Passing south of Lake Erie

Yoko and her man, sleepy in the morning. 

 Sunday, July 22: Yoko didn't want to get up today. We finally went outside and explored the weird thistles growing near the dumpsters of the Red Roof Inn. 

 We left Rochester area today, and got myself a lot further down the road.  It was 76 degrees F when I left at close to 9:30 AM. Only 60 miles to Buffalo, and then dot to dot all the way to Elkhart, Indiana. About 550 miles. Sounded easy.

I looked at a lot of corn today, and in the past when I’ve traveled west, the corn has been much taller this time of year.  Any planter who was relying upon Mother Nature to water his acreage now has pretty dead corn.  I did see some irrigation going on, but not enough. Some fields were only waist high with brown dead stalks down at the bottom. Even if it was green, the height of the corn was generally low all across New York and the tab of Pennsylvania and  Ohio. And in Indiana, it got worse.  

 Read it and weep, many people here are:  http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/jul/19/usda-rain-too-late-most-indianas-corn/

One thing that is doing quite well in New York, though, is the poison sumac trees.  They had their big red bunches of fuzzy things in full color beside the highways. Saw my red hawk totem twice today, once leaving New York, he was tipping a good-bye to me before lighting up on the top of a tree, and as I entered the RV capital of the world (Elkhart, Indiana), a red-tailed hawk flew straight for the Lakota horse trailer billboard and then swooped up it to sit on the top.  Stunning acrobatics, I told him, as I put on my blinker for exit 92.  And I also think he was trying to tell me to buy a horse trailer. 

To be fair, the wildflowers were quite pretty along the road in New York for awhile, until I got to the Buffalo mess. Wild turkeys gleaning on the side banks were nice, too. It was pretty in New York until the turn off for Niagara Falls, and I was jealous. I wanted to turn up there, too, as the temperature was steadily rising. But I hit the Buffalo infra-structure instead. And after Buffalo (actually, the big loop around it), it did get nice and country again, so I’ll stop whining. 

Buffalo power grid

vineyards across western NY and Pennsylvania tip

Lots of vineyards along the highway from western New York across PA. Very good healthy looking vineyards on the sides of the road.  I hope they get a good crop. 

I stopped at just about every good looking toll road rest stop along the way, to pick up another drink and let out the last drink.  Hydrate, hydrate! Yoko had her own 2 quarts of ice water on the back seat. She didn’t spill today. 

Many rivers I crossed over were way down, such as Silver Creek, just before Exit 58 in Pennsylvania. Nothing silver about it. Finally got some pictures of the vineyards at the Pennsylvania visitors center. 

The temp was up to 82 degrees, so I had to hurry in the bathroom. Yoko in the car, window open. I can go in 4 minutes if I don’t have to wait for a stall. They were playing polkas on the radio, and then Garrison Keiller came on. The show was about family road trips, and I enjoyed it till it got lost in static.

Lots of construction on the other side of Erie. 

I saw lots of rusting bridges, and then some new ones, which would translate to: construction.  Like at Exit 235, a new bridge!  And after the 18 miles of construction, open road again. . .but something is killing the very tall (white?) pine trees along the highway here. Saw lots of dead trees, red pine needles.  Torches if sparked by lightening.

HAD to get off the toll road for a break, so I pulled into Painesville, Ohio, just for kicks and to get gas. Nice little town from what I saw.  They had blocked off their Main Street and were having the “Largest Ohio Free Music Festival” down there. Very nice. It was 87 degrees, but music helps. The first big building that I saw though, as I entered the downtown area, was a Chase Bank, and it had the nerve to live on Liberty Street.  Lots of motorcycles, a busy railroad track (single), a gold domed City Hall, cute little 2 story houses that wouldn’t have seemed little until the 1990’s, and. . . a dedicated bike trail!  I saw a bike bridge over a highway.  Nice. 

Heading for Cleveland, it was up to 94 degrees. I don’t much like going around Cleveland, but it’s a necessity to take that by-pass. So I did.  Phew. Lots of tractor trailer trucks and traffic, including the high-speed weavers.  Then 75 miles to Toledo. Cornfields look OK here! I think they are irrigating. And then going past all those exits for Sandusky. . . ick.  Maybe they should change their city’s name after the big Penn State scandal.  Penn State, you are going to get spanked hard, just watch.

