Where Ducks Walk on the Backs of Fish

The last couple weeks seem to have been very busy thus the delay in posting a blog update. When last we wrote, we had left Mercer, PA, for Williamsfield, OH, for another week of R&R but still managed to do a little sightseeing around the area. Thurs. (8/14) we drove to Linesville, PA, just 10 min. away to see the famous Linesville Spillway where it’s said that “ducks walk on the backs of fish”. It’s part of the Pymatuning Lake Reservoir and is said to be the second most popular tourist attraction in PA after the Liberty Bell. The Spillway is home to thousands of huge carp that are attracted to this particular spot mainly by the bread thrown into the water by visitors. Hundreds of ducks and geese frequent the lake and at times they do appear to walk on the backs of the fish as they, too, try to get at the bread! The upper part of the lake flows into the lower part by means of a semi-circular spillway, which is where the majority of the fish seem to be gathered. They were packed so tight that at times they'd literally squeeze each other up and out of the water! It’s definitely quite a sight to see.

We decided to take a different route home and on the way came upon the Linesville State Fish Hatchery where they raise warm water fish. Established in 1939, they utilize the 2,500 acre sanctuary located behind the visitor’s center to get their brood stock for spawning. After walking around the center, we ventured out to the culture ponds where we found Don feeding the paddlefish fingerlings. It was fascinating talking with him, and he was very gracious in taking the time to answer our questions.

Our site at the Pymatuning Valley Resort backed up to the Pymatuning State Park campground, separated only by a fence and some trees, and the weather was beautiful. This is Amish country, and horse and buggies are not uncommon. In fact the day I stopped at McDonald’s, there was one parked in a regular parking space, and me with no camera! It struck me a little odd when the elderly Amish gentleman in front of me ordered a fish sandwich and coffee. I just never pictured the Amish frequenting fast food places.

Just down the road is the town of Andover, OH, where they still have an old time drive-in theater featuring the latest movies every Fri. and Sat. May – Oct. How many opportunities do you get to go to a real drive-in movie anymore! However the movies this weekend were Space Chimps and Hellboy II, and at $6/adult, those were not two movies we wanted to waste our money on even just to say we were there! But every Sat. and Sun. the theater is home to the Andover Flea Market. There were a couple hundred vendors the day we went, and even though we don’t need any more “stuff”, we spent a couple hours browsing and somehow managed to spend $37.

Friday evenings during the summer, Andover is home to People in the Park Concerts, and as in Mercer, each week a different community group is featured in the town square. After the great time we had at the Mercer concert, we were prepared for another pleasant small town evening. We picked up some fried chicken and slaw at the market, and arrived early to enjoy a picnic in the park before the concert began. The centerpiece of the town square is a circle of monuments honoring all branches of the military surrounding a flag pole, and it’s the first town where we have seen a number of yellow ribbons tied on trees and poles honoring the troops. A few feet away is the stage, and the concert was to begin at 7pm. Unlike the previous week, folks were not arriving early, and maybe that should have given us a hint of things to come. The group was called the Happy Volunteers, 5 senior citizens - one lady on keyboard, three guys on guitar, and one guy on a squeaky fiddle. Let’s just say this entertainment left a lot to be desired! About 50 people were in attendance, but I think many were family and friends. The group played Tennessee Waltz, Tiny Bubbles, and a couple other songs we recognized, but then they started playing some fast song that was totally unrecognizable and just awful. At that point we decided to leave before they passed the hat for donations! We proceeded to walk around the square, peering in many of the shops, making our way back to our car, and cringing at the sound coming from the stage because now they were singing along and out of key!

Sat. night our neighbors, Mac and Karen, invited us over to sit around the campfire, and we enjoyed a pleasant evening getting acquainted, sharing stories, and hearing about their salmon fishing trips in Alaska!

