Cool, Cheap, Daytrip Locations.....

[Murphy Slaw]

We went to Hannibal, Mo. last year. The home of Tom Sawyer, went to the cave, cool museums, heckuva mansion on the hill.

Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The home of the Mothman. And, the home of Bob Evans is just across the Ohio river. The Mothman museum has a bunch of stuff from the movie.

I live pretty close to Metropolis, Illinois, the hometown of Superman. And Lois Lane.

I want to go see Marty Stuart's Museum down in Mississippi. I've always heard he owned a ton of vintage gear.

What ya got?

[imwjl]

The upper midwest "driftless area" both sides of the Mississippi starts as little as a trailhead a mile from my driveway. There are a goes west into it rail trail and a goes south near it rail trail accessable in the metro area.

In addition to nice road trips and watersheds my posse of funsters do a lot of mixed surface bike rides into it. It can be as simple as 15 mile trips to the about 170 unpaved loop I posted about when I completed it. What was once the world's largest munitions plant is in it and now becoming a rec area and that's a fascinating place to ride and explore.

What we do and the way we've evolved our setups goes across the way people often define the riding. We mix the unpaved rail trails, roads and single track MTB trails. We typically pack food and beverage and often bring swimwear and a towel in summer.

[fazool]

so many around here .....but Ill mention other ones in other places.


During a visit with our daughter we stopped at the Rutherford B Hayes Presidential Library.......never been to one and didnt know what to expect - it was super cool and impressive.

Driving back last week we took a 1 mile detour and visited the Christmas Story House. We are fanatics for that holiday movie but I just expected to see a shell where they filmed the outside. The tour was amazing, the backstories were so fun and and they really filmed right there - 10/10 !

[Bob Womack]

Do you like history?

An hour and a quarter from here is Jamestown, VA site of the first successful British colony in the New World. There are two attractions: Jamestown Island is the actual site of the settlement with the original church and ruins. It is managed by the National Park Service. The commonwealth of Virginia has a museum and a reconstruction of the settlement including recreations of the first ships to arrive, the Susan B. Constant, Godspeed and Discovery.



When the settlers got, *ahem*, settled, and learned what a mosquito-infested plot they had inhabited they eventually moved a few miles inland and formed a new town, Williamsburg, VA, which became the thriving Colonial Capital of all the Colonies. It remained that way until the Colonial Governor attempted to pinch the citizen's arms in June 1775. That cause a little uprising so he fled the city. In the early 1930s, the pastor of the still-standing Colonial Church, Bruton Parish, pursuaded John D. Rockefeller to buy up the many existing colonial structures, form a foundation, and preserve this time capsule for future generations. Several other historic structures were recreated and the Historic District is now a wonderful place to visit with historic taverns, government buildings, and museums.



But wait, there's more! Just northeast of Willaimsburg you can find Historic Yorktown, VA, the final point of the Historical Triangle, where the last pitched battle of the Revolutionary War was fought. There are two museums and the majority of the battlefield is owned by the Park Service. You can drive around it, visit the redoubts and the surrender field where General Cornwallis' army surrendered to he Colonials and their Allies the French, and ford the stream near George Washington's headquarters.





But wait...

South of Yorktown is Hampton Roads, the site of the Civil War Battle of the Ironclads between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (erroneously called the "Merrimack" even by the sily locals). It is your chance to unearth the very unpopular fact that the CSS Virginia won that engagement, despite the theoretical superiority of the USS Monitor. Whatever, parts of both and a full-scale reconstruction of the Monitor are featured at the Mariner's Museum in Newport News. The turret and power plant of the Monitor are in conservation inside.



Of note:
West of Williamsburg is Berkley Plantation, site of the First Thanksgiving and the site where "Taps" was written during the Civil War. East of Williamsburg in Virginia Beach is the site of the First Landing of British in the New World. South of that are the Kill Devil Hills where the Wright Brothers took their first flights.

We're surrounded!

Bob

[edcmat-l1]

^^^ It is a great place to live. Within a 3 hour drive you have the Shenandoahs to the west and NC outer banks to the south and east. My shop is on the intracoastal and just a few miles southwest of me is the Great Dismal Swamp which has its own rich history.

There really is something for any and everyone here.

[frankmcr]

Near Metropolis, eh? I guess that puts Galena well out of daytrip range. How about Brown County, Indiana? Very pretty countryside, and the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival coming up in mid-June.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

Near Metropolis, eh? I guess that puts Galena well out of daytrip range. How about Brown County, Indiana? Very pretty countryside, and the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival coming up in mid-June.

Brown County is uncharacteristic of what many consider Indiana, and Columbus near there is a nice small city with prosperity from the Cummins business. There is a lot of excellent MTB riding terrain there where many are surprised when they know the size and quality. O'Bannon Woods is a neat park south of there that gets near the big river.

Galena is IL driftless area I mentioned and a bit more tourist like than a lot of IA, MN and WI diriftless. There is an interesting small and old school ski area just outside Galena and above the Mississippi It is on the bluffs and steeper than what many probably imagine for IL skiing.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

It is your chance to unearth the very unpopular fact that the CSS Virginia won that engagement, despite the theoretical superiority of the USS Monitor.

Both sides have been claiming victory in that battle since it happened. Probably time that both sides get over it.

[RP]

Virginia's Shenandoah Valley is bounded on the east by the Blue Ridge Mts. and on the west by the Alleghenies. The Valley has a karst topography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst which results in numerous underground caverns that are open to the public. These include Endless, Luray, Grand, Shenandoah and Natural Bridge Caverns just to name a few...

[frankmcr]

More than a day trip, but you might think about travelling to the National Music Museum in Vermillion South Dakota. It's in the near part of S.D. I haven't been but it looks amazing. Might be kind of an interesting drive too.

https://www.nmmusd.org/

[Tunesalot]

If you haven't been, Mammoth Cave, KY is reasonably close, lots of cool caves thereabouts.

[jacot23]

https://tnstateparks.com/parks/david...ett-birthplace

We enjoyed our trip there a couple years ago.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

Both sides have been claiming victory in that battle since it happened. Probably time that both sides get over it.

Well, the interesting fact is that both sides claim victory but both sides also acknowledge that the Monitor had to retire from battle when a particularly good shot from the Virginia blew splinters into the pilothouse of the Monitor, blinding the captain. She hauled off into a cove and made repairs and the executive officer was put in charge. Meanwhile, the Virginia nosed around and looked for trouble until she was satisfied that Monitor had given up and then retired to Gosport Shipyard.

By the rules of engagement, the first ship to be forced to retire is considered to have lost the battle... except in this case.

Neither ship turned out to be seaworthy on the ocean. The Virginia was burned to the waterline again rather than being captured as the Union began to win back Norfolk. Her captain's stateroom mantel is installed in a private residence in Norfolk and her ship's wheel is at the Mariner's Museum. The Monitor sank off the Outer Banks while under tow to Chareslton. There just wasn't enough freeboard on her to keep the seas out.

But, alas, to the victor (in the war) goes the writing of the battle history, no? Bull Run/Manassas, etc.

Bob

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by Tunesalot

If you haven't been, Mammoth Cave, KY is reasonably close, lots of cool caves thereabouts.

That's on the agenda, for sure.

[Jim Owen]

Bob’s naval history reminded me that the last Confederate ironclad was scuttled and burnt in Columbus, Ga. It was raised and is now on display here.

https://www.portcolumbus.org/exhibit