As Time Goes By

Time is moving too quickly and I can’t keep up.

The last 8 days is a blur. I camped for three nights at Allegany State Park in western New York. On the way there I saw a turtle making its way along the shoulder of the Southern Tier Expressway. I swam in the Red House Lake, kayaked, and rode my bike around the park. I worked on a jigsaw puzzle while waiting for a Tai Chi class to start, and left it unfinished when I learned the class had been canceled due to the heat. It was really hot.

From Allegany I went to Salamanca to go to the Seneca-Iriquois Cultural Center and decided I’d better get my brakes checked. Sure enough, the noise I heard meant that the rear brakes needed a repair. I lucked out when Bill of B&K Automotive Center said he could fix them that afternoon. It would have been a perfect time to visit the cultural center, so I went there only to discover it was closed for the long weekend. I sat in the casino and watched tennis until Bill picked me up when he was done with he repair. I hit the road by 3, headed to Cleveland, again on the Southern Tier Expressway. This time I saw a bear cub. She was looking at the road from the edge of the forest, then turned and ran back into the woods. Weird, isn’t it, that I’ve been in all kinds of bear habitat and haven’t seen a single one until I see it on the side of a highway.

I had managed to stay cool in the thick of the heat wave, in large part because of my completely shady campsite. I was starting to fret, though, as I considered how hot it would be at the Cleveland Winery when I’d have no shade at all. Worst case would be I’d have to find a hotel room, so I went in to talk with the host and let her know I wasn’t sure I could stay.

Vanessa offered to drive me to the local drug store to buy a fan when I shared my concern; I learned a lot about the area on the drive over. In addition to being a winery and an event venue, the Cleveland Winery is also an animal sanctuary in a neighborhood called Old Broadway. It neighbors a pricier neighborhood (that I think is called Broadway) and houses were getting scooped up, spruced up, and driving up property taxes. Such a familiar story. The houses were going for $250 – $350 thousand, which would be a bargain too good to be true in Seattle. I estimated they’d be over a million dollars back home.

I had some pizza and a glass of wine and got an earful from another patron about her job. She had gushed about how much she loved Seattle, dissed on Cleveland quite a bit, then told me about a day at work that was so toxic she had made the decision to quit and was out with her friends, decompressing through intoxication. The vibe was relaxed and easy and I was glad for the chance to talk with locals.

The fan made the night in the van tolerable and I headed to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park rested enough. The park was only about 25 minutes away and was spread out in the middle of housing developments and strip malls. It was kind of strange to visit a national park in the middle of suburbia, driving through neighborhoods to get from one hike to another. It reminded me of the New River Gorge except that it sits amidst rural areas with houses and businesses separating the park into different sections.

I was still fretting about the heat (expected to get into the mid-90s, and it did) as I’d planned on a bike ride along the Towpath trail which parallels the old Ohio & Erie Canal. This canal connected the Ohio River to Lake Erie beginning in the early 1830s. I knew it would get hot, but I also learned that there were places to get in the Cuyahoga river and the trail was in shade at some points. I had a great ride, and although it was hot, damn hot!, it was worth it. I had wisely made a hotel reservation for the night, knowing I’d need a shower and a break from the stifling heat.

The next day I went back to the park hoping to do two hikes – Brandywine Falls and the Ledges. The former was full so I skipped it and went on to the Ledges. The rock structures were interesting, although perhaps a little underwhelming in contrast to places like Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, Big Bend in Texas, and Canyonlands in Utah.

I had planned on another stay at a winery that night, the 4th of July, but when I got there the place was closed and there was no way I wanted to sit under the blazing sun on another 90+ day. I went to see Disclosure Day (I liked it a lot) in a town called Sheffield with the bonus that the theater was conveniently close to a Cracker Barrel. When I came out of the theater at 10:30 I was in what seemed like a surround sound of fireworks; I could only see a few, but the booms assured me the celebrations were under way.

My next stop was Livonia, MI where I’d spend a couple of nights with a friend who had moved away from Seattle a few years ago. Before getting there, though, I visited Oberlin having gotten some details from my friend Craig who went to Oberlin College. He was right about the pastries at the Blue Rooster. There were several historical markers related to the Underground Railroad. I had forgotten that two of the freedmen who fought with John Brown had travelled from Oberlin to join him in Harper’s Ferry. John Copeland, Jr. and Lewis Sheridan Leary joined the effort to take control of the armory and start a rebellion of enslaved people; Copeland, Jr. was captured, tried, convicted and executed while Leary died in the fighting.

These two men had also participated in the rescue of a man, John Price, who had escaped enslavement a couple of years earlier and lived in Oberlin. They and others who took part in the Oberlin-Wellington rescue stood on their principles and violated the Fugitive Slave Law Act. Also inspiring is that Oberlin College’s President Fairchild hid Mr. Price in his home for a few days after he was rescued until he could get to freedom in Canada. This story, like many others I’ve learned on this trip, remind me that people have banded together and taken risks to do the right thing throughout our history – we have great shoulders to stand on so we can continue to fight for justice.

I’d hoped to see the Toledo Mud Hens game, but the rain changed that plan and I had an early dinner watching Wimbledon before I carried on to Livonia. I went to a yoga class with Denise that made me decide I want to join a studio when I get back; then we went to Ann Arbor to wander around and get together with a meet-up group. Next thing I knew it was time to head to my next stop, the Indiana Dunes National Park. That park, my swing through Milwaukee, a couple of days in Door County, and a couple of days in St. Paul/Minneapolis will likely be in my next post. I’ve got my plans made through South Dakota but I find myself resisting planning the couple of weeks after that. I’m a bit road weary and look forward to being back home, but at the same time I don’t want my trip to end.