Cleveland Rocks

Crossing cities poses some unique challenges as well as opportunities. Cleveland will end up being about a three day effort when it's all said and done, but today, the opportunities made the challenges worth the effort.

My friend and work colleague Nick has been hyping Cleveland from the day that I met him.  Frankly, I was a little worried that the city wouldn’t life up to the stories, but today, I’m forced to admit that my concern was wildly misplaced.

Home of the Browns with some firefighter city pride leading the way.

Cleveland has it all.  Good food, big sports, and a cultural scene that includes a thriving arts community and, of course the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Sixteen miles of walking and experiencing this great city at a pedestrian pace couldn’t even dampen my enthusiasm for how the pilgrimage turned out today.

After a more than pleasant ten-mile saunter through Euclid and along the shores of Lake Erie, we found ourselves in one of the many Metropark complexes that line the shoreline and provide public access to the lake.

Ever since we ran across the Walleye Association in, I believe, New York, my Uncle Bill recommended we find a walleye and eat it.  I've been looking for an opportunity to sample the pescatarian delight, and today, we found that opportunity.

Down on the shores of Lake Erie, the East 55 Bar and Grill carried their signature crispy walleye sandwich on the menu. Now, I'm not normally a fish person. I like my protein brought in on the hoof, but suggestions are suggestions so we decided to give it a shot.  

Crispy Walleye Sandwich - East 55 Bar and Grill - Cleveland, OH

Tasty.  That's the only way to describe it. I'm not sure if it's the most tasty fresh water fish, but walleye is certainly in the running.  Thanks for pushing me out of my hamburger comfort zone Uncle Bill. It was a delightful experience.

When you walk to Cleveland from Rhode Island, you'd be a fool to stroll casually past the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame without poking your nose in the door.  I almost made that mistake today, but a friend pushed me in the right direction and we took a little time to pay appropriate homage to the masters of Rock.

A work colleague of mine and I have had a running debate about what genre of Rock & Roll is represented by the music of AC/DC.  Now I know that my opinion is not the most popular one, but I have consistently argued that AC/DC fell into the "Hair Band" category of Rock & Roll. Don't get me wrong. I love them, and the album Back in Black is clearly a true gem, but I’ve held my ground.

Angus Young’s AC/DC costume and initial draft of Highway to Hell lyrics clearly displayed in the Heavy Metal section at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Earl B.  I was wrong.  The curators of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame place AC/DC front and center in the Heavy Metal genre of the craft of Rock & Roll.  I hope you can accept my very public admission of error and acknowledgement of your enduring correctness in this particular matter.

Please accept this photo of Bruce Springsteen's acoustic guitar as a token of peace between us.

Bruce Springsteen’s Acoustic Guitar circa 2005 - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - Cleveland, OH

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was epic. Walking here from Rhode Island made the experience that much sweeter.  It's almost as if we're actually on a real pilgrimage with visits to the shrines of America along the way.  Good stuff.

Finally, the art scene.  If you’ve been following along, you know that I love finding murals or other displays of public art to photograph while in cities.  Our route today through Cleveland proved to be a target rich environment.

Prince and a Donut - Cleveland, OH

From the larger than life paintings on I-90 overpasses, to the very small but poinent messages of grief and loss, the city covered all the bases.

Trying to Fix a Broken Heart - Cleveland, OH

Thanks Cleveland!  You've exceeded all expectations!

Big Waters

Having a background in the Navy, I’ve grown a fondness for “Big Waters.”  I’ve spent over half of my life near the ocean, but in my book the Great Lakes certainly fall into the category of Big Waters.

These are places where the land meets a great body of water, and you’re unable to perceive an obvious impact from the other side of the expanse.  The water stretches to the horizon and beyond.

Thunderstorm rolling in from Lake Erie

These waters produce their own weather, and the weather drives the waves.  They have a life of their own. Where they meet the land, there is conflict, but in the end there is a balance that’s retained for years.  Sand may move from one spot to the other, but the water and the land maintain and active but still stable meeting point.

It’s a boundary area on earth, and at these boundaries the curtain between the physical world and the spiritual world thins just a little.  These are places where real magic happens. Old magic driven by the ancient and perpetual powers of the Universe herself.

Today we were blessed with visiting this border zone.  We saw a thunderstorm from and roll into the lake. The land took the water and returned it to its origin.  Sand flowed from the land into the water with the rain, and the waves washed up more sand from the water to the beach. Undeniable action and movement, yet, the balanced was maintained.

Being away from the ocean, I’m grateful for moments like these where I can once again gaze out upon the Big Waters.  They are a place where it is easier to reach out and touch the hand of the divine.

