Day 79: Middlesex, Vermont to Martinsburg, West Virginia; Day 80: West Virginia to Charlotte, North Carolina; Day 81-82 Charlotte, North Carolina

It's hard to say when we officially hit the wall on this crazy journey . . . this week? last week? three weeks ago? It certainly has been challenging. We've driven approximately 21,000 miles over 3 months during a pandemic and a crisis of leadership in our country. Like everyone, we've juggled those broad concerns along with the more immediate ones of how many miles do we need to make and which hotel should we stay at and do we have enough Lysol spray and disposable gloves on hand.

Week 11 of the NFL season found us headed back to Charlotte, North Carolina. Since it is 14+ driving hours, we spent the night in a hotel just over the border in West Virginia. As we neared our stopping point, we were treated to a fiery sunset. I took a gazillion pictures, but they don't capture how dramatic it was. 

Greg was able to find some roadside attractions to make our next day's journey more interesting. 

We visited Patsy Cline's grave, tucked into a nondescript graveyard on the side of a county highway in Virginia. Like others before us, we left a couple of pennies on her grave. As we were leaving, I noticed that the graveyard had a special section for pets. 

Pennies are left on graves, most of all, in remembrance of the deceased. Leaving a coin from your pocket is a way to leave a part of yourself at the burial site. The coin is a visual reminder that, even in death, the memory of the deceased lives on. It is also a sign of respect to the dead, as it shows that their memory has value to you and is something you want to commemorate. (from SouthUniversity.edu)

A few hours later we stopped for coffee -- literally. The building below used to be a restaurant. It seemed to be occupied as a home now. It was an abrupt pull-out but, if you ignored the constant road noise, a tranquil spot. Across the road, a meandering river looked lovely in the sunlight.  

Next stop -- a visit to Johnny Appleseed, whom we found just off the highway in front of a motel that had seen better days. 

We pulled into the Charlotte Metro area on Friday afternoon. I'm not sure how people who live in Charlotte deal with the congestion. An odd attitude, I know, since I spent so many years in Los Angeles. Perhaps living in Vermont has eroded my tolerance for bumper-to-bumper traffic. 

Otherwise, Charlotte seems to be a pretty nice city, clean and modern with lots of public art. Sadly, like many cities we've been in, there appears to be a significant homeless population. Also, like many places, the compliance with Covid protocols seems to be spotty -- hard to witness when we're constantly hearing heart-wrenching stories from front-line workers in hospitals. 

The bar above had a mask mandate, but not much compliance. The next pic is a party trolly. You can't see it because of the hedge but, unlike the party buses we saw in Nashville, this one was pedal-powered -- the drinkers sat on bicycle seats facing each other. So, I guess the proprietors get points for trying to be environmentally responsible while completely ignoring covid protocols.

Here are some more Charlotte pics.

         

Greg on game day.

On the field: NFL Week 11, 11/15/20. Detroit Lions @ Carolina Panthers. Matthew Stafford's injured thumb proved too much for the Lions quarterback to overcome. Stafford was sacked 5 times and threw many errant passes on the way to a shut-out. Final score: Lions 0, Panthers 20.

On the map: distance from last week's game in Hoboken to home to Charlotte: 1,266 miles. Here's the map. The route to Charlotte can be seen below. It is the third line stretching downward from the right. Our route this time is highlighted in blue and green.

Day 73: Middlesex, Vermont to Hoboken, New Jersey. Days 74, 75: Hoboken, New Jersey

The trip to Hoboken seems like a walk in the park to us road-ready travelers these days. We can get there in one driving day and, if we choose our route and timing correctly, we can mostly avoid the twin demons of travel -- road work and traffic. We were pretty lucky this time, dodging serious Friday traffic by leaving early, we arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon. Greg had a conference call, but we managed to fit in a walk. Our hotel has a stunning view of the New York skyline.

The weekend was uneventful. But we did have a little real estate conflict in the room on Saturday morning. Greg has been Zooming most of his meetings. Both of his announcers have recently had Covid-19, so he's taking no chances. As it turned out, I had a Zoom meeting with my critique group at the same time. Greg's meeting started first, so he set up on the desk in the room. A half hour later, I created a makeshift set-up for myself. We'd been chatting for a while before one of my critique partners asked, "Are you in a shower?" It worked out pretty well, actually -- good acoustics. 

The liquor store across from our hotel has a tribute to a famous son of Hoboken. Forgive the poor photography. I was shooting through their window.

Below is Frank's mug shot from an early arrest. I blew up the inset, so you can read it. His offense is written in cursive below the date.  I'm not sure if the handwriting is his. 

             

  

As we headed out of town, we stopped by the house where Frank was born, as well as the house where he grew up. 

                                                               

         (above)  The house where Frank was born. 

(below) Frank's boyhood house stood here.

         

                                                          

A few miles later as we headed for the freeway to begin our journey home, I snapped a last minute look at the New York skyline. The shot below was taken from the car as we passed a ballpark in Hoboken.

