Virtual Vacation day two

Is cabin fever setting in? Need to get out and enjoy the countryside. Get back to traveling? Well now you can. Join me this week on a virtual vacation.

Posting every night from Tuesday through Saturday. Enjoy

Wednesday

It is an early morning departure, want to leave by 8am, Drive-time traffic should be less and it will put me in Dayton by 2PM since they are on Eastern time. In fact the rest of the trip will be in that time zone.

Car is full of gas but I limited myself to a danish & coffee. I don't care to drive on a full stomach.

I'm heading due north I-65 so the morning sun is mostly blocked by the car. This interstate is familiar to me, having grown up in Indianapolis. It continues right through my old hometown of Indianapolis. Radio stations are full of gospel and country western music. Glad I found a “Oldies Country” station. Listening to Charlie Daniels fiddling away. Rolling meadows of horse farms, some with fences painted black instead of the traditional white I'm used to. Wonder if there is a special reason for that.

After an hours drive, signs start to appear for the National Corvette Museum. Odd, that sports car never held the fascination for me that it has for most of the world. The billboards bring memories of several friends who love their Corvettes and often take long trips in them.

As I drive, my mind goes over the memories of that grand plantation in Nashville. Opulent but at what a cost. Not just in dollars spent but in lives. People & horses, considered breeding stock to be trained and sold. Put to work doing chores, cooking, planting, cleaning, taking care of the four legged livestock that was the income that made it all possible.

Then my thoughts returned to classical Greece and the artists who designed and built the wonderful temple. It is far too easy to assume just because a people lived a long time ago that they were somehow not as intelligent as we are now. The civilization that the Greeks developed far out shadowed much of the world at that time. They created so much of the things and thoughts we take for granted.

Nearing the outskirts of Louisville, I take the bypass I-264. This saves the heavy traffic of downtown. Next guide post will be signs to take I-71 north to Cincinnati. After joining this new interstate seems like a good time to fill up the tank. The gauge is reading half a tank with 2 hours driving time ahead. Still a stop might be prudent. I find a BP station in Crestwood Kentucky. Good time as any to find a new radio station. Never cared for eating while I drive, too distracting. However I am aware of the time change to Eastern. It is now noon already. So I pick out a nice cold ham & cheese sandwich and a soda to alternate with the cold water.

Now the path is heading east. My thoughts go to how many of my ancestors traveled this course on their migration west. A few miles to the north of here winds the Ohio River.

This is the halfway point of today's journey. The sun is high in the sky.

The next big city is Cincinnati. Here the interstate will take me right through the city.

I'll have to keep my eyes open for the downtown exit for I-75.

Out of the congested area the car is back to traveling north like a homesick angel! This last leg will be a short one to Dayton. I make a note of it being 2PM now.

My first stop here is the THE CITIZENS MOTORCAR COMPANY.

Being a bit of an American automotive history buff and having owned or rather was owned by a most beautiful 1956 Packard, this interests me. So sorry I had to sell her over 5 years ago.

According to the internet write-up, back in 1992 an avid Packard guy found an original Packard dealership building constructed in 1917. He has turned it into a Packard museum and it houses a very large collection of the beautiful examples. The original dealership was named the Citizens Motorcar Company. It has become known in the Packard Club as "America's Packard Museum". This is to differentiate it from the official Packard museum in Warren Ohio.

Walking into the restored Art Deco showroom it is easy to imagine for a moment, that I was one of the lucky ones who could have bought a brand new Packard. According to the brochure, this is the world's largest public Packard automobile collection and the only restored Packard dealership operating as a museum.

There are over 50 automobiles on display each one crying for my attention and admiration. Also on display is the service department and pavilion. There are cars here dating from 1903 to 1956.

My heart is filled with memories of that special Packard that I loved so well. A guide was found and we discuss just about everything Packard. I show off my pictures like a proud parent showing off their kids. He tells me Car Collector magazine named the museum one of the "Top Ten" Auto Museums in The United States. I can believe it as my mind is saturated with fantastic sights and sound, even smells!

We discussed how during the time of the First World War there were more Packards in the “diplomatic” service, (heads of states, presidents, kings, etc) than all other makes of cars combined. How Rolls Royce had to come to Packard to build their engines for WWII. No other car maker in the world held the technical know how to carry it off successfully. How they were the only independent make to invent their own automatic transmission, one that was far ahead of GM's.

Is it possible to just stay here? He agreed with my BnB hosts that Jay's Seafood was a good choice for dinner, so reluctantly We parted.

The museum's neighborhood has been named Dayton's Motorcar District. My bed and breakfast is only two and a half miles away, so I called them and quickly arrived to check in.

The “UD GuestHouse” has free WiFi as well as free private parking. Simple and all that is needed for the night. There is a shared bathroom with a shower and a hairdryer. Thank God it has air conditioning! I don't intend on cooking here, but maybe a snack in the AM.

My dinner tonight is at Jay's Seafood Restaurant. I opt for a package three course meal, $33!

It starts with a thick cheesy bacon potato soup. The waiter described the second course as baked wild cod with a mustard dill sauce and some fresh green beans. I ask how wild the cod had been before being cooked, but the waiter did not understand my attempt at humor. Dinners finish was a rich peanut butter cheesecake. Overheard a couple of twinks at another table. “I guess the gender neutral term for sugar daddy is glucose guardian.”

Eating like this may cause me to gain a ton on this trip! However I remembered to not order beef at a seafood restaurant. That choice proved a good one as the cod was fantastic.

Planning on another early evening, maybe falling asleep watching a movie on TV.

Back at the Bed and Breakfast I found a delightful conversation with my host. When the mention came up about aging, he told me “Oh honey, Don't worry about old age, it doesn't last that long.” Sometimes the joy of a vacation is the people you meet.