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PERIMETER RUN - A TRIP AROUND THE EDGE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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WELCOME TO THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME. MAY YOU ENJOY THE TRIP, TOO. |
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THE JOURNEY BEGINS WITH A 300 MILE "FIRST STEP". This entry was posted on 6/1/2006 8:41 PM and is filed under uncategorized. CHECKS TO: My sister called and asked if I would be interested in talking with Channel 7, WXYZ - TV, in Detroit. She had contacted them and told them a bit about the trip that was being undertaken the following day. They called back and set up an appointment to come to the house and shoot some footage of the motorcycle moving down the street, starting up, etc.etc. We spent some time going up and down Schoenherr Rd. (in rush hour), creating some ….traffic related issues. The drivers were very quiet about it all, though, I must admit. I believe they were curious as to what was going on. The news footage was shown on the 11:00 PM news on channel 7 that same evening. It was nice to get some coverage of the trip, and the reason for taking it on. I missed it. I fell asleep. I will have to see it when I get back. 4:00 AM came WAAAAAYYYYY too quickly………. JUNE 1ST, 2006 I made it up in time - 3:00 AM ---- to get a shower and do some last minute packing. I spoke with Rosalie, who is living at the house while I am gone. I managed to remember most of what I needed to tell her, but I am going to have to call her, because, I didn't remember everything that she needs to know………. The bike was fired up at 4:01 AM and was on the road very quickly. I was able to meet up with Kevin, a former co-worker from Road Commission of Macomb County, at the McDonalds at Crocker and Metro Parkway. The day became very interesting after that. We stopped at 6:05 AM, near Monroe. The "International Café", north of Monroe was our first stop. We were ushered to the non smoking section, around the corner from the main restaurant area. Dale, our waitress asked what kind of trip we were on, so I handed her a card, and told her about the channel 7 interview. She rushed over to the TV in time to actually see the interview being replayed on the morning news. She wasn't the only one who saw it. A young 5 year old came around the corner, holding a teddy bear. He stood there for a very long time. I sort of mentioned his rather handsome teddy bear. He used that opening to ask "Are you the guy who is traveling around the United States?" I said that I was. Silently, he came forward - hugged me - and then left the room. Kevin and I were stunned. We were commenting on that, when he returned and said that he wanted me to have his teddy bear for my trip. I assured him that his teddy bear would probably enjoy life with him, but I would autograph the bear's shirt. He was very happy when he left. So, here's to you, young Jacob. You got to me, without even trying. What you did was so "from the heart" that I was really taken aback. The weather was getting really "misty" so we put on our rain suits as we made our way down the east coast of Michigan, and into Ohio. The day was made interesting because of a few odd moments. We passed very close to three Nuclear Power Plants. Kevin believes he might actually be able to be his own Nuclear Density Gage….. I have to see that. We stopped for lunch at the border of the cities of Lakewood and Cleveland. The City Place Diner and Deli at the corner of West 117th and Clifton has some extremely good food at reasonable prices. It didn't hurt that our waitress, Megan, was so obviously Irish that she brightened the room just by walking in. During lunch we both noticed that this area of Cleveland was populated by some rather unusual people. One "happy" fellow had some steel toed construction boots, black dress socks, and the shortest pair of shorts I have seen on a male. He sort of "danced" down the street. Other denizens of the neighborhood were equally colorful, in clothing, sheer size, or in method of moving. In retrospect, though, I think that this collection of "interesting" citizens of western Cleveland, were there because of the citizens of "eastern" Cleveland. It was not easy to get through town, what with every traffic signal timed to stop you. Oh, and then there was the flying saucer sighting. We both saw it. It was real, and was being towed by an older Ford pickup truck. The flying saucer was well made and looked convincing, other than being strapped to a trailer. It looked like it could hold one normal sized humanoid… Tonight, June 1st, we are in Erie Pennsylvania. Off tomorrow for Buffalo, New York, and beyond. The one common thing that was noticed about today's travel was that Toledo, Cleveland, Euclid (all three in Ohio) and Erie all have seen better times. Huge old homes, now rotting hulks, could be seen in neighborhoods that once had things happening. In sharp contrast was one area of Route 6, coming into Cleveland that looked like our own Lakeshore Drive in Wayne County, except the houses were far larger and numbered in the hundreds. There is a ton of money in the area west of Cleveland. CommentsDisplay comments as (Linear | Threaded)
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