I was up at 6 AM and on the road at 7 AM, which is about 2 hours later than my normal Dayton departure.

As I approached Columbus, I decided to take the southern route through Pennsylvania and avoid the construction delays I ran into on I-80 in Western Pennsylvania on Wednesday. In addition, it would be nice to see some new scenery for a change; not exactly new, I’ve been this way before, but it has probably been about 15 years since I did the southern route, so I was up for it.

I was a little surprised by the amount of toll on the Pennsylvania Turnpike ($10.95 to get from the Pittsburgh suburbs to the I-81 exit near Harrisburg), but it was worth it because there were no construction delays.

On I-81 between Harrisburg and Hazleton, the interstate passes up close to a wind power “farm” and I was very impressed with the size of the windmills; they are huge! The scene of a dozen of these huge spinning beasts in the middle of a Pennsylvania forest reminded me of those Martian tripods lumbering through the Hudson Valley in the 2005 remake of War of the Worlds.

Coincidentally, a few minutes after recalling that scary scene, my sister, Gigi, phoned me to tell me about an episode of UFO Hunters that she had just finished watching! (Thanks, Sis, for keeping me company on the long ride home.)

I arrived home 12 hours and 20 minutes after leaving the Dayton Airport Hotel. APRS coverage was good, but seemed spottier on the Pennsylvania Turnpike vs. I-80.

Traffic was heavy in some spots and almost non-existent in other spots. My gas mileage for the 1600-mile roadtrip averaged 32 mile per gallon; not bad for an all-wheel-drive vehicle with 35,000 miles under its belt.

Every year, after I return home exhausted from the Hamvention roadtrip, I swear that I will never do it again, but time will tell.

Did you know that Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general? If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Forrest J. Ackerman died on Thursday.

Mr. Ackerman is noted for coining the term “sci-fi” and amassing a vast collection of science fiction and fantasy memorabilia, but I will remember him as being the brains behind the operation known as Famous Monsters of Filmland, which was one of my favorite periodicals when I was a kid.

Famous Monsters of Filmland was 50 cents per issue at a time when my periodical budget was in the 10-cent comic book and 25-cent Mad magazine range. So, I hesitated splurging on the magazine, although I admired its covers whenever I visited the newsstand.

I built the Aurora model kits of the Universal Studios’ monsters and one time, while opening the box of a new kit, I found a coupon for a free sample issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland. I immediately filled out the coupon and walked it to the mailbox at the corner of Baldwin and Piedmont Streets, then waited patiently for my free issue to arrive.

The free issue finally arrived, but it was not the current issue. Rather, it was a back issue, but it was the mother of all back issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland: the October 1963 special King Kong issue! King Kong was my favorite film and I read that magazine from cover-to-cover so many times that the cover came loose and the pages were dog-eared.

That issue hooked me on Mr. Ackerman’s magazine and I started buying it from the newsstand regularly. However, in my opinion, that special King Kong issue represented the peak of the run of Famous Monsters of Filmland. I did enjoy the subsequent issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland, but none were as good as the special King Kong issue and after a few years, I lost interest and stopped buying it.

Anyway, thank you, Forrest J. Ackerman, for providing a lot of fun for a 12-year-old kid and helping to inspire him to become a writer.

Sure enough; I went to archive.org and found the “Morse Goes to the Movies” Web site archived on March 9, 2001 here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.