Sandusky is keeping us busy

 July 11, 2021

Crystal Rock CG, Sandusky, Ohio

Well, today they left me in the rig with the lights off while they ran off to Milan, Ohio to visit the man who was responsible for turning the lights on.  

Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio and they have turned his birth house into a wonderful museum. 

Were you aware that Edison was an excellent telegrapher?  The sound of the morse code led his creative, ingenious mind to develop the ability to repeat/play sounds.  He began with tin foil and graduated to wax cylinders.

And of course you know what happens to wax.  So he moved on to a stronger composit cylinder that played for 2 minutes.  

When Victrola got involved creating a flat disc, so did Edison.

  Victrola used a tapered groove and only got 4 minutes of play while Edison used a straighter groove and got 8 minutes of play.  Then he progressed on to movies and of course we are all well aware of his light bulb contribution.

Our tour guide took us through his house sharing the story of his life.

He only lived in this house until the age of 7.  He was able to buy back the house years later letting his aunt live there. The woman were quite talented/crafty.  This is a bedspread knitted with fine/small needles.

And the handmade lacey husher was used around the chamber pot to deaden the sound of the lid.

We happened to be chatting with a camping neighbor and he told us the story of Edison when he was working as a telegrapher in Canada.  Every 20 minutes he was to telegraph if the train track was clear or not.  Being the creative man that he was, he rigged up a set up that would automatically send the message so he could sleep.  All went well until one night when the automated message was sent, but that track was NOT clear.  Ooops.  He left Canada quickly before they could catch up with him.

The next stop was at the Marine Museum of Sandusky. 

Sandusky is located on Lake Erie so shipping was a natural part of life ....before the railroad. 

They shipped the fish they caught, the ice blocks they chopped from the frozen water 

and coal.

And would you believe the two-legged squeezed in one more stop before returning to me.  

Toft's dairy cow milk and ice cream is a natural partnership.  And this ice cream is well known as delicious.  They say you can always tell how good an eatery is by the number of cars in the parking lot.  Toft's lot was packed, as was the ice cream parlor, but they had a serving system that moved the line quickly.  With so many flavors, the serving area was long.  There were about 8 ice cream dippers who took each person's order and a cashier at the end of the counter.  Smooth, quick operation.  

Now devouring that ice cream was not quite as smooth a process for some.  It seems the Griffin's really got into their ice cream due to cone failure.

Dad on the other hand avoided the mess with a dish and a spoon.  Yummy!!

This is not one of our nicer campgrounds...especially for me.  Grass is lacking as well as a place to play.  Dad really isn't fond of being outside as the mosquitoes have been after him as soon as he exits the rig.  Maybe all this rain we have encountered has increased the biting bug population.  At least the rain has been timed so it hasn't interfered with any of our plans.  The two legged have been rather busy being entertained by the sites in this area as you have read,  so I guess this campground works as a place to sleep.

I'm Chloe