Just after the McDonald’s on Lincoln Way in Massillon, I crossed the Tuscarawas River and picked up the Sippo Valley Trail. The trail is a paved, nicely maintained former rail line.
My observation is that trails built on former rail lines usually have only the maximum 1 or 2 percent grade of the original rail lines, making them excellent routes for bike trail. Excluding the northern-most part of the OTET that follows the O&E Tow Path Trail, much of the OTET north of Columbus makes use of the abandoned CAC (Cleveland- Akron-Columbus) rail line.
The Sippo Valley Trail ends in Dalton, and the OTET moves from a former rail line right-of-way to OH 94.
Here’s a house in Dalton that caught my imagination.
In 1920, Warren Harding ran a successful “front porch” presidential campaign in Marion, Ohio, about 100 miles west of Dalton. Take away the utility pole and the fire hydrant, and I can imagine Harding speaking to a crowd from this front porch.
Some kind soul created a rest area for bicyclists
Most of the tillable land is being farmed
Amish haystacks
Drying laundry without electricity
When building state highways, like OH 94, some attempt is made to lessen the effects of a hilly topography. State highways also typically have a white or yellow painted center stripe, and white edge lines on both sides.
In contrast with state highways, county roads like this one are paved with little regard for topography, and have no painted lines added.
I had just stopped at the traffic light in Fredericksburg when I noticed a blue tractor starting to enter the intersection from my right side. When I looked more closely I saw that the tractor was pulling a trailer, on the trailer was a lawn chair, and in the lawn chair was seated a woman who was wearing what appeared to be an Amish dress. It took me a good 5 seconds to process what I was seeing, get out my cell phone, and snap this picture. By then, the tractor had turned right.
I understand that Amish choose to not own or even drive motor vehicles, but they do allow themselves to take rides. I’m guessing this was just a Holmes County Uber driver at work.
At this same intersection is the Salt Fork Café. I stopped and ordered Baked Oatmeal, something new to me.
The serving was 1-1/2″ thick, chewy, and along with oatmeal it included blueberries and raisins. It had a soft crust on the bottom, and it was served with a small bowl of yogurt (custard?) with a side of syrup. The oatmeal and yogurt/custard combination was sweet and delicious. (No need for syrup.)
I picked up the Holmes County Trail one block west of the Salt Fork Café. This trail is about twice as wide as those I am used to seeing, and the signs tell me that the term “multi-purpose” has a different meaning in Holmes County than it does in the Cleveland area.
This historical marker is on the Holmes County Trail on the way to Millersburg.
I used to identify as a Republican, back when they were the party of Abraham Lincoln and Congressman William McCulloch. But after Republicans changed their fundamental values in multiple areas, I became an independent.
The old Millersburg railroad depot and surrounding area has been turned into a park, and the rail line has been turned into a trail as part of the “Rails to Trails” movement. On the left in the photo below is an Amish buggy
Here’s a closer look at the buggy. Note the LED lighting, a modern convenience that has probably been added to comply with state safety laws.
[Warning: The remainder of this post is a political discussion. Skip to the next post if this would not be interesting to you.]
While continuing toward my motel in Millersburg, my mind went back to Congressman McCulloch, Lincoln, and my understanding of Republican values. I recall, for example, in the 1990’s when it came to light that President Clinton, while married, faced credible charges of affairs with Jennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinski, Republican leaders howled that character matters, especially for the President. I agreed with the Republicans back then: character matters enormously.
Within the next two decades, however, Republicans had significantly changed their fundamental values. A thrice-married man who faced credible charges of affairs with two women, and on multiple occasions stated “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters”, became the Republican nominee for president in 2016. (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-fifth-avenue-comment/)
I was still thinking about all this when I came upon this display set up in a parking lot across from the Holiday Inn where I would be staying. It was now almost 90 degrees on a July day in 2021, but of course I had to stop
Although I no longer consider myself to be a Republican, I am still very interested in learning about current Republican thinking on several topics.
A friendly and welcoming guy named Al, the person who sets up this display daily, was the only one present when I arrived around 1PM. I introduced myself, told Al that I am a political centrist who voted for Joe Biden, and I was very interested in learning why he is an obviously serious Donald Trump supporter.
Al explained: before Trump ran for office, everybody loved him. If you took, say, 1000 people, 990 loved him and 10 didn’t, and what they didn’t like about him was his personality. After he was elected the media turned on him and tried to make him into a racist and other stuff which he was not. There were racist presidents in the past and the media let it slide, but they stuck it to Donald Trump instead.
I asked why he thought that was, and in a long explanation he eventually got to the point that people really don’t know history. He said slavery never existed in America. Seeing what must have been a startled look on my face, he continued that the technology to ship black people from Africa to America didn’t exist in the 18th and 19th centuries. Also, what are called “black” people today were already living here. The historical accounts of the early European explorers, he continued, report encountering “copper-colored” people already here when they arrived.
Al went on to explain that that he does not consider himself to be black. He stretched out his arm, pointed to his watch and said that his watch is black, but he himself is brown. I think most any American looking at Al would consider him to be a black man. However, I do agree with him on this – he is no more black than I am white. My Fruit-of-the-Loom tee-shirt is white, and my skin color is clearly not the same color as my shirt. I looked at my tee-shirt, and then I looked at my arm, and after three days in the sun I concluded that I am more of a yam-colored person than a white-colored person.
I would have continued the conversation, but two other yam-colored persons, each arriving in a Trump-decorated pickup, seemed to be more interested in purchasing some Trump merch than joining the conversation. I thanked Al for sharing his thoughts and left. This is my third day on the road, Holiday Inn offers free use of a washer and dryer, and it was laundry time for me.