Mountains, some farm country and a "great" lake catapulted us forward across the continent.
As we turned out onto Route 6, the Alleghenies lined our route and rode us into Ohio. As 6 veered south, we reluctantly waved goodbye to our delightful guide for a day and headed west on 97 to catch up with our good friend from past trips, Route 20. Riding the rim of Lake Erie we broke through to Ohio at Conneaut.
Coasting toward Cleveland, we passed up numerous lakeside parks, overflowing with happy Independence Day picnickers, and finally found a solitary table overlooking Erie. Here we shared our wine and cheese and looked out over an ocean of water while we melted a little more into our trip. Friendly birds decorated Rascal as we ate. Finding a shady parking spot isn't always the best idea!
Our first taste of Cleveland was not so sweet. Poverty had captured this part of the city and left it blighted with vacant stores, graffiti scarred buildings and rotting tenements. And then the anomaly of class structure blatantly rose from the edge of the lake. Our tires crossed only one street and we rode into a world of affluence. Iron gates framed mansions, some akin to royal estates on this stretch of Lake Rd. Carriage houses and servants quarters dotted the properties. The juxtaposition of poverty and wealth was so definitive it seemed surreal.
Past Cleveland, we headed west to the Ohio Turnpike where we made some serious tracks to end our day in Angola, Indiana, just south of the Michigan border. Rascal was 50,000 miles old today and straining at the bit to reach 100!
Independence Day has passed and as I hear yet another round of fireworks, I am again reminded of how truly free we are. Perhaps our country is not Shangri-la, but it is my paradise and as close to perfect as any other place on earth. God truly has blessed America.
An Allegheny sunset
When it rains it pours... Salt mines on Lake Erie
A milestone for Rascal - and she's only 2 years old!
Proud to be an American
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