Tuesday, 14 May 2019
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| today's route |
I've been feeling incredibly tired most of the time for quite a few days now and had just about decided I must have another bleeding stomach ulcer, because the blood loss would explain the tiredness. So a good result of yesterday's test is to know that I don't have an ulcer. I'm still ultra-tired though, and still don't know why, but it's good to narrow down the possibilities. But the extreme tiredness has made it more difficult for me to feel a lot of enthusiasm about what I'm doing, and to deal with the very un-tired dogs, and to get much done. For instance, it's made it harder for me to keep up with these blog posts - I'm exhausted by mid-afternoon and can barely take care of these critters after that. Not fair to the dogs, really.
Gastro parking lot life
Having nothing else to do (I'd have had to run the generator to turn on the TV or play a movie or even use the microwave, and I hate the sound of the generator), I noticed things about the neighborhood. For instance, the Valero gas station across the street raised its price overnight - it was $2.59 when I went to bed last night and it's $2.79 this morning.
The parking lot has several vehicles used by a medical transportation company, and their official Ohio license plates were issued for an "ambulette." (Really. Made me gag so I wouldn't want to ride in one.)
Several businesses share the parking lot with the gastro clinic. I'm parked in front of a building that has 2 tenants: Paulette's Studio of Dance and a law office with a big sign that says "1-800 Hurt Now." Paulette had some kind of event last night because a lot of cars were there for several hours and I saw one man carrying in folding chairs.
Toledo
I wanted to see at least a little of Toledo before I left, though, so after my success in plotting a path through Cleveland I decided to do it again in Toledo. I drove through the historic neighborhood of Old West End. Nice neighborhood.
I looked hard for the Toledo Art Glass Museum but couldn't find it and couldn't find a place to stop (neighborhood parking was at a premium because it was garbage day) so decided to give it a miss. But Toledo bills itself as the "Glass City" and "Glass Capital of the World" because of the many glass makers who arrived in the late 1800s. A number of large glass companies had their origins here: e.g. Owens Corning and Libbey Glass.
Toledo also has a bridge called the Toledo Skyway Bridge, which I didn't drive on. It has 2 decks, each one way, and I wasn't sure which was the way I was going and didn't want to end up stuck on that top level with the great view of the city and the river (if you're not feeling white-knuckled about driving on that bridge). Instead, I took a nice normal older bridge that only went the usual distance above the water and the ship traffic.
Toledo has a number of big fancy old buildings. You can tell it was once a thriving city, and Toledo is priding itself on its increasingly successful efforts at revitalizing the inner city warehouse areas and such.
Lake Erie roadway
It didn't take long past Toledo to be back in the countryside again. I stayed on a state route, rather than the interstate/toll road, and drove mostly along the Lake Erie shore.
I was picking up Michigan Public Radio; Ohio's public radio system seems to be focused almost entirely on the big cities. I got it fine near Cleveland, but lost it beyond 20 miles or so out of town. Toledo seems not to bother with Ohio PR but sticks with Michigan's. In fact, this area seems to be as much a part of Michigan as of Ohio and I see plenty of MI plates around.
The fields up here are still waterlogged, and it's not just the fields. I passed a total of 3 Great Blue Herons, which live here year-round, and 4 Great Egrets, which the bird book says is reasonable during spring migration, which this probably still is - spring is still in the process of developing up here. They were all hanging out at various swamps and wetlands. I saw several Canada Goose families feeding in watery fields.
I passed the Black Swamp Bird Observatory at the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area. It was nearly across the road from Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, which was formed to preserve habitat for migratory birds. This whole area was once part of the Great Black Swamp, which was (sadly) drained by settlers wanting to use the land. The online photos of the historical marker about this are nearly illegible so I've included a link to the website that gives some information about it. https://www.hmdb.org/Marker
All the rivers I've crossed in the last couple of days have been very full. I've seen many sportsfishermen and businesses that cater to them.
I've been thinking about an opinion piece I saw Sunday in the Washington Post about Georgia's new fetal heartbeat law. The column had a lot of historical information I'd never heard about, showing connections to today's laws. It's thought-provoking. www.washingtonpost.com/its-time-stop-viewing-pregnant-women-threats-their-babies
I passed Port Clinton, entrance to a little peninsula that's defined by the Portage River on one side and Sandusky Bay on the other. In between are some small communities, access via ferry to the Lake Erie Islands, and some very picturesque scenery.
