This off-the-wall travel guide presents an Ohio odder than imagined. It wastes no time describing Cedar Point or suggesting scenic bike rides through the Hocking Hills; instead, this entertaining travel companion directs out-of-state adventurers and Buckeye state residents to the home of the world's largest cockroach, an Amish SUV, Egg Shell Land, a two-headed calf, and the Accounting Hall of Fame. Ohio is depicted as the birthplace of bar codes, Airstream trailers, televangelism, Paul Lynde, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the banana split. Odd stories abound, and tales of Ohio as the only state where Jerry Springer has been elected the mayor of a major city, where a brick outhouse is on the National Register of Historic Places, and where Buster the Dog voted for president accompany the site-seeing suggestions. Plenty of photos and maps ensure that this guide is as practical as it is wacky when seeking out wonders such as the Great Pumpkin Watertower, Goodyear’s World of Rubber, and Bogart and Bacall's wedding site, then relaxing with a brew at the World’s Longest Bar. “One irresistible guidebook.”  — Chicago Tribune on Oddball Illinois “Thoroughly researched and a hysterical read.”  — Washington Post on Oddball Minnesota “[Pohlen’s] prose makes reading the Oddball guides a delight.”  — Salt Lake Tribune Jerome Pohlen is the author of Oddball Colorado , Oddball Florida , Oddball Illinois , Oddball Indiana , Oddball Minnesota , and Oddball Wisconsin . He is a regular travel commentator for 848 on WBEZ, the Chicago affiliate of National Public Radio, and was the recipient of the Illinois Broadcasters Associated Press Award for Best Essay 2002. He lives in Chicago. Oddball Ohio A Guide to Some Really Strange Places By Jerome Pohlen Chicago Review Press Incorporated Copyright © 2004 Jerome Pohlen All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-55652-523-0 Contents INTRODUCTION, 1. THE NORTHWEST, Map of the Northwest, 2. THE NORTHEAST, Map of the Northeast, 3. CLEVELAND AREA, 4. THE SOUTHWEST, Map of the Southwest, 5. CINCINNATI AREA, 6. THE SOUTHEAST, Map of the Southeast, 7. COLUMBUS AREA, 8. GUY TOUR, EPILOGUE, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, RECOMMENDED SOURCES, INDEX BY CITY NAME, INDEX BY SITE NAME, CHAPTER 1 THE NORTHWEST Hard as it is to believe today, Ohio almost went to war with Michigan in 1835 ... over Toledo. Yep, because of a misdrawn map used when Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1803, a six-mile-wide strip of land stretching from Lake Erie at Toledo to the present-day Indiana border was in dispute. Michiganders pointed to the boundary laid out by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which clearly gave them Toledo. Soldiers from both future states were headed for Toledo to do battle when President Andrew Jackson stepped in. He forced Michigan to relinquish its rightful claim to the land, and in exchange Michigan received the Upper Peninsula and statehood in 1837. If Ohioans consider the case closed, some Michigan residents do not. As recently as 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court heard 170-year-old arguments as to which state owned the land. The justices sided with Ohio. Whichever state you sympathize with, one thing seems clear: a lot of outsiders still want a piece of northwest Ohio. And why shouldn't they? It's home to the first man to walk on the moon, the bathtub from the USS Maine, a couple of dead presidents, and the first outhouse to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places ... and that's just for starters! Jealous, Michigan? Archbold Bathroom Museum First things first: did you remember to visit the Bathroom Museum? Because we're not going to stop once we get on the road.... Actually, the Voight Collection of antique bathroom fixtures at Sauder Village isn't so much a museum as a display within a museum, but it's got a lot more on historic plumbing than you're likely to see anywhere else in Ohio. There are 954 artifacts in the collection, including sinks, tubs, faucets, piping, sitz baths, toilets, and more. It's kind of like going to Home Depot, but a century ago. There's more to Sauder Village than the toilets. This working historic community is filled with costumed guides who will show you how to weave a broom out of broomcorn, churn butter by hand, shoe a horse, and make a dress out of a flour sack — skills that will come in handy if the economy keeps going the way it has recently. Sauder Village, 22611 Rte. 2, Archbold, OH 43502 (800) 590-9755 or (419) 446-2541 E-mail: info@saudervillage.org Hours: May-October, Monday-Saturday 10 A.M.-5 P.M., Sunday 1-5 P.M. Cost: Adults $11.50, Kids (6-16) $5.50 www.saudervillage.org Directions: Head north out of town on Rte. 66/2, then east on Wauseon-Perkins Rd. (the continuation of Rte. 2) for one mile. Where's Wonders? Bellefontaine America's First Concrete Streets Automobile drivers across the nation owe a bunch of Ohio clean-freaks a debt of gratitude. In order to decrease the amount of