Postcard From Elburn, Illinois

Eddie Gaedel Pub and Grill in Elburn, Illinois

This is a little town we passed through on our way to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  We stopped for lunch at a place called ‘Eddie Gaedel Pub and Grill.  Who was Eddie Gaedel?  Glad you asked!

Eddie Gaedel was the smallest player to appear in a Major League Baseball game.

Gaedel gained recognition in the second game of a St. Louis Browns doubleheader on August 19, 1951. Weighing 65 pounds (29 kg) and standing 3 feet 7 inches (109 cm) tall, he became the shortest player in the history of the Major Leagues. Gaedel made a single plate appearance and was walked with four consecutive balls before being replaced by a pinch-runner at first base. His jersey, bearing the uniform number “​1⁄8”, is displayed in the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck, in his 1962 autobiography Veeck – As in Wreck, said of Gaedel, “He was, by golly, the best darn midget who ever played big-league ball. He was also the only one.”

More at Wikipedia

Downtown Elburn, Illinois

Hop on Hops

Hops plants growing in a field near Greenford, Ohio

The daughter and son-in-law of friends of ours in Columbiana, Ohio – in addition to being a occupational therapist and family physician, respectively – like to play around with farmer stuff.  They are currently growing hops in their front yard and have a bee hive in their back yard.  That’s way more ambition than I had, even when I was working!  I think they are hoping to brew beer from the hops, but I don’t know their plan for honey.  Maybe mead?  We’ll have to see.  We visited their place while they were off at work in order to check out the progress and to take a few photos.

Bee hive near Greenford, Ohio

Postcard From Emlenton, Pennsylvania

The Emlenton Bridge over the Allegheny River near Emlenton, PA

The Emlenton Bridge is a steel-deck truss bridge that spans the Allegheny River just south of the town of Emlenton, Pennsylvania, United States at approximately mile marker 44.4 on I-80. With a height of 270 feet (82 m) above the river, the Emlenton Bridge was the highest bridge in the Interstate Highway System when completed in 1968 (The Lewiston-Queenston Bridge is higher but is technically an international bridge, not part of the Interstate Highway system). This record was held until 1971 with the opening of the Fred G. Redmon Bridge near Selah, Washington.

The Emlenton Bridge remains the highest road bridge in Pennsylvania; with an overall span of 1,668 feet (508 m) it was the largest bridge constructed as part of the Keystone Shortway project. With the completion of the Interstate System, it is likely that the Emlenton Bridge will remain the fifth-highest bridge in the system for a significant time, behind the Glade Creek Bridge in West Virginia, the Pine Valley Creek Bridge in California, the Galena Creek Bridge in Nevada, and the aforementioned Redmon Bridge.

An interesting fact about the Emlenton Bridge is that due to its size, and geography of the land, it is actually located in three different Pennsylvania counties. One side of the bridge is in Venango County, the other in Clarion County, but the southwest abutment resides in Butler County.

(From Wikipedia)

Goin’ Fishing

Solitude – Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

It may be a dicey time to try and get out to other parts of the country, but Kathy & I are fixin’ to get back on the road again.  We’ll be headed to Ohio and beyond for a few days.  So I’m going to end the post-a-day I’ve been doing and concentrate on taking photos and spending time with family and friends.  You may see an occasional postcard from time to time.

“Throw this one back “(as soon as I get a photo). Baby hammerhead shark

One thing I did do, for anyone who is interested, is post a gallery of photos from our recent trip to the beach: 2020-06 Hilton Head

Casting Call – Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Photographs and stuff!