Interior of The Homestead Mill in New Hampshire, Ohio. (Credit: Ken Drenten)

By Ken Drenten

It’s a new year! I began my online journey on March 16, 2023, with my first public post on Dusty Tires. From the start, I’ve tried to make this not about myself, but about all the wonderful and unusual places to visit in my home state of Ohio, and to support small to medium sized businesses here.

In 2023, the site and its accompanying blog had 4,536 visits from 1,579 unique visitors from the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, China, Philippines, Australia, India and Germany. I thank you for your 35 subscriptions and 40 comments you have have added, and I welcome more.

I have posted information about hundreds of places on 53 pages in Dusty Tires, and I will continually add more. Some of the more recent pages I’ve added are about Christmas and holiday-related places, antique malls and shops, Native American historical sites and independent bookstores.

For 2024, I’m planning to add pages about more types of fun and interesting places, including bowling alleys, places to enjoy winter recreation, where to go to make your own pottery and glassware and more. I’m thinking about a number of others, too.

To support all these pages of information, in 2023 I wrote 43 posts about many different places, from ice cream stands and candy shops (not surprisingly the most popular places of interest to readers) to general stores, gristmills and everything in between. This year, I’ll continue to write at least one post a week — more often if I can.

I’ll also be making more efforts to expand the reach of this little spot on the web to connect with more readers, and with more places about which I’m writing. The owner of the Spread Eagle Tavern and Inn in Hanoverton was excited and welcoming when I told him I wanted to feature his business (blog post Dec. 4), and I hope to make more connections like this in the future. But I’m just one person, so it’s going to be a gradual effort.

However, I cannot really say it’s been a one-person effort. My wife Sandy has supported me with her love, patience and feedback while I’ve typed away at the kitchen table at all hours of the day and night, and my friends and fellow writers in the Kirkersville Writers Club, especially Joel Linnabary, have given me their friendship, feedback and encouragement. Thanks to all of you!

The whole experience has been fun for me, and I hope educational and enjoyable for readers and information-seekers. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to hear of someone who’s used this resource to find somewhere to try out. Ohio really does have a lot to offer for those who take the time to find out what’s available. If you have ideas for places and areas you’d like me to delve into, please send me a comment.

Happy New Year in 2024 and I’ll be continuing to write more about ways to get your tires dusty (and snowy) in the Buckeye state!

Ken Drenten is creator and manager of Dusty-Tires.com, a travel blog for out-of-the-ordinary places in Ohio.

Subscribe to Dusty Tires and receive a weekly email with the latest blog article. It’s free and ad-free!

All rights reserved, copyright Dusty Tires (dusty-tires.com), 2024.