For the first time since I was a young child, I'm on a road trip with my brother Lee. My parents instilled in me a love of travel ... not to exotic European destinations, but on trips down the back roads of America -- to the coal mines and hills of West Virginia, the Delaware Water Gap, Washington D.C. and Florida. The five us of would pile into our car and off we would drive to see the sights. And I've followed in their footsteps ever since.
But Lee and I were partners at Mayfair Photo, so when I was on vacation, he was at work. When he was off, I was at work. We were never able to travel together again ... until now. Retirement (and the closing of Mayfair) had provided the opportunity. And my sister provided the destination.
So on Sunday, August 14th, Alexis and Lee arrived early at our house in Brooklyn. We transferred their luggage from their car to ours, stowed their car in our parking garage. And we set off on a road trip to visit my sister, Duba, and her husband, Buddy, at their new country home on a beautiful lake in very rural, eastern Ohio.
Our 2001 Honda Odyssey van was showing its age. Would it stand up to our trip to Ohio and back? Probably. But Lee and Alexis had their trepidations. And so did we. Visions of breaking down on a rural road in Ohio entered our collective imaginations. And a new car was in our future sooner or later. So, impulsively, a few days before our trip, we did some on-line research, headed back to our Honda dealer and purchased the latest version of our same car that had been so good to us for the last 92,000 miles. The new car had leather seats, a hi-tech GPS navigation system that you could talk to and it would talk back, the new-fangled XM satellite radio system and a DVD player for the kids in the back ... only no kids but two adults on this trip. Stacey and I surprised our passengers - we didn't tell them about the new car. We just let them discover it when they arrived and that became a recurring topic of conversation for the rest of the trip. Philosophically, I'm not a big fan of cars and their negative impact on our society, but the new Honda provided a wonderful road trip. It took us effortlessly to my sister's house and back in safety and comfort and with great pleasure.
On the road again - the first car trip with my brother since we were little kids. Lee enjoys the creature comforts of our new Honda Odyssey.
Stacey stretches - a long ride in a very comfortable car.
We drove west on Route 80, through New Jersey, then through the Delaware Water Gap and into Pennsylvania. Our plan was to stop about half way through the ten hour trip at a motel, have dinner and relax and then finish the trip the next day. But Alexis pointed out that we were already within striking distance and could arrive at our hotel/resort in Ohio if we just pushed on. A phone call was made from our car (what did we do before cell phones?)... yes, we could have two rooms tonight and dinner was served until 9:30.
Most of the trip was on modern, high-speed interstate roads. But the last 50 miles or so were on the beautiful, rural byways of eastern Ohio. Here we got a glimpse of another America - one that seemed to be leisurely hanging out in the 1950's, ungentrified, lacking chain stores and car congestion. But this was also the so-called rust belt and the jobs and factories of the surrounding cities, exported to foreign lands, were lacking as well and we could detect a sad depression in the fading deterioration of once-beautiful and lively towns that we passed through.
We finally reached our destination - the Atwood Lake Resort. It was perched on a hill giving it a glorious view of the lake that gave it its name. Our rooms faced the lake and we thought we had arrived in paradise. A bit of a rest and we were ready for dinner.
The view from our window at the Atwood Lake Resort - our hotel for the next four nights.
== End of Part I ==
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