Day 23: Middlesex, Vermont to Syracuse, New York; Day 24-26: Cleveland, Ohio

We took a meandering route through the Adirondacks to Syracuse. The fall foliage was stunning along the way, but we had our eyes on the road and the destination. No time to stop to take photos. I took a couple from the passenger seat, but they don't capture the beauty. 

Our dinner was greasy and the hotel in Syracuse, careworn. Needless to say, our sanitation routine was in full swing and we were up and out early the next morning, arriving in Cleveland, despite some slowdowns due to road work, in the late afternoon. 

 On Saturday I was able to have a socially distant visit with my brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephews-in-law and their kids. It was so wonderful to be with family and enjoy the lovely, sunny day.

 

Cleveland has done a lot of redevelopment to improve its historic downtown. Here are some shots from the neighborhood of our hotel.

Here's a shot of Greg's monitor wall and his desk during game day. On either side of his station, tall plexiglass walls block him from his colleagues right next door.

On the field: NFL Week 3, 9/27/20: Washington Football Team @ Cleveland Browns. 

Baker Mayfield threw for 2 TDs. Nick Chubb ran for two more.  Final score: Football Team 20, Browns 34. This game marked the first time in NFL history that there were 2 female coaches (one for each team) on the sidelines and a female official on the field. 

On the map: distance from last week. Philadelphia to home to Cleveland: 983 miles.

We accidentally left the map in our bags in car, so no shot of our progress today. Will catch up next time. Tomorrow we head home for a few days of a break from life on the road.

Day 18: Philadelphia to Middlesex, Vermont. Day 19-22: Middlesex, Vermont

After the cross-country and back drive, the game in Philly felt almost like an afterthought, but, of course, the game is the thing! Here's the summary:

On the field: NFL Week 2, 9/20/20 -- Los Angeles Rams @ Philadelphia Eagles

The Rams dominated the hapless Eagles. Jared Goff threw 3 TD passes to Tyler Higbee. 

Final score: Rams 37, Eagles 19.

Our final score . . . we crossed the country in 5 days to get to Philadelphia. 

On the map: San Jose, CA to Philadelphia, PA. -- 2,904 miles. 

We chose to leave Philly right after Greg's game because staying over would have meant dealing with traffic the next morning in Philly, New Jersey and New York. So, we ended up leaving around 5 p.m. We still hit some traffic and road work and didn't relish driving on narrow parkways in the dark. We were exhausted when we finally reached home at 12:30 a.m.

We had a lovely visit with Anna and Adam. I am so grateful for the good care they are providing for our home and dogs. Honestly, I think the pups will be disappointed when we come home for good. They're getting lots of love and attention while the kids juggle online college and work obligations. 

Apple picking on a glorious day!

It's hard to leave Vermont at this time of year, but the NFL road trip continues. Next stop: Cleveland.

Day 17: Philadelphia

Spent much of the day writing. In the afternoon, however, as my eyes glazed over and the the sunshine and blue sky outside the hotel window beckoned, I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. Here are a few shots. 

Gates of Philadelphia City Hall

The courtyard of our hotel

My attempt at an artsy shot

The domed building is across the street. It's being reflected in the windows of the building on my side. The lines are electronic messages streaming across the ceiling inside.

I was born in Philadelphia, though my family moved to Seattle when I was two years old, so I don't remember our house here. With covid limiting travel options and Greg's work keeping him occupied all day, searching out my infant home will have to wait for a return visit. 

Day 16: Coast to coast to coast

With a 6 1/2 hour drive from Cambridge, Ohio to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania we made it back to the East Coast. A crazy, full circle journey in the era of covid. We're settled in here for three days. After Greg's game on Sunday we plan to zip back to Vermont, just to be home for a few days will be wonderful!

                                     

Our hotel. Packing up to hit the road.

Here are some shots from today's travel day.

Greg was driving and I glanced up and thought we were moments away from a head-on collision with a semi! Took me a moment to figure out it was being towed.

More scenes from the road

                                         

Sign of the times. They're setting up for a socially distant wedding at our hotel.

First sight of Philadelphia

Here's the map, showing our cross-country, cross-country journey!

Day 15: Columbia, Missouri to Cambridge, Ohio

 612.9 miles right through the middle of the country. If a random person were dropped into the states we went through today, they'd be awfully confused. Here are the top 5 goods/services advertised on the ever present billboards on the highway. It made me more grateful that Vermont has banned this eye pollution. (This is a non-scientific survey, basically just what we remember.)

States we went through: Kansas (yesterday), Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio

Top 5 billboards, in terms of frequency:

1. Adult stores

2. Jesus is the truth and/or "Thank your mom for not aborting you" signs.

3. Guns/ammo

4. Fireworks

5. Trump

Now, I am not trying to be judgy, just sayin' the juxtaposition is jarring. Billboards aside, we saw some beautiful land and met some nice folks, masked up, in rest areas and when we ordered our takeout dinner. 

Indianapolis

Missouri, River

Take out dinner in the room. Note: I'm using a Swiss Army knife to cut the chicken parmesan.

Here's the map of today's progress. We're on the lower branch going west to east. The upper one is our journey east to west. Tomorrow we will make it to Philadelphia,

Day 14: Denver, Colorado to Columbia, Missouri

728 miles today. About 10 1/2 hours of driving. Starting in Colorado, we drove across Kansas and into Missouri. A grueling driving day followed by an uninspiring dinner from KFC -- we were just too tired and it was too late to find something more edible in a Missouri college town.

Since Greg had a lot of work to do, I did most of the driving today. Greg has a surprisingly efficient mobile office -- using our mobile hot spot to watch game tape and learn player's names and numbers. Only reading newspaper clips proved a bit challenging at 80 mph. 

The drive was challenging for me for a different reason. My dad was born and raised in Kansas. Today was the first time I'd really been to Kansas and, as I drove the endless miles, I found myself thinking of him. And how this area must've looked different when he was a boy.  The landscape was mostly rural, flat and golden at first, then slightly rolling and dotted with trees. It made me miss him even more than usual.

Here's the map showing our progress for today. Tomorrow, we head to Pennsylvania. Hoping to make it to Pittsburg.

Day 13: Salt Lake City, Utah to Denver, Colorado

 We decided to take a slightly different route back east as we make our way to Philadelphia for the Eagles versus Rams. After retracing our steps to Laramie, Wyoming, we broke off from I-80 and headed to Denver for the night. This allows us to bypass Chicago metro, which held us up on our trip west. Another day of crazy picturesque scenery.  And another day where it felt like we and the trucks owned the road, with a couple of high end motor homes thrown in for variety.

We were surprised to see fireworks being advertised all over Wyoming. Having just come from California, it seemed crazy.

We see this a lot. Truckers trying to pass each other.

Lot of bugs on the windshield.

We love trains!

We saw these fences to nowhere. Turns out they are to catch tumbleweeds and break up snow drifts. 

Sunset in Colorado.

Note the black line and tiny black dot.  We've retraced our drive from San Jose to Wyoming and are now breaking off via route 70, about 120 miles further south than the route we took out. Tomorrow we hope to get to Columbia, Missouri.