SHADES OF DELIVERANCE--

We bounced and wiggled and crunched our way down the snake-bit roads of southern Ohio looking for the Buckeye Furnace; Jackson County’s major, historical attraction.

Several times I saw our square-dance companions in the following car disappear in the clouds of dust we were creating.

It was one of those rolling country roads with no evidence of utility lines. The occasional, modest, hill-side home often looked like it didn’t expect to have electric service; or garbage service either.

I began to be concerned about that road closed sign we had seen several miles back; hoping that obstruction to our progress did not occur before our destination arrived.

Wrong.

We nuzzled up to a pile of concrete debris which convincingly stopped all vehicle progress (above photo) right before an ageless covered bridge. Eight of us wandered around what was turning into a dilemma—which by definition, of course, is a choice between unsuitable alternatives.

Our destination was directly on the other side of the bridge and our choices were to leave our cars parked where they were and walk to the historic site visible beyond, or, retrace our arrival route until we could be GPS’ed around what looked to be a miles-long detour.

Our decision was made when we discovered the sound of roosters behind a nearby, ah, dwelling, was coming from individual birds secured to individual houses--a chicken domicile that looked suspiciously like a cock-fighters boot camp.

That prompted Nancy Meinzer to share; she was having visions of the movie Deliverance and, by her prompt return to the vehicle nudged us to decide this circumstance really was not the best place to leave two SUVs unattended.

We bit the bullet, so to speak, and meandered our way over a course of much more cooperative roads to our destination. Please stop by Saturday for the story of this fascinating slice of Ohio history.

In this post-detour photo Russ and Jane Matz, Roberta Karger, Sue Brooks and Nancy Meinzer head for a restored country store that once served as the commercial center of this mid-1800s industrial site. Eight of us were in Jackson County for a weekend of square dancing and enjoyed this outing before Saturday night’s dance.