Seven days on the road now. Today, I would try to make it as far as New York as I try to make my way into Niagra Falls, Ontario, Canada, and then to Toronto, Ontario.
It rained lightly all night about 30 minutes after I set up camp in the dark. My cheap $30 tent held up well and the sleeping bag kept me very cozy. It feels good to hear the cold rain outside while it's cozy inside. But let me say, if the sleeping bag doesn't keep you warm, it's miserable. The good thing about these Ohio campsites, or at least A.W. Marion, is the check-out time is 4:00 pm. I don't think any park supervisor really complains about campers checking out late when the check-out time is earlier at other parks.
One thing in Ohio which you don't see many other places in North America are Amish communities. They ride their horse-driven carriages along the road. I have no problems against that, and in fact, I highly respect their simple way of life. Wisdom has it that simplicity is the key to happiness: "Wise people throughout the world know that happiness means having less, not wanting more." (The more material possessions, the more they occupy our minds and probably financially burdens us, e.g., a car.) The only danger is when drivers go over a blind hill, they may not see a slower moving carriage on the other side. There was a lot of horse manure along the road.
At first it was strange to see the Amish folks living in this developed land. It's a meeting of old and modern culture. On one street, I saw 3 teenage girls rollerblading and one had just fell on her knees.
Just for kicks, I stopped into a Goodwill store and suprisingly found someone donated lots of sports cards. They weren't worth much money. I looked through them and bought a box of assorted 1987 Topps cards for $3, but the cards are worth little more than that. In hind sight, I probably should not have bogged myself down with more junk, but the only reason I bought it is I used to collect cards. The hobby has really gone south in my opinion.
Finally found a K-Mart and they balanced and rotated the Cresseida's tires. While waiting, I was walking around, and then over the loudspeakers, a woman stated a code 15 in the men's department near the dress pants. Odd, I was in the men's department. And then I looked over and there were the dress pants. And I was by myself. Man, I hope code 15 doesn't mean someone is going to steal something- mainly me. I walked over to the boxer shorts to look for some new ones, and an Amish man gave me his card with his internet business. He said he was offering 4.9 cent phone calling cards at his web site. (Later after the trip, I was told Amish people are simple, bare bone people who do not use electricity, so why did a guy try to introduce me to his internet business? Maybe times are changing, maybe it's another internet scam.)
I stopped at Kent University late in the evening. Kent is where the 4 students were killed by authorities during a anti-Vietnam war protest. I drove around the school a bit, and it's a larger university than I thought, but this was summer and not many students were around.
Lake Geneva State Park was very nice, but they wanted $20 to camp (all camp sites looked developed). This is the most expensive state park I have ever entered. Since it was dark, there was no attendant, and I snuck in to take a shower. The park even had 75 cent and one dollar laundry machines, and I was almost tempted to do my laundry, but didn't want a ranger or someone to come by asking what I was doing here.
Then I drove through Pennsylvania along Lake Erie late at night, but only briefly. I had originally wanted to drive through more of Pennsylvania, and going into Pittsburg, and maybe even visit State College. But it wasn't to be. Pennsylvania's speed limit is still 55, and one car which zoomed by me earlier got a nice ticket.
I tried to stay on highway 5 so I could stay along the coast, but somehow ended up on highway 20 when I was making a detour, which led me into bad neighborhood. At one desolate intersection, a lady was dressed up and standing around- this was about 11:00 pm. Unfortunately the light was red when I reached the intersection. After a few moments at the red light, she started talking, but I had my window up. I was really tired and not really in the mood to entertain her. I kept driving and driving, but the neighborhood wouldn't end, maybe I was going in circles. Somehow, I got out.
New York camping fees were even worst than Lake Geneva- they wanted $16 to set up a tent at Lake Erie State Park, so I said forget that. It was already past midnight, and I should have made camp long ago, but feeding the wolves their high demands is something I'd rather do. So I drove further into New York, heading towards Buffalo. I went to bed at a parking area along the highway 20 about 1 1/2 hours from Buffalo. Believe me, it's so much more comfortable sleeping in a tent then in the back seat of a sedan crunched up.
I'm kind of annoyed that K-Mart thought I was going to steal something (if that's what a code 15 is).
