9/12/10 – HALLELUYAH, NFL IS BACK!

Before I begin today's blog, I want you to see a car that is like no other. This pig stigh was right next to my bike and I wondered how they drive this thing stuffed full of trash. Wow!

I got up this morning like a kid on Christmas day. I checked my XM radio guide to ensure the 49ers game was going to be on and then I rode down the street to do laundry. When I realized I had no clean clothes, I decided not to even try making the Bear’s game. I came back, packed up my stuff, bought a picnic lunch at Subway and crawled out of Chitown with my tender bits roasting under sunny skies.

Once out of Chicago, it was smooth sailing onto the Indiana Turnpike, another mediocre toll-road funded by my great-grandchildren’s tax dollars and my tolls of 80 cents every few miles. If you ever find yourself in Indiana, I’m truly sorry for you. Besides tons of corn fields there are few redeeming attributes to this state; actually there are three:
1. If you’re a fisherman or hunter, there are Cabela’s and Pro-Bass stores everywhere;
2. If you love fireworks, as I do, there are fireworks superstores the size of Costco everywhere [I’m not kidding, these places are huge]; and
3.Judging from the many billboards along the freeway, there are tons of nudie bars in Indiana, with great names like “The Purple Ferret” and “The Slippery Salamander”.
If you’re not into killing woodland creatures, pyrotechnics or hardcore XXX, I’d say pass on Indiana.

Michigan, on the other hand, is definitely worth seeing. When you cross the line into Michigan, the road is free and there are rest stops. Big, beautiful rest stops with lots of deciduous trees that are just beginning to turn, BBQ pits and picnic tables in the forest, ponds, and playgrounds. Sure, there are corn fields, but there are also dense forests of old growth maples, cherry farms, apple farms, wheat fields, Lacrosse fields, lakes and rolling hills. It’s a pity that Detroit is also there.

I enjoyed my picnic lunch in a lovely Michigan rest stop and then eagerly dialed in my XM radio to 102, which is where the guide said the 49ers game was. I had listened to silence for 200 miles in order to save my battery so I could listen to the whole game [the rechargeable battery lasts about 3 ½ hours]. It was only then that I realized the NFL stations aren’t included in my basic 300-channel subscription and station 102 was missing from the line-up. Oh well, I switched to classic rock and headed on my way.

As I crossed into Ohio, the trees were chopped-down to make way for more endless stretches of corn fields and the toll-roads were back. Do you realize what a pain in the neck it is to grab tickets and pay tolls when you’re riding a motorcycle? Each toll both is the same: Turn-off radio; stop the bike; take off gloves; fish around in pockets for ticket and change; put gloves back on; smile politely to the toll-taker. It gets old quickly, especially when you’re riding on a road paid for by your great-grandchildren’s tax dollars! From what I’ve seen so far, Ohio is a pass as far as scenery.

Somewhere today I lost another hour and it was after 10:00 when I checked into a Days Inn in Amherst OH, 30 miles west of Cleveland. When I settled into my room I went through my normal ritual of changing into shorts, charging all my gadgets and preparing my blog. But wait! Where’s my PC cord? Did I leave it in Chicago? I was frantically tearing through all my stuff, panicked that it was lost. I checked every bag, every compartment on my bike and then it came to me that I had put it in a side compartment in my soft luggage with my sox. The lesson here is; don't mess with your routine. Whew, what a relief.

I’m excited to see Cleveland and visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tomorrow. The weather report calls for a breeze and sunny skies. So far I think I nailed the timing for my odyssey. Good night from Cleveland.