Upscale Travel Writers--Get Your Pen and Pad Ready!

by Shelley Bueche

There’s no stinkin’ room service, no swimming pool, no television or even electricity, but heck, what do you expect for $5 a night?  For $5 a night or at a bargain monthly rate of $25, a cave in Salmon, Ohio, can be all yours.  Richard Zimmerman, aka “Dugout Dick,” a cave dweller himself, came up with the concept.  The caves are 100 feet in the “hillside, bolstered by rocks, peeled fir poles (exactly what are ‘peeled fir poles’?), mud and straw. Cave accommodations do include a mattress and a wood stove.  Believe it or not there have even been a few overseas visitors to stay in the caves.  But even Zimmerman admits that overnight in his caves is not for everyone.  Yet, ever the optimist, he anticipates that business will pick up anytime now.