Free Floyd Collins

I recently started a new job downtown. It's closer to where my husband works. Because of this, we've found a new parking spot in a lot roughly halfway between our buildings. I mention this because people who know us don't know where we've been parking the past few weeks, and because this new job came about at a time when it was really hard to dismiss the timing as anything short of a miracle.

Fast forward to this evening, when I met my husband at his car. He was about to back out when he spotted something fluttering on his windshield. My heart sank, as I thought it was a ticket, and began wondering what the heck we did wrong. It was actually this piece of paper, which looks like receipt paper, with the words "Free Floyd Collins" written on it and stuck under the wiper.

My first instinct was to take out my iPhone and look up name. I got a chill as the Google search results appeared. The words "Cave City" caught my eye first.

You see, we've been planning a weekend trip to Mammoth Cave with another couple. Earlier that day, as I was eating lunch, I decided to look at the Mammoth Cave site and make sure all the attractions were open the weekend we'd be headed there. Cave City is where it is located.

Floyd Collins was a caver who met his fate trying to find a connection between Sand Cave and the more popular Mammoth Cave system. He was trapped in the cave, a media circus and crowd gathered above, and he was eventually found dead--according to legend his body was found with a cave cricket resting on his nose. He was originally buried in the cave when it was determined removing him was too risky; he was moved several times until he was eventually interred under a tombstone that reads "Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known." In addition, he was given proper burial on March 24th, 1989. Today is the 23rd, so I guess you could say it was the last day he was trapped in the cave.

I have to admit I was slightly freaked out when I read all of this. A random note that refers to a folk hero from a region I had just looked up hours before. In a parking lot no one knows we park in.

Now, there are a variety of explanations for this note. One, someone noticed our state park stickers on the back window and thought we'd get the reference (apparantly the phrase is often seen on bumper stickers and t-shirts in Cave City). Two, it's referring to something else--maybe a prisoner--but what reason would they have for putting it on our car? I couldn't find a reference to a case involving someone of that name in Cincinnati. Another possible explanation is that they have the wrong car and this is a crazy coincidence. All I know is I will be visiting several Floyd Collins sites when I go to the area next month.

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Sprout

My husband and I visited Paint Creek State Park over the weekend to take some photos for my book. We headed down to the spillway area, which is my favorite part of the park. There were some early fishermen, some in waders in the cold water. We saw a crow pluck a fish from the rapids. There were signs of life all around--spring begins tomorrow! See this sprout poking up through the dead leaves of fall and winter?

Seip Mound

Visited for a book chapter.

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Lucy

Our friends' sleepy puppy, Lucy.

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Butt Drugs

On a recent trip to Indiana, I spotted this drugstore. How could I not look twice, much less skip taking a photo?

I know it's a bit immature, but in my defense, the company embraces the unusual name. And why not? A little self-deprecation never hurt anyone. If I'm ever in the area again, I'm getting a t-shirt.

This reminds me of a gas station we used to pass with my mom on visits to my grandma. For a long time, it was called Pee-Pee Gas. This site makes it seem like that's still the name, but I haven't seen a sign for years. "Pee-pee" was a phrase we were discouraged from saying as children, but that was the one time it was acceptable. Ah, the innocence of youth.

Love Van

I spotted this van when I walked to the corner for lunch. On the side, it said:

"The Greatest Thing You Will Ever Learn, Is Just to love, and Be Loved in Return"

I love when people paint and/or glue things to vehicles, or when people drive unusual vehicles. I once saw a car in Indiana somewhere, out near the casinos, that had hundreds of little plastic toys glued to it. There used to be a man in my college town who drove a hearse and wore a top hat everywhere he went. Also in my college town...there was an older gray car with messages written all over it in Sharpie Marker...about the government, religion and anything else he seemed to be paranoid about.

Cave Graffiti

Found this graffiti during a tour of Marengo Cave. Most of it seemed old, though some was newer and therefore puzzling since the only way in is on a guided group tour.

I like the way "Oscar" is scrawled. Not that I condone graffiti, but it looks like it was long enough ago to be forgivable. Has that turn-of-the century look to it.

Caves are so delicate and beautiful that I can't imagine doing this now.

Not our Scavenger Hunt

When does curious become nosy?

My husband and I asked ourselves that question on Valentine's Day when we were visiting Big Bone Lick in Kentucky. We had just come from Rabbit Hash in a strange frame of mind, given the unusual characteristics of that small hamlet. On a whim, instead of walking to see the bison herd as we usually do when visiting there, we headed down to the sulphur spring.

After a few wrong turns, we finally smelled, and then saw, the spring. We took some photos and marveled at the briny bubbles coming up from the ground. My husband notices small details, whereas I take in overall impressions, so it was no surprise when he's the one who saw the red rose in the grass right off the trail.

Upon closer inspection, we discovered it had a note wound tightly around the stem and tied with a piece of blue ribbon.

Nobody else was in the parking lot or on the trail, so we decided to take a peek.

The note read:

3.) Jeez 'o peet man!!! Took you long enough to get here!
Pick up the pace!! These flowers DO die you know! Go down*****
and find my sign on the right! Get yourself a flower!

"Don't let my client see you!"

I've omitted the street name in the interest of letting the person who set up this scavenger hunt have some privacy, especially if the next rose was hidden in a location where they work. We put it back exactly as we found it.

We briefly entertained the idea of staying one step ahead of the intended person and drove down the road out of curiosity, but eventually abandoned the hunt when we came to the conclusion this was between two lovers and nothing more. We've seen to many adventure movies.

What would you have done?

Inauguration

2009-02-13 08:34:09 -0500
Originally uploaded by True North Two

This post is a little late, but I just uploaded this photo from my phone.

On Inauguration Day, some coworkers and I gathered in a conference room to work while we tuned in.

I thought this picture was funny...if you look closely, you'll notice we are all live-tweeting. Dorks.

Early Valentine's Day

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