I had planned to get this blog posted on Sun., but we spent a good part of the day preparing to post some more items on eBay. We had stored our baseball memorabilia at Russ’ sister’s in NJ so when we were there in July, we took some of it back with plans to possibly sell in Cooperstown. But after further consideration, we decided to sell on eBay instead. First up are about 14 bobbleheads from the 1960s that we plan to list in increments of 4 or 5 per week. We got everything set up, and at 9pm Eastern, we started listing 5 of them with a starting bid of $9.99. Within a matter of minutes, we started getting questions, and within about an hour, someone asked if we’d be willing to do a Buy It Now on the Dodgers bank bobblehead for $150! Oh, gee, let me see…only if you twist our arms! We adjusted the listing so that option was available, he bought it, and we’ll mail it Thurs. from St. Louis. After answering a few more questions, we finally shut the computer down around midnight cause Mon. was going to be a long travel day as we headed for South Bend, IN, to get some warranty and service work done on the RV before heading to St. Louis.

After driving across the entire state of Ohio and half of Indiana, we arrived at Hill Truck Sales about 6:30pm and set up camp for the night in the parking lot behind their building with a 20 amp electrical outlet. Our appt. was for 7am Tues. morning and was to only take about ½ a day. We checked in promptly, loaded the dogs and cat (in her carrier) into the car, and off we went to tool around South Bend for a few hours.

As you may know, South Bend is home to the University of Notre Dame (http://www.nd.edu/), and we decided to drive around the campus since we were in town. As it turns out, Notre Dame is a “pedestrian campus” so not a lot of driving around allowed. The morning was quite cool, so we parked under a tree, left the windows open several inches for Jo, leashed the dogs, and took a stroll. The bookstore has a Starbucks inside, and since we hadn’t eaten any breakfast, I went inside to grab us something to eat and drink while Russ sat at an outside table with the dogs.

We had heard from several people that Notre Dame was a beautiful campus, and they did not exaggerate. The Golden Dome of the Main Building with the statue of Mary on top is visible from nearly all over campus and even roads leading to it.

We walked around the stadium and past the library with the large mural of the resurrected Jesus entitled “The Word of Life” but more commonly known by its nickname, “Touchdown Jesus”. The mural looms over the stadium and is so named because it appears to mirror the raised arms of a referee signaling a touchdown. We passed by a beautiful fountain created to honor the nearly 500 ND alumni who gave their lives during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.











A short distance from the quad is the Cancer Awareness Tree that honors all those who have survived cancer and those who have died of cancer. Ribbons were located in a small basket nearby and folks are encouraged to commemorate both by tying a ribbon on the tree. I participated by tying ribbons for my mom, my uncle, and two aunts.

After checking back in with Hall’s and them telling us it’d be another couple hours, we visited a couple parks and drove around awhile longer. The service work took a little longer than promised, but they also helped get our running lights working again before we left. So instead of hitting the road shortly after lunch, it was nearly 5pm. We drove as far as Joliet, IL, spending the night at a really nice campground, and Wed. drove into St. Louis to the KOA campground (technically Eureka).

I don’t believe we mentioned before that our caravan buddy, Scott, had decided to meet back up with us in Eureka, the place where we all first met. He arrived on Thurs. and that evening he joined us at our rig along with our friend, John, for some Imo’s pizza and beer. Friday he accompanied us to the weekly American Legion Fish Fry in Russ’ old neighborhood and then to visit our friend, Bob, at the San-Bar Tavern.

You might remember from last year’s visit that the boys drank just a wee bit too much the first night we were in town so Russ dubbed this year’s get together on Sat. as the 2nd annual “Drink as much beer as you can as fast as you can without puking” party! Of course all swore they were going to drink in moderation this year. Unfortunately Rick couldn’t make it this year, but John, Steve, and Patty came over and Scott joined the party as well. We grilled some ribs, cooked some corn on the cob we had picked up fresh from the farm in Ohio (ok, it was fresh a week ago), garlic bread, and some homemade potato salad. John brought a yummy French cheesecake, and there were plenty of beers to go around. While Patty and I imbibed on Mojitos and peach margaritas, the guys stayed pretty true to their word and didn’t over drink this year. I’m sure part of the incentive was that Steve, John, and Russ were scheduled to play golf at 6 this morning! Good grief…I don’t think the sun’s even up yet at that time!

I’m sure the next few weeks will fly by with plans being made to visit friends and family, tailgate and attend the Missouri/Illinois football game, more golf, visit choruses, and who knows what else so stay tuned!