But, gag, then there’s the Sandusky River just before Exit 91 to Port Clinton.  It’s very flat and very hot. Three lanes of open road. I took a nice picture of a barn with many roof angles.  I hope you can see them. I was doing 70.  If you hate school in Ohio, and the teacher is boring, you can “be challenged” by going on-line and taking up your schooling, totally customized to keep your mind as sharp as a tack. For free. That’s what the radio ad said:  www.K12.com/ohio  

Let me talk about the way some people drive.  I take my camera, turn it on, hold it in the direction of what I want to capture without taking my eyes off the road, press down on the button half way and hope it’s focusing on something, and then click it.  I throw away 75% of the shots.  Dump them.  But that seems to be the way some people drive.  I think it’s their cruise control.  They have their car set for, say, seventy five, and they are not going to hit the brakes for anything, no way.  They are steering, but they don’t slow down. They cut you off. They realize that they don’t have any room to merge, so they push you over. They cannot move that foot to the brake pedal, they’d have to re-set their cruise control.  I call it point and shoot driving. I saw a lot of that today.  I survived, luckily. Because I do use my brake pedal.

All the way to Indiana on Route 80/90. . , more of the above. Hot. Very quick trips into the rest rooms so my car would not lose its frigid ice box feeling. I’m thinking of getting Yoko a fake “service dog” vest so she can come in with me.  She does me a big service. She keeps me from spending lots of money in stores and restaurants. That’s a very great service, I feel. 

Pennsylvania travel plaza

Ohio travel plaza

Why I don't use GPS device

One more thing I have to tell you that I learned today:  Indiana has horrible travel plazas.  I couldn't bear to take a picture. Ohio’s were much nicer. Pennsylvania's too. Best of all. . . New York’s (the ones that were open). The New York travel plazas have drive-though windows. I can drive through and get the next iced drink.  But travel plazas are an eastern thing. Once I get out past the anemic Mississippi, then I will find no travel plazas, and will have to rely upon fast food drive through’s. They have salad. And Yoko likes chicken.

Check it out!

Yoko salivating at a fast food drive-in! 

Didn't even know these food drive-ins still exist!  Elkhart.

Don't know what this crop is. Greens Look like pineapple tops, but couldn't be. Maybe they chopped off the dead corn to feed the cattle. And left a foot or so. 

Just off the Interstate in Elkhart

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So Yoko and I are at another Red Roof Inn, because they allow dogs. She is sleeping in her bed.  She does not know about the horrific dust storm that Arizona had to leave through yesterday and today.  If you ever wondered what it was like when the Dust Bowl era hit the US, you can now go find out. Today, I saw dark clouds at the end of the day, but no rain fell out of them. Maybe tomorrow. 

What I'm not driving.  My Rav 4 is getting 27 mpg at full A/C. Like that!

Yoko deciding whether she can pee in 95 degree heat, Ohio

Some trees trying to change color now. In July!  New York.

Butterfly tells me: Time to travel

Butterfly comes to tell me. . . travel time.

Saturday, July 21: Horrible news all over the radio again today. Syria: War.  Aurora, Colorado: movie maniac. The US: Drought.  The Mississippi: 50 feet lower than last year at this time.  BUT I finally got myself organized enough to leave Cape Cod on my big Summer ride to Montana. You have to concentrate when you drive, no more distracting visions of horror. By staying longer on Cape Cod,  I got to see some relatives I wouldn’t have seen if I’d left when I thought I would. 

The California Paine's (some of 'em)

So it all worked out well. I had a few great natural signals that it was time to go.  I red tailed hawk flew over my car two days before I left. He flew in front of me, flying lower and lower, until he was practically hood surfing and I had to toot at him so he’d fly up again.  And then, this butterfly showed up in my backyard and flew circles around me. So I figured it was time. . .time to travel in spite of the butterflies in my stomach. Here is manifestation of my butterflies, not so bad!

What’s exciting along the way, you ask?   I’m taking the same route to Chicago that I took last year, and I really put some miles on today, making it to Rochester, NY.   It really was a beautiful day to leave Cape Cod, and lots of people were doing it, so I got off route 6 at Exit 3 so I wouldn’t have to wait at the Sagamore Bridge with the Saturday morning exodus.  Vacation homes on the Cape traditionally rent from Saturday to Saturday, so lots of cars going both ways on a Saturday.  Went through the beautiful little town of Sandwich, and passed the entrance to the Miles Standish State Forest.  And then, drove under the Sagamore Bridge and along the Canal to cross on the Bourne Bridge.  Beautiful weather. . . the back-up on the other side of the Bourne Bridge coming onto the Cape Was four miles long of traffic moving at about 5 mph. At least it wasn’t as hot as last weekend.  

