Well, that's about it for this mid-summer adventure. The next
one will probably be the 3rd annual Hershey run (Kemptville to Smith's Falls) in Mike's
boat. I know you're just dying to check that one out.
September, 1997
I made the trip to Cleveland on my own to attend Carri Gerber's
wedding on Sept. 20th. I was sure I was going to bore myself to death with a 9 hour solo
drive. On the contrary, the trip went quite smoothly and quickly. By the time I arrived at
Don's store, it seemed like only a couple of hours had passed instead of 9.
I did have my notebook with me and while I had stopped for gas
and a coke, I connected it up to my cell phone and set it to receive faxes. I had
pre-arranged with someone to send me a fax at noon to see if all this whiz-bang techy
stuff would work. Well, the software answered the phone and detected that there was indeed
a fax being sent however, it didn't stay connected long enough for the complete fax to be
received. At 75 mph, it guess the cell dropped the call part way through. I think that had
I been stationary, it may have worked.
A quick note about the Pennsylvania speed limit noted in the
above adventure. I made a mental note to check the speed limit as you entere Pennsylvania
from the East (travelling West) and it is 65 mph! Yep, that's right 65, different from
entering from the West (travelling East). I watched it as I drove through and
approximately half way it changed to 60 and finally again to 55 just before the Ohio
border where it changes back to 65. Weird. It guess it may be set by the county so that
they can extract their own fines etc. If you are going that way, watch for it!
Dateline: Oct. 16 to Oct. 19, 1997
Well, who'd a thunk it, but I made yet another trip to
Indianapolis (and Cleveland) for an urgently needed MRI. Bob had injured his knee and had
been told that there was a 10 to 12 MONTH waiting period for having an MRI done here at
home. And of course no specialist or orthopoedic surgeon would do anything without the
MRI. Who wants to hobble around on a severly painful knee for 12 months?
Anyway, Bob called and asked if it would be possible, I checked
and once we were agreed on a day and plan, Bob gave the call..."Road Trip Otis!"
We left Bob's place in Stittsville at 7:00 pm Thursday evening
and hit the road. We stopped just short of Watertown for the first fuel stop and got to
Syracuse at close to 10:20 pm. I'd have to check my log but these times are close enough
for government work. After a pee break and driver switch somewhere on I-90 in New York, we
were off again and got to Buffalo at approximately 12:30 am. This is not too shabby as our
rule-of-thumb times from other trips are about 3 hours from Syracuse to Buffalo and then 3
hours again to Cleveland. And, that is what we did. We hit Cleveland at 3:30 am and
continued past, this time taking the same route that Lee and I took on the return trip
last time. It proved to be at least a half-hour shorter with us arriving in Indianapolis
at 8:30 am our time (7:30 their time). We went to the hotel looking for an early check-in
as we had just completed 13.5 hours on the road after being up all day at work. For me it
was 24.5 hours with only about two 15 minute snoozes in the passenger seat. Needless to
say, we were pretty zonked.
After a few hours of sleep we were awake enough to start feeling
a bit hungry. Somewhere around 1:30 pm we started out on an exploratory tour. We were
looking for electronic stores or places that sold cellular accessories as well as
someplace to have a snack. We ended up in an older neighbourhood and finally found an
Arby's. I say 'older' but you could say that Bob and I sort of 'stood out'. Although it
was noticeable we didn't worry too much about it.
Well, we didn't have any luck at any of the electronic or
department stores we checked out so we headed back towards the hotel to make Bob's 5:00
o'clock appointment.
Unlike Lee's experience in "the Tube", Bob was not in
any more pain because of having to keep his leg still. The series of 'pictures' was also a
bit shorter than Lee's at about 30 minutes. Actually, I think I noticed Bob dozing off for
a few minutes while the shots were being taken.
Looking at the monitor (and the pictures afterward) it was
suggested that Bob had a problem with the medial meniscus. Well, the pain made it obvious
that there was problem, the pictures just make it visible and locatable.
After the MRI, as with Lee, we took off over to Hooters for a
burger and a couple of pitchers of beer. And again, that cold beer and the scenery was
pretty good. Actually we had a bit of a floor show. We all looked over at the sound of a
stool falling to see an older man collapsing onto the floor. It was as if his bones turned
to Jello, he just 'flowed' to the floor. The staff was very quickly by his side and
calling for an ambulance. He came to a minute or so later and was looking a little peaked
but the waitress suggested that he sit up in a chair. Well, that lasted about 40 seconds
and he just 'flowed' out of the chair and passed out again. This time they left him on the
floor until the paramedics arrived. Ten or fifteen minutes later when the paramedics left,
he followed them out under his own power. Bob and I headed back to the hotel and crashed
(quite heavily) about 11:00.
Saturday morning we got up (a bit lazily I must admit), fueled
up the Big Red Truck and hit the road towards Cleveland, while keeping a watchful eye for
a Denny's for breakfast.
The drive went well and we found our way to Medina which is
about 20 minutes south of Cleveland on I-71. We headed into town to look for more 'toy'
stores and ended up going to A.I. Root to pick up some candle supplies (Bob) and a candle
or two. On the way out of town we pass Paul Koontz's house and I suggested popping in to
ask if he knows some good electronic stores. When I knocked on the door I heard his wife
(Peggy) ask "Who is that?". Paul said, "It's Bill." Then after a
couple of seconds, "Hey, what the hell is he doing here?" As I had just been
there 4 weeks previously and talked about coming back for the Indoor Champs at the end of
November, he was a little surprised to see me a month early. Shock value can be fun.
