My back hurts! I can feel a golf ball on the right-side of my lower back. It must have been the whole being out of shape & sleeping in the car combination. Despite the pain, I took to the wheel again and drove us out of Allegheny National Forest. The air was cold and damp, but the sun started to warm up the top of the water and created a beautiful fog over the top of the lake. I was sad to leave the area. It’s beautiful, and I would make this a regular hangout if I lived in the area.
At about 11 am we crossed the Ohio state border and instantly things changed. Rolling hills of forest green were replaced with flat lands of corn fields, sandy and tan colored, not yet turned over for the coming planting season. At noon we stopped at a park to have lunch before entering the city of Cleveland.
The breeze, green grass, and warm sun made it too difficult to move on, so we decided to lay out the sleeping bag and take a nap under the shade of a norfolk pine. At 3pm, well rested and relaxed, we drove into Cleveland. The eastern part of Cleveland was a ghetto (at least what we saw of it on route 6). 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers an hour) speed limit really gives you a chance to look around. Many fast food food joints and stores had gone out of business and we saw exactly three white people: a well-dressed man walking into a health clinic and an acid wash jean couple at the White Castle – Church’s Chicken drive thru (which Mateo insisted on going through, by the way).
One of the things I remember about living in Ohio was the existance of vitural segregation. There was the black neighborhood and then there was the white neighborhood, with the occassional asian (student) or mexican (restaurant worker). I can’t say my experience this time was much different.
Downtown Cleveland had a few neat buildings and some cool bridges, followed by mile after mile of sterile, expensive mansion-like homes on the water. Of note: not a single car in the driveway except for those of the lawn maintenance companies.
At last we made it out of Ohio. Yes, we were eager to get out of Ohio.
Hello Indiana! First thoughts: maybe Ohio isn’t so bad. Second thought: no wonder people like watching Nascar and eating KFC bowls… there is nothing out here! We were back into the land of corn and HEAT. My goodness. It was 75 degrees after dark. We went from freezing our fat butts off to sweating. The sweat, the back pain, the whole of everything had us both insisting we stay in a motel/hotel. We ended up choosing one based on the fact that it had free internet, a hot tub and was pet friendly. La Quinta Inn turned out to be perfect. What strikes me every time I enter a U.S. hotel is the size of the rooms. I am so used to tiny quarters in Europe, shared bathrooms, no amenities, etc. It, again, seemed excessive, but it was an indulgence that (this time) I adored and took full advance of. The carpet was worn, the windows in the pool area had bug poop on them, and the towels were rough, but the hot tub was the hottest one I’ve ever been in! The indoor pool was also heated, but just enough to make it enjoyable. The beds were comfortable, I had a ton of pillows to choose from, and we both slept like logs. At 9:30am I opened one eye and realized we had slept through breakfast. Normally we wouldn’t have minded, considering we can make coffee in the room and have a stash of supplies in the car. However, last night we noticed a waffle iron in the breakfast room, so we knew this continental breakfast was a step up. We threw on shoes and a sweater to cover the fact I wasn’t wearing a bra and hoped they still were in business. To our joy, there was a senior convention going on downstairs. With everyone moving slowly and managing wheelchairs and walkers in cramped quarters, breakfast hours had been extended that morning. Who stops serving breakfast at 9am anyway?!
-CB
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