Port Clinton calls itself the Walleye Capital of the World, which lacks a little in romance but conveys a message to fishermen. Memorial Day weekend every year they have the Walleye Festival, which I'm sorry I'll miss: 2 (count them - 2) parades and a kids' fishing derby and a 5K run-walk and rides and bands and in general a good time will be had by all.
Obviously I found this walleye picture online; it looks even more prehistoric than your usual fish.
I passed the road that goes up to Catawba Island, which bills itself as the Great Peach Growing Center of Ohio. I saw several stands along the road with signs about Catawba peaches and wished with all my heart we were in peach season. I do love peaches.
I was headed to the Marblehead Lighthouse, built in 1821 of local limestone (the quarry's still in operation) and is now maintained by the US Coast Guard, which has a station not far away. It's the oldest lighthouse on the US side of the Great Lakes that's still in current use.
I'd intended to continue on Route 2 across the bay to Sandusky, but then suddenly took another look at the map and realized that was a pretty dadgummed long bridge I'd be taking. I think I've pretty well dealt with my fear of driving on mountains, but I still have problems with bridges and tunnels that I don't have down yet, and I didn't want to start today. Instead I took the very long route around Sandusky Bay to get to my next campground. No big deal but a lot of extra miles.
I looked it up later and learned that the bay bridge is about ⅓ mile long - more, really, than I'd have wanted to deal with. I think my problem is that I have no margin for error on bridges and in tunnels and the lanes are often really narrow and there are often zero shoulder areas.
I kept seeing deep roadside water in ditches and full marshes and waterlogged fields.
I can say with certainty that the trucking industry is alive and well - it's astounding how many semis I've been seeing on the road lately. Sometimes they're the only other traffic on the road.
When I checked into the campground, the owner was handy and offered to upgrade me from a water/electric site to a water/electric/sewer site, which had a gravel pad instead of grass. Really nice of him and made a big difference in how comfortable we were.
Gastro parking lot life
Having nothing else to do (I'd have had to run the generator to turn on the TV or play a movie or even use the microwave, and I hate the sound of the generator), I noticed things about the neighborhood. For instance, the Valero gas station across the street raised its price overnight - it was $2.59 when I went to bed last night and it's $2.79 this morning.
The parking lot has several vehicles used by a medical transportation company, and their official Ohio license plates were issued for an "ambulette." (Really. Made me gag so I wouldn't want to ride in one.)
Several businesses share the parking lot with the gastro clinic. I'm parked in front of a building that has 2 tenants: Paulette's Studio of Dance and a law office with a big sign that says "1-800 Hurt Now." Paulette had some kind of event last night because a lot of cars were there for several hours and I saw one man carrying in folding chairs.
Toledo
I wanted to see at least a little of Toledo before I left, though, so after my success in plotting a path through Cleveland I decided to do it again in Toledo. I drove through the historic neighborhood of Old West End. Nice neighborhood.
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| sample of West End homes |
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| another sample of the West End |
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| stone detail on a church |
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| Toledo Skyway Bridge |
Toledo has a number of big fancy old buildings. You can tell it was once a thriving city, and Toledo is priding itself on its increasingly successful efforts at revitalizing the inner city warehouse areas and such.
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| Jesup W. Scott High School |
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| Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Roman Catholic Church |
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| 1st Congregational Curch |
It didn't take long past Toledo to be back in the countryside again. I stayed on a state route, rather than the interstate/toll road, and drove mostly along the Lake Erie shore.
I was picking up Michigan Public Radio; Ohio's public radio system seems to be focused almost entirely on the big cities. I got it fine near Cleveland, but lost it beyond 20 miles or so out of town. Toledo seems not to bother with Ohio PR but sticks with Michigan's. In fact, this area seems to be as much a part of Michigan as of Ohio and I see plenty of MI plates around.