Paul suggested that he show us around town looking for our 'toy'
stores as he had to run into town to pick up some hoses at the local Sears. Hey, any
excuse to go looking for gadgets right? Well the search was un successful as we couldn't
find anyone who carried spare batteries for Bob's cell phone. It is a new model and I
guess the accessories are not readily available yet. Other than that, we had a good visit
with Paul and then hit the road towards Cleveland to meet Don for an Outback dinner.
We eventually got a table and enjoyed yet another great meal of
charred mammal. During our mini pig out I remembered a place Don had told me about that
had good corned beef. I mentioned it to Bob who, while still enjoying his prime rib
dinner, perked up immediately. Apparently he is a corned beef fan.
Plans were made and directions divulged and after leaving the
Outback, we headed over to Luna's to pick up a couple of sandwiches (and apple dumplings)
for the road trip back. We left Don's store and hit the highway towards Pennsylvania and
the whopping Outlet Mall Paul had told us about.
The reason this Outlet Mall sounded interesting is that it had a
Sony store in it. It also had a Black & Decker and Chicago Cutlery and probably a
hundred more. What can I say, gadgets, power tools, and cutlery. No contest.
Well, to cut this a little shorter, (I know, too late right?)we
got there after hours and decided that waiting until 11:00 am for their Sunday opening was
a little too late. We still had an 8 hour trip ahead of us, so at the stroke of midnight
we shuffled off towards Buffalo. We did end up making it to Syracuse at about 5:00 am but
it was pretty crazy with very dense patches of fog and the most deer I've ever seen in my
life. Unfortunately, most of them had been hit on the highway. Happily, we saw about 7 or
8 live ones as well. They are much cuter that way.
We had to find someplace to crash as we were both wiped at this
point. We stayed at the Quality Inn and at about 10:30 headed off to the Carousel Mall in
search of the ever elusive Sony Cell Phone Battery. Nothing there, so we headed North
towards Watertown to extend the search (and pick up some lunch). No trip to Watertown is
without a visit to the Price Chopper for junk food and a hot sauce search. And again in
Ogdensburg as we reached the border on the way home.
After a stop at Mike's in Kemptville we got back to Bob's at
7:00pm Sunday. All in all not a bad adventure. Especially since it wasn't really planned.
This will sound a little stupid but I'm looking forward to doing
the 9 hour drive to Cleveland again at the end of November. It may well be the last
running of the Indoor Champs, hosted by NORCAR. I guess I'll have to find another reason
to get down there to visit.
November 26th
Dave Ede and I headed off to Cleveland for the 17th and maybe
last, annual U.S. Indoor Championships. We left Dave's at about 5:50 am and headed for the
border at Ogdensburg after a supply stop at the duty free shop. Gotta take that Canadian
beer to the less fortunate :-). We had discussed and decided to try to hit that big outlet
mall in Grove City Pennsylvania on the way to Cleveland.
We got to the mall about 4:00 pm approx. and spent about an hour
and a half looking through the Sony and Black & Decker stores mostly. There were two
other small places we looked into, one for die cast cars, and another for sunglasses for
Dave. There were some good deals and some not so good deals to be had. I'll have to make a
trip there one day just for the purpose of surveying the rest of the hundred or so outlet
stores. If you are intersted, it is located 1 exit South of I-80 on I-79 at Grove City
Pensylvania. If you are travelling South on I-79, take the Grove City exit up the ramp to
the lights, turn right and take your first left into the entrance. Unless it's dark, you
really can't miss this place, it is huge. Did I mention it was big?
Anyway, the weather was turning nasty with dark clouds zooming
across the sky and rain that didn't know if it should be freezing or not, so we hit the
highway towards Cleveland. It was a little longer than I remembered (I must have dozed
when Bob and I did it) so it is not the same distance as the regular route to Cleveland.
But if you have the time and want to bargain hunt, it certainly is something to see.
June 26, 1998
I took off on another solo trip to Cleveland well, Medina
actually. I headed down to help my friend Paul run an annual Go Kart race in the
Medina town square. It is positively erie how much the town square looks like the
town in Back to the Future. I'll post a picture or two when I get the chance to get
them off my video camera.
This was the third year that Paul has organized this event.
The competitors come from businesses around town and from out of town. There
are several of these Mini Grand Prix races held around the area. The entry fees go
to running the race (costs) and then, in this particular case, to the Historical Society
(I believe) so that they can restore and maintain the older buildings in the town. I
must say, it is a gorgeous little town. It is about 20 minutes or so, south of
Cleveland on I-71. If you are in the area, stop in. There are some very nice
sites and stores. Medina is the home of (supposedly) the largest K-Mart in the US.
They also have a store called Strictly Bears. You guessed it, stuffed bears
and bears only. They do have a web page, I'll put in the address when I remember to
dig up their card.
The trip went well until I remembered that I left most of my
clothes hanging in the garment bag in my room at home. This was about 500 KM into
the trip, so it was a little late to turn back. I decided to make a run to the huge
outlet mall in Pennsylvania to pick up some shirts etc. on the way. I had left at
6:20 am and got to the border (duty free shop) when they opened at 7:00. I was at
the outlet mall in PA at 2:25 pm. (only one potty stop) the trip odometer read 799.8 KM
and that was on one tank. So I did 800 KM in 8 hours, on one tank. Not bad!
Actually, until the trip back (807KM) it was the best mileage I had ever done on
one tank.
The racing was fun. Paul had recruited me to be the
'official' starter. After a crash course in what flag was what, (other than the
chequered, green, white, black and red) I figured I was ready to go. With the help
of the crack team on the timing stand (Pat, Eric and Don) we got things done.
Until next entry.....
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