On the field: NFL Week 10, 11/15/20: Philadelphia Eagles @ New York Giants. Daniel Jones was great. He ran for 64 yards, including an exciting touchdown. He's faster than he looks.

On the map: Distance from last week's game, Nashville to home to Hoboken: 1,417 miles. 

Here are the maps. The first shows the well-traveled route from home to Hoboken. This journey is traced in brown.

Day 65: Middlesex, Vermont to Cleveland, Ohio. Day 66: Cleveland to Nashville, Tennessee. Day 67-68: Nashville.

Vermont looked lovely as we drove away in the early morning of November 5th. Since Nashville is 1088 miles (17+ hours) we broke the journey in -- you guessed it -- Cleveland, Ohio. We were up and out early the next morning and headed south.

The drive was long, with the usual roadwork and pushy trucks to contend with. But, we were treated to some lovely skies on the way.

 

When we stopped for lunch at a rest area, we were able to learn about an interesting historical event. It felt a bit like something they might have talked about on the Beverly Hillbillies TV show back in the day. 

(click on the photo below to expand so you can read the story)

We stayed in the suburbs of Nashville en route to somewhere else earlier. At that time, I'd found the city clean, modern and seemingly diverse. But, I saw a different side of "the music city" this time. Since Greg was covering the Titans game, our hotel was right downtown. 

The nightlife was hopping! I hope you can overlook my poor photography skills. Greg was too busy working to take pictures. The name of the bar below at left seemed appropriate to the mood of the city. The photo on the right shows one of the ubiquitous party buses that roam the streets day and night. Evidently all the people are related because none of them were wearing masks. 

                        

I saw lots of swankily dressed urban cowboys/girls. And music was most-definitely in the air. 

                                                               

I'm sure this town would be lots of fun under different circumstances. But for me, obsessed as I am with the state of our nation, it was a bit surreal. The only sign that there was a momentous election being decided was on the front page of the local newspaper. 

I spent Saturday morning in the hotel, as usual, and only learned of Biden's victory when my mother-in-law texted me to share the happy news. I saw no reaction, positive or negative, on the streets of Nashville. I left the tv on most of the day, even while I was trying to work. The scenes of masked jubilation helped to ease my feeling of isolation.

Greg checked off another game from his plate during this crazy season. At least the Titans organization seemed to be taking the pandemic seriously. These were the only fans allowed.

Greg and one of his core cameramen on game day. Jesse lives in Milwaukee.

On the field: NFL Week 9, 11/1/20: Chicago Bears @ Tennessee Titans.  The game was overshadowed by national events as Joe Biden was declared the victor in the presidential election on Saturday. The Titans were declared the victor on Sunday. Final score: Bears 17, Titans 24.

On the map: Distance from last week's game at Cleveland to home to Nashville: 1,665 miles.

The map: route to Nashville shown in red.

Day 59: Middlesex, Vermont to Cleveland, Ohio; Days 60-61 Cleveland, Ohio

As we left Vermont early Friday morning the landscape was cloaked in white. We wound our way along the Mad River, headed for New York and ultimately, Cleveland, Ohio.

 The 10+ hour drive feels like an old friend these days, albeit a boring one as most of the drive is taken up by the monotonous trek across the width of upstate New York on the I-90. 

That is not to say that there are no interesting things along the drive. There are quite a few, in fact. For instance, the 90 runs past the Erie Canal, as well as a large bird observatory, but we never have time to stop. 

The route also passes the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York. I'd recommend it if you're in the area. We visited the site with our girls a while back. Anna got a tee shirt with the snappy slogan: "Girls just want to have FUNdamental rights!" Here's a bit of description from their website.

Women’s Rights National Historical Park tells the story of the first Women’s Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, NY on July 19-20,1848.  It is a story of struggles for civil rights, human rights, and equality, global struggles that continue today.  The efforts of women’s rights leaders, abolitionists, and other 19th century reformers remind us that all people must be accepted as equals.

We happened to be in Cleveland on Halloween weekend. Downtown looked pretty at night. I think the photo below of me, bundled up against the cold, windy weather fits right in. I look pretty scary!

Over the weekend, I got a chance to appreciate the complaints about the weather that my brother Steve, who lives there, has made over the years. We battled heavy rain as we drove in on Friday. On Saturday, Steve and I were able to take a lovely socially distant walk along the lake in sunny, breezy conditions. By Sunday, when Greg was covering the Browns game, the weather was terrible-- gale force winds and a mix of icy precipitation that the commentators called "graupel." 

As usual, I spent a lot time in the room working on writing projects. There is, however, an indoor mall next to the hotel so I got some exercise power-walking there when I needed a break. 

the view from our room

In the mall: a tribute to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

On the field: NFL Week 8, 11/1/20: Las Vegas Raiders @ Cleveland Browns. The game was dominated by weather. High winds and changing precipitation messed with the teams' game plans.The Raiders eked out a sloppy victory. Final score: Raiders 16, Browns 6.

On the map: Distance from last game at New Orleans to home to Cleveland: 2,162 miles.Here's the map. Note the heavy lines top right. We've driven that route many times.