The fields up here are still waterlogged, and it's not just the fields. I passed a total of 3 Great Blue Herons, which live here year-round, and 4 Great Egrets, which the bird book says is reasonable during spring migration, which this probably still is - spring is still in the process of developing up here. They were all hanging out at various swamps and wetlands. I saw several Canada Goose families feeding in watery fields.
I passed the Black Swamp Bird Observatory at the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area. It was nearly across the road from Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, which was formed to preserve habitat for migratory birds. This whole area was once part of the Great Black Swamp, which was (sadly) drained by settlers wanting to use the land. The online photos of the historical marker about this are nearly illegible so I've included a link to the website that gives some information about it. https://www.hmdb.org/Marker
All the rivers I've crossed in the last couple of days have been very full. I've seen many sportsfishermen and businesses that cater to them.
I've been thinking about an opinion piece I saw Sunday in the Washington Post about Georgia's new fetal heartbeat law. The column had a lot of historical information I'd never heard about, showing connections to today's laws. It's thought-provoking. www.washingtonpost.com/its-time-stop-viewing-pregnant-women-threats-their-babies
I passed Port Clinton, entrance to a little peninsula that's defined by the Portage River on one side and Sandusky Bay on the other. In between are some small communities, access via ferry to the Lake Erie Islands, and some very picturesque scenery.
 |
| walleye |
Obviously I found this walleye picture online; it looks even more prehistoric than your usual fish.
I passed the road that goes up to Catawba Island, which bills itself as the Great Peach Growing Center of Ohio. I saw several stands along the road with signs about Catawba peaches and wished with all my heart we were in peach season. I do love peaches.
 |
| Marblehead Lighthouse |
I was headed to the Marblehead Lighthouse, built in 1821 of local limestone (the quarry's still in operation) and is now maintained by the US Coast Guard, which has a station not far away. It's the oldest lighthouse on the US side of the Great Lakes that's still in current use.
The keeper's house next door is now a museum.
When I was trying to get this photo, I kept running into the problem of overactive dogs. I'm still getting used to my new camera and I found later I'd accidentally taken a short video - at the time I didn't know what was happening and thought my camera had just frozen. Anyway, I kept it as an example of my difficulty in combining perpetual tiredness with never-tired dogs.
There are several signs on the grounds and I've included a couple of them and what I could see of the Lake Erie islands.
The sign about the islands explains a bit about them and their history. The primary town is Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island, primarily a summer resort area that has 138 year-round residents. It's noteworthy for its connection to Commodore Perry and the War of 1812.
The sign below about Lake Erie is worth blowing up and reading because it explains what's especially noteworthy about the lake. At the lower right of my photo is an orthodox church I passed coming into the park.
I saw several Baltimore Orioles here, which was nice - I think there was a Mr. and Mrs.
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| Kelley's Island |
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| information about the islands |
The sign about the islands explains a bit about them and their history. The primary town is Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island, primarily a summer resort area that has 138 year-round residents. It's noteworthy for its connection to Commodore Perry and the War of 1812.
The sign below about Lake Erie is worth blowing up and reading because it explains what's especially noteworthy about the lake. At the lower right of my photo is an orthodox church I passed coming into the park.
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| information about Lake Erie |
I'd intended to continue on Route 2 across the bay to Sandusky, but then suddenly took another look at the map and realized that was a pretty dadgummed long bridge I'd be taking. I think I've pretty well dealt with my fear of driving on mountains, but I still have problems with bridges and tunnels that I don't have down yet, and I didn't want to start today. Instead I took the very long route around Sandusky Bay to get to my next campground. No big deal but a lot of extra miles.
I looked it up later and learned that the bay bridge is about ⅓ mile long - more, really, than I'd have wanted to deal with. I think my problem is that I have no margin for error on bridges and in tunnels and the lanes are often really narrow and there are often zero shoulder areas.
I kept seeing deep roadside water in ditches and full marshes and waterlogged fields.
I can say with certainty that the trucking industry is alive and well - it's astounding how many semis I've been seeing on the road lately. Sometimes they're the only other traffic on the road.
When I checked into the campground, the owner was handy and offered to upgrade me from a water/electric site to a water/electric/sewer site, which had a gravel pad instead of grass. Really nice of him and made a big difference in how comfortable we were.
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