The 1,000 mile detour is almost over

Evening, Campers! It's Silver Cliche' here. The states keep ticking by and tonight we've advance our silver game piece one more step along the path... that means we have moved on from Indiana and into Ohio. Specifically, tonight we came to rest at Geneva State Park in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio near the northeast corner of the Buckeye State.

Finally we've reached a state where the nickname has a clear meaning. The buckeye is a tree that produces a fruit similar to a horse chestnut. That's pretty clear. What's less clear is why a state would accept a nickname like that. Oh well... at least it's not a Hoosier.

So, not much to report today. When we plan these trips there are clear points along the way that are the payoff for days of driving and weeks away from home. Whenever possible, we look for interesting places to connect the dots with a day or two drive between them. This trip already had some long, dreary stretches. This one has stretched out to be even longer than expected thanks to the rain and cold in Wisconsin and northern Michigan. So, for the past three days we've covered over 800 miles and have just 160 to go to our next intended destination.  Here's a summary of the detour thus far:

 And thanks to Google, here's a picture of the park including an arrow I put on to show our specific campsite. We are about 1/2 mile from Lake Erie at the top of the pic and when I booked this site I didn't realize there was a golf course through the woods behind us. I guess we should prepare to be awakened by the sound of cursing in the morning. Darn.

 So, today was all about Ohio. We entered the state shortly after pushing off from Pokagon State Park, Indiana and we almost reached the Pennsylvania border when we set down here in Ashtabula County. There was a steady evolution of the things that make Ohio... well... Ohio... as we moved east across the top of the state. We started in farm country. When we jumped off the interstate for gas we got a closer look. The pride and tradition of farming shows here. Small, white, simple farm houses are typically dwarfed by barns that were once painted red and are now a faded, chalky brick color. The size of the stand of trees that surrounds any given farm and its out buildings speaks to the power of the winter wind coming off the lakes and to the age of the specific farm. None are young. On a state road we even saw a warning sign with an Amish horse and carriage on it. Farming is old and deep here... and just reawakening for the season as evidenced by the numbers of tractors traversing the fields and the lack of green shoots in the fresh furrows that went on beside the interstate for an hour or more.

The first thing to displace farmland along the roadway was large agribusiness. I have no idea what the masses of silos and buildings with steam billowing from various openings did. Canning? Maybe. Whatever the purpose, these complexes were the next step up in the "food chain" from the farms we had seen. You and I are at the top of the chain thanks to a maze of transportation, warehousing and supermarkets. As we passed Toledo and Youngstown we saw industry. Not quite as old as the farming here... but close. Some modern factories, some a bit older (including one showing the passers-by on the interstate a shiny new pickup they had assembled recently) and some downright ancient from the era when manufacturing meant molten metal and flying sparks. The Great Lakes region was instrumental in the dawn of industrialization in the US and the pieces that remain from that time look like something Tolkein would have described as a place which a hero had to enter and later escape to save civilization. After that came a mishmash of orchards, vineyards light manufacturing and distribution businesses. It occurred to me that all along the route yesterday and today I watched an unusual vehicle moving in the opposite direction. Both the Ohio and Indiana Turnpikes allow triple trailer rigs to travel. These are a single tractor pulling three trailers. These beasts are more than triple our length. I've seen double trailer rigs for years... but never triples and the sheer numbers were impressive. These are reminiscent of the "road trains" that cross central Australia. Finally came the beacon of northern Ohio... Cleveland. We drove directly through downtown and I can tell you that the heart of rock and roll is still Cleveland and the heart was beating strong in mid afternoon on a Tuesday in May. From there it was 45 minutes following the Lake Erie shore to get to Geneva on the Lake.

So, 2 1/2 hours tomorrow and we set down for a few days at the home of our dear old friends for some "urban camping". You may remember when we last visited them over Labor Day 2015. From there we'll head to northeast Pennsylvania then to Maryland to visit family before starting the last leg home from Maryland to Florida via Virginia's Skyline Drive and North Carolina's Blue Ridge Parkway (a piece of which we covered last year making us anxious to see the whole thing).

I'm going to take a few nights off here. Hopefully I'll have opportunity and weather to capture some pics in those places so I can give you fewer words and more images. Or maybe the weather we've been running from will catch up with us and drown the photo ops. I'll let you know when I start writing again in a few days!

Later...

SC'