Going Under the Sagamore Bridge

Last look at Cape Cod Canal from Cape side

So, out 495 (right around exit 18 I get a kick out of seeing a sign over a little creek, “Charles River.”  Yes, every river has to start somewhere.  Check it out next time you are near Medway.)  And then, at Exit 19, the first sign for the Blackstone Valley National Corridor.  This is a historic string of industrial age mill towns that grew along the Blackstone River from Worcester to Providence, RI.   I learn this once I hit Route 90, the Massachusetts Pike, and see the signs again and listen to the little radio spot. “A Tapestry of industrial development in the late 1700’s,” so says the little interpretive talk on 1140 AM radio.  More here: http://www.nps.gov/blac/index.htm

Funny to me is that a main interpretive center for this Industrial Revolution in New England is hosted by the Audubon Society, go figure, at 414 Massasoit Road, Worcester.  We are crawling through the Worcester area today, and also the Springfield areas. 

  I pass over a river just before the Springfield exit. We crawl at 20 mph for many miles.  Just a lot of traffic, no construction underway. Finally, we roll. . . out past Springfield exits.

I go past the exit to Old Sturbridge Village (Route 84 to New York City) and remember when my kids were young and interested in how people used to live in the early 1800’s. Those were the days. . .

Soon I pass a sign that I try to read, but a truck has blocked my view for too long.  “1700+ feet altitude, the highest point on the Massachusetts Turnpike.” Near Becket? I know the Appalachian Trail crosses somewhere near here, but I don’t spot it.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becket,_Massachusetts

And then a sign, “The Berkshires” just before Lee. And the hills are beautiful, the trees green, the valleys green, no real sign of drought here that the untrained eye can see.  One of the big things I am going to be looking at this trip is the country wide drought. They just upped the numbers for the drought today.  It’s worse this week than last week, with a higher percentage of area in a drought condition.  So I’m looking for corn, looking at the corn, and I start to see it in New York.  Along with other structures. 

rusting bridges on Route 90

Mohawk Valley

Dry grass!

Right away in the Mohawk Valley, I see fields of low corn.  It’s not up to my knees. It does not look like corn should look at this time of year. The hills are beautiful and green, the trees look green, but the crops, not so good.

Weird triple bridges near Albany exit.  I go by Utica, which is also the exit for the St. Lawrence Seaway.  I want to go up there some day.  And soon I am in Syracuse, the corn, up to my knees. One corn field actually has a dried up brown center, as if late fall had struck early.  Golf courses look weird, brownish grass around the small plush greens that surround the holes. No one out of them, even though the weather is very friendly today.  They must not like the crunchy grass. 

Yellowing fields

The Seneca River has water. It seems normal.  Corn in the area is waist high, so it’s doing fair. At exit 41, Montezuma, I see healthy corn! But then another brown-out in the field. And then I just drive drive drive, because Yoko and I are getting tired, and get to the dated area of Rochester called Henrietta.  I plop myself in the hotel, and then go out to take a look at the Rochester Institute of Technology, which is only about five miles away. http://www.rit.edu/

Deserted RIT campus, but hey, it's Saturday. And July. 

 I look for the solar panels and windmills that sprout up all over Massachusetts. I figure, if we’re going to do something about global warming so we can continue to actually survive on the planet, then the technical institutes should be showing the way, like the Massachusetts Maritime Academy does, back at my Cape Cod Canal. http://www.maritime.edu/

I see no wind turbines or solar arrays.   I look all over at least half of the huge and well groomed campus.  I give up and go back to the Red Roof Inn, being tired.  Maybe the high tech windmills and solar fields are on the other side of the campus.  I hope so. 

Tomorrow the temperature is going to go up into the triple digets in 18 states, including the ones I’m heading for.  If I could I’d take some time and go into Rochester to visit the home of Susan B. Anthony. Pictures galore here: https://www.google.com/search?q=Susan+B.+Anthony%27s+home&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=DVT&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5HQLUIuhEISy0AGxt5iWBA&ved=0CGUQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=607

 I’ll do that another day. . I have to keep my doggie cool. She’s a good travel companion; she keeps me focused on getting there. And looking for drive-through eateries, so I don’t have to leave her in the car, because I can’t leave her in the car.  It’s too damned hot.

Yoko the Queen of High Maintenance (besides myself)