards, the surface may only vary .001 +/- over the entire length of the track. The goal is not simply to have two lanes to race on; it is to provide a racing surface worthy of running IHRA National Events with Nitro Cars and being on the level of the top tracks in the country. They are continuing the process of returning Dragway 42 to the great facility it once was, and they look forward to showing it off to all the racers, fans and friends in 2015.

Being a proud veteran of the 42^nd Infantry Division, I found it so very cool to learn that we were traveling on 42nd Rainbow Division Memorial Highway, also known as State Route 42. On September 28, 1973 the road known as state route number forty-two, running in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction across the state through the counties of Cuyahoga, Medina, Wayne, Ashland, Richland, Morrow, Delaware, Union, Madison, Clark, Greene, Warren, Butler, and Hamilton and through Cleveland, Medina, Ashland, Mansfield, Mt. Gilead, Delaware, London, Xenia, Lebanon, and Cincinnati shall be known as the "Forty-second `Rainbow' Division Memorial Highway." Learning about this designation reminded me of the many friends I have and we lost from the 42^nd ID.

We traveled through Mansfield, the official nickname is "The Fun Center of Ohio". It is the largest city in the "Mid-Ohio" region of the state. Mansfield is also known as the "Carousel Capital of Ohio," "Danger City," and "Racing Capital of Ohio". Lexington is home to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. This venue hosted an annual round of the CART series from 1990 to 2003, has hosted the IndyCar Series since 2007, has hosted the NASCAR Nationwide Series since 2013, hosts Honda Super Bikes, and Vintage Bikes in addition to a few other annual high profile events.

The village of Mount Gilead was established in 1832, eight years after white settlers arrived in the region. Before their arrival, the forest was a hunting area for the Shawnee tribe. Located in the center of the village is Morrow County's historic World War I Victory Memorial Shaft, unique in the United States. Other areas drawing tourism include the Amish farms, shops and stores east of Mount Gilead, near Chesterville and Johnsville.

Brillo Pad is a trade name for a scouring pad, used for cleaning dishes, and made from steel wool impregnated with soap. The concept was patented in 1913. The company's website states the name Brillo is from the Latin word for 'bright', although no such word exists in Latin; however, German, Italian, French, Spanish and English do have words for 'shine' or 'bright' beginning with brill- deriving from Latin words for beryl. In the US, Brillo is made in London, Ohio

In 1975 the town of Xenia wanted to plug patriotism. Thanks to the artistry of both youths and adults participating in the "Paint a Plug For America" Project. Xenia is joining cities across the nation in the bicentennial project conceived by an Indiana woman, and by Independence Day, 1976, will have all its plugs redressed. Almost 40 years later many of the fire hydrants still have that Patriotic theme and it’s red, white and blue colors with their stars and stripes.

The Xenia Station is home to the largest paved trail hub in Ohio. The grounds are tucked alongside where Miami Avenue and Detroit Street (Rt. 68) meet in Xenia, Ohio in Greene County. The hub boasts about 170 miles of paved bikeways that connect directly to the station. These trails link to a number of different communities, as well as the nearby Dayton trail network, making this part of southwestern, Ohio very conducive to traveling by trail!

Just off Route 42, on Stevenson Road is Massies Creek. This is where you can see another one of the many covered bridges in Ohio. The Stevenson Road Covered Bridge over Massies

Creek on Stevenson Road (CR 76) was closed to traffic in 2003. It was built in 1877 by the Smith Bridge Company. It is 90 feet long, 16 feet wide and vertical clearance of 13 feet. After seeing this bridge, we headed into our overnight stay at Frontier Campgrounds in Waynesville, OH. Another great find from the Good Sam’s directory. Check back for the next part of our two lane adventure!