It is with a heavy heart that I begin this chronicle of the Eyeopener Tour of the Ohio River Valley 2005 because, dear reader, I have good news and bad news. In case of the former it was once again a mind boggling adventure as each have been over the past few years. The bad news is that our visionary leader, Larry Harris, the Archbishop of Architecture, the Fomalhaut of Folk Art, the Caravaggio of Churches, the Einstein of Environments, the Marciano of Museums and the Bach of Burial Grounds, is taking a sabbatical in 2006. Picture the Bulls without Jordan, the 49ers sans Montana or the Yankees missing Ruth. It places a heavy burden next year on the rest of the Committee to step up and play our best game without our best player.

But now let us proceed with the matter at hand. Much to our surprise Larry did not arrange the departure wake up call at 4 AM as has been the case in recent years. Instead we were scheduled to leave Houston at the very civilized hour of 6:45 PM on Wednesday, May 25. However, the powers that be who operate the airport decided to only open one runway (well it was Memorial Day weekend and maybe they were on vacation). As a result we had 28 other aircraft ahead of us in the take off queue. After almost a two hour wait (incoming aircraft also shared the same runway) we departed for Pittsburgh, our first destination. On arrival we immediately got to know our travel companions well as the Holiday Inn sent just one van to take all 28 of us to the motel. We christened it the Sardine Shuttle. We also encountered our first driver who seemed to get sadistic pleasure from slamming on the breaks, sending participants and gear lurching hither and yon. It was a foretaste of our meeting with "Braking" Bob, our Kamikaze coach driver.

The rosy fingers of dawn on Thursday indicated we were to be treated to a marvelous day both weather-wise and more importantly for the cornucopia of delights that out tour leader had selected for our viewing pleasure. Leaving Pittsburg in our exhaust, our merry little band headed toward western Pennsylvania, stopping along the way at the historic, 98 year-old Summit Inn in Farmington for a wonderful lunch. We discovered earlier guests here included Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Following a 30-minute drive through verdant hills we arrived at Kentuck Knob, an upscale Usonian Frank Lloyd Wright house built in 1954 in the Laurel Highlands for the I. N. Hagan family. When constructed, there were no trees on this outcropping. However, the Hagans planted 50,000 saplings and now this gem is surrounded by acres of green. Today the home is owned by an Englishman, Lord Peter Palumbo, who collects architecture (Sir Pete must have some serious dinero) and large contemporary sculptures. The woodland trails and meadows surrounding the house are filled with monumental works by Claes Oldenburg, Ray Smith and Andy Goldsworthy to mention a few.

A sumptuous lunch was served at the Pro's Table in New Philadelphia (so named because its founder, John Kinsley, had the city laid out in a grid pattern similar to Philadelphia, PA and named many of its streets the same as in that city). Then it was off to Dover for a visit to the Warther Carvings Museum. In about 1895 young Ernest "Mooney" Warther found a penknife and began whittling to pass the time while tending a herd of cows. By 1920 he was a master carver and began his life work producing 55 ebony, ivory and walnut train carvings. It is impossible to describe the meticulous detail of these railroad trains. You have to see it to believe this man's obsession with perfection. He is to train carving what Rembrandt is to oil painting. During the depths of the Great Depression the New York Central Railroad offered Mooney $50,000 plus $5,000 annually if he would let them keep just one of the models at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. He turned them down. In addition to the museum there are eight acres of gardens, a button house and a factory that produces hand crafted cutlery.

A well-constructed folk art environment can stand the test of time even without an annual maintenance budget. Such is the case of the Hartman Rock Garden in Springfield. Like 25% of Americans Ben Hartman lost his job in 1932 during the Great Depression. Not one to sit by and idle the time away he began construction of this rock garden in the side yard of his home. He built a cathedral complete with statues of saints, castle with a moat and drawbridge, saguaro cactus, Mount Vernon with slave cabins, fish pond and more, then surrounded the whole shooting match with a concrete picket fence complete with gate that is so realistic without seeing some rebar where the fence has been damaged you would swear it was wooden.

Memorial Day morning we awoke to a frog-strangling rain storm but it did nothing to dampen the spirits of our hardy band of travelers. We were met in the lobby by the executive manager of the Netherland Plaza Hotel who took us for an extensive tour of this architectural jewel. Words fail to give justice to this outrageously decorated Art Deco masterpiece. Murals cover the ceiling of the Grand Staircase leading to the Main Lobby whose walls are covered with rare Brazilian rosewood. The two-story Palm Court is surrounded by Louis XV-style paintings, contains a Rookwood Pottery ram's head fountain and gigantic seahorses and a ceiling mural depicting Apollo and Diana. The Continental Room, once the hotel's main dining room contained a skating rink when the hotel opened in 1931. The Hall of Mirrors serves as the grand ballroom. The walls are lined with mirrors backed by 24-carat gold flakes to create a mellow golden glow throughout the room.