Jay's n2n observation(s), May 23, 2019

We reached Willoughby OH this evening.   We achieved only 13.25 miles today. It started off rainy, then cleared off and got hot.  We're both tired -- we've walked 17 days straight and are doing pretty well, but... We've walked 706 miles thru today.  Our actual route deviates from the plan as a consequence of our making adjustments based on current conditions and local knowledge.  The original route plan was/is s Google Maps product. Josh asked for the shortest walking route n2n. The plan was adjusted to keep us in the USA, no Canadian legs. Google apparently used a rate of 3 mph, which we have not been achieving.  We think a major factor is the 25# packs -- we didn't train with them. We may develop the strength and endurance to achieve it, but our timeline is also limited. Can we recover the lost area under the curve? We'll soon be able to make a determination.  Getting late to the mountains of Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon is a major factor, consideration and concern. C'est le vie !!!

Cities

Strolling through cities have been a challenge for both Dad and I.  On the one hand, you certainly have relatively easy access to anything you could possibly need during the course of a cross country walk. This single advantage is not a trivial one.  When you’re carrying as little as we carry, sometimes it’s a huge moral boost to pop into a convenience store and grab a nice chilled bottle of seltzer out of the refrigerator, drain it before the condensation even begins to form on the outside, and toss the bottle in the handy garbage can right beside the door.  Our trip to Rochester and the REI there probably saved the pilgrimage a couple of cities back.

On the other hand, challenges abound when traversing the urban environment.  I like to take photos of landscapes, and inspiration is often hard to come by in the concrete wilderness.  It’s there if you’re patient, but it’s not all around like it is in the more rural areas we’ve traversed.

You can find good landscapes in the city, but you’ve got to be a little patient.

One of the other challenges is the atmosphere.  Having spent weeks out in the countryside, the pervasive competition that seems to come part and parcel with large human populations living together is particularly acute and noticeable.  It seems like people are more reserved….more skeptical in the cities. Making that comfortable, easy connection takes a little more effort….a little more time.

We’re on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio this evening.  Tomorrow we’ll really start the traverse through the main body of the city.  It’s the last truly big city we’ll cross on our path toward the west coast. We’ll pass through the outskirts of Chicago, but we’ll be pretty far out.

I wonder if I’ll miss the hustle and bustle, the art, music, and unpredictable things that emerge when large numbers of people gather.  After the next three or four days, I suppose we’ll start the process of finding that out.

A Tough Slog with Some Great People Right at the End

Sometimes the Universe understands just what you need.  

We really love it when people take time out of their busy lives to pull over and ask us what we're doing.

Today, it was just the kind of boost we needed after a day of a little rain, a lot of traffic, a dearth of shoulder space on the road, and at least three places to stay that didn't pan out.

Thank you Gunar and Jenny!  You put smiles on our faces after a bit of a challenging slog.

US-20 in Western Ohio Could Benefit from some Military Presses

Sometimes the best thing you can say about a day is that you accomplished what you set out to accomplish.  Today was a little like that, although we met three great folks who offered us some encouraging words. Damien, Harry, and Rin...you were the highlight of the day.

We did finish things out at our target destination, Ashtabula, OH.  I also learned that this is the hometown of Urban Meyer, head coach of The Ohio State Buckeyes football team.

Entering Ashtabula - Hometown of Urban Meyer

The rest of the day, it felt like the scenery consisted mostly of the endangered American strip mall.

It seemed like we walked through more than our fair share of these today.

Of course, the walking was better than that, but we’re on a fifteen day streak of making solid forward progress, and I think we’re getting a bit tired.  

The one thing that’s been challenging is that US 20 in Ohio could benefit from doing some military presses.  There has not been a shoulder in sight since we crossed the Pennsylvania border. There are sidewalks in some of the urban areas, but we walked the vast majority of the mileage today on shoulderless roads.  I’ve begun to get used to it, but it’s a little unsettling.

Anyway, that’s about it for today.  We’re going to head west for tomorrow and try to break out of the urban and suburban terrain.  Wish us luck. We’ll see how it goes.

A Trick of the Mercator Projection

In what seemed like a hop skip and a jump, we have exited Pennsylvania and continued on into Ohio.

Dad holding up the Welcome to Ohio sign….or is it holding him up?  The world wonders.

We’ve made solid forward progress with fourteen straight days of walking.  Dad’s hiking strongly, and he seems to have vanquished his tilt issue that’s plagued him from time to time.  

The weather is finally cooperating a little more with two nice days in a row with another predicted tomorrow.

For some reason, the states seem to be getting wider from here on out.  I’m hoping it’s a trick of the Mercator Projection.

Onward, one step forward at a time.

Headwind

We trekked a challenging fifteen miles from Erie to Girard, PA.  Today was the first really warm day with the mercury hitting the eighty-eight degree mark.  Did I mention the headwind? Right in the face at fifteen to eighteen miles per hour.

Headwind - Flags Straight Out and Snapping

We’re pretty beat so I’m going to keep this short and get some rest.