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. 

             

Day 50: Meridian, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana. Days 51-54: New Orleans

Serendipity, that's the watchword for our stop in Meridian, Mississippi. We chose the town simply because it was the right distance for our day's drive on the way to New Orleans after our unforgettable experience at the civil rights sites in Birmingham and Selma. But, after we'd checked in to our microtel, Greg was popping around the internet and discovered that Meridian was the birthplace of a long ago singer -- Jimmie Rodgers, known as the "singing brakeman" because of his day job as a brakeman on the railroad. The somewhat obscure singer's name sounded familiar. Greg realized he'd read about Rodgers recently in a biography of Johnny Cash, Rodgers was an early influence on Cash's music. 

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Turned out Rodgers's memorial was located in a nearby county park. When we stopped by the next morning we discovered that "ghost town" syndrome was present here in Missisippi, just as it had been in Birmingham. Even though it was a lovely day, the park was deserted. It was just us and the geese. 

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We discovered another attraction, though. A beautiful carousel, closed by covid, of course. But we were able to peer though the window and Greg got a decent shot of it. Wikipedia details below.

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The Highland Park Dentzel Carousel and Shelter Building is a carousel and building in Highland Park in Meridian, Mississippi. Manufactured about 1896 for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition by the Dentzel Carousel Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the carousel was sold and shipped to Meridian. Highland Park Dentzel Carousel has been in operation since 1909 and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.^] It is the only remaining two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie in the world.

But, that wasn't all that Meridian had to offer. There's a webiste "Roadside America," which Greg often checks when we have a bit of time in the midst of our driving. It was there that he learned about the graves of the "King and Queen of the gypsies." 

                                           

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(From RoadsideAmerica.com)

The graves of the King and Queen, but especially the Queen, are easy to spot in the cemetery; they're festooned with Mardi Gras bead necklaces, trinkets, flowers, costume jewelry, and offerings of whiskey and loose change. These are not tokens of affection, but are bribes left in the belief that they will entice Kelly or Emil to enter your dreams and solve your problems.

After a long day of driving, there's nothing like a hearty meal. 

Our next stop was New Orleans. It's kind of an odd experience to be in a place like New Orleans in the Covid era. Like many places we've been, the people working in hotels and restaurants followed CDC guidelines. The tourists . . . not so much.

                                

Here are some shots of the French Quarter where our hotel was located.  

          View from our hotel room.                                        Picking up our take-out dinner

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Greg's workplace . . .The Super Dome

                                                          . . .and mine.

As we headed out of town, trying to bank 4 hours or so to make a dent in the 24 hours of driving we'd do over the next two days to get home, we came across this rather interesting vehicle. It seemed emblematic of the style and flair of the city of New Orleans.

On the field: NFL Week 7, Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans Saints.  Drew Brees was almost perfect and Alvin Kamara had 148 total yards. A 65 yard field goal attempt by Joey Slye would have been a record falls just short in the final seconds. 

On the map: Distance from Indianapolis to New Orleans: 821 miles. 

Here's the map. The lines on some routes have grown fat with many journeys. I-87 to I-90 through New York and on into the midwest is a good example.