Driving to Cleveland and Back
This weekend was a busy one. I'll have to create two other separate posts just to relay all the happenings and my feelings and interpretations of them. One related to the beer fest on Friday and the other related to what I did on Saturday. But back to the driving.
First, let's give you a map of my route from Detroit to Cleveland. Yes, the route shows correctly: I was on Interstates for a total of less than 15 minutes.
I was originally going to take the usual route there: 75 south to 280 east (the new bridge is complete and it's stunning) to 80/90 tollway to Cleveland and done. But a series of events changed my mind.
First, I got stuck in a little bit of a traffic jam about a mile after I got on 75. They had it down to one lane due to them FINALLY patching some of the rough spots on the south-bound side near the Ambassador Bridge exit.
About 10 minutes after that I realize that I'm kinda hungry and get off at the Eureka Road exit in order to hit up the Taco Bell at Eureka and US-24 (Telegraph). I do this because Telegraph (gee, I wonder how it got it's name.. perhaps because that was the first telegraph line from Toe-lee-doe to Dee-troyt?) will connect up with south-bound 75 less than a quarter mile from where I am. But no. Theres a whole shitload of ramp closings along I-75 south of Detroit and this was one of them. Because of my lust for processed cow brains, I'd have to drive about 10 miles for the next south-bound onramp.
While I'm driving on 24 I realized that I'm on a US route and that 24 hits Toledo, a city that marks the junction point between heading south and heading east for my trip. I decided right there that I would take US-24 down to Toledo. It would be just as quick, won't have to worry about speed traps or construction either.
The next problem to overcome was how to get from Toledo to Cleveland without using an interstate or tollway. Since 80/90 is about as boring as Iowa (except you cross over a lot more train tracks), I realized I wanted to keep it real and take either US or state routes. So I call up my dad, who, when he's not getting busted for DUIs, is a truck driver. Luckily he was home and had no problem advising me to take Ohio 2 in order to get to Cleveland. It's like I struck some kind of vein with him. He started telling me (a few times over, in fact) about how he used to run parts to a Leer plant outside of Fremont and that he'd take 2 or Ohio 18 and that it was better since it was right off the highway and blah blah blah. I guess it's good that I can talk to my dad about at least one thing.
From Cleveland, I had to boogie down to Kent in order to attend the small party/reception for my friend Alicia and her new husband, Phill. I did take interstates because, shit, even with taking them I was on the road for about an hour and needed to save time.
After the party, and re-meeting a few people that I hadn't seen in about 3 or 4 years, I parted ways and decided what the fuck to do. Here's the map of my trek back home from Kent, OH to Detroit, MI.
Again, you are correct in noticing that I took NO interstates home! This route was much slower, but brought me through a few more small towns than driving along route 2. I took a funky way home once in Taylor because I had to stop at Meijers and get some food stuffs.
All told, I put 431 miles on my car in two days. Definitely not my record, but still quite a sizable chunk seeing as "average" drivers should put around 800 miles on their car every month.
At more than one point on this trip I realized how much I loved driving. Maybe not driving, but at least navigating. I had the new audio system installed, I was playing one of those songs that just fits the moment, the sun was shining into my windsheild, a beautiful 75 degrees, I'm parked at an off-ramp's red light, waiting to turn onto Ohio 2, all my windows down, notice that I'm in the minority in terms of Michigan versus Ohio plates, and think to myself that it can't get much better than this. It's freedom. I pick my route, not Google Maps. I entertain myself by looking at what's passing by me, wondering how many other people have been by this location or why they chose to live life in the middle of nowhere.
First, let's give you a map of my route from Detroit to Cleveland. Yes, the route shows correctly: I was on Interstates for a total of less than 15 minutes.
I was originally going to take the usual route there: 75 south to 280 east (the new bridge is complete and it's stunning) to 80/90 tollway to Cleveland and done. But a series of events changed my mind.
First, I got stuck in a little bit of a traffic jam about a mile after I got on 75. They had it down to one lane due to them FINALLY patching some of the rough spots on the south-bound side near the Ambassador Bridge exit.
About 10 minutes after that I realize that I'm kinda hungry and get off at the Eureka Road exit in order to hit up the Taco Bell at Eureka and US-24 (Telegraph). I do this because Telegraph (gee, I wonder how it got it's name.. perhaps because that was the first telegraph line from Toe-lee-doe to Dee-troyt?) will connect up with south-bound 75 less than a quarter mile from where I am. But no. Theres a whole shitload of ramp closings along I-75 south of Detroit and this was one of them. Because of my lust for processed cow brains, I'd have to drive about 10 miles for the next south-bound onramp.
While I'm driving on 24 I realized that I'm on a US route and that 24 hits Toledo, a city that marks the junction point between heading south and heading east for my trip. I decided right there that I would take US-24 down to Toledo. It would be just as quick, won't have to worry about speed traps or construction either.
The next problem to overcome was how to get from Toledo to Cleveland without using an interstate or tollway. Since 80/90 is about as boring as Iowa (except you cross over a lot more train tracks), I realized I wanted to keep it real and take either US or state routes. So I call up my dad, who, when he's not getting busted for DUIs, is a truck driver. Luckily he was home and had no problem advising me to take Ohio 2 in order to get to Cleveland. It's like I struck some kind of vein with him. He started telling me (a few times over, in fact) about how he used to run parts to a Leer plant outside of Fremont and that he'd take 2 or Ohio 18 and that it was better since it was right off the highway and blah blah blah. I guess it's good that I can talk to my dad about at least one thing.
From Cleveland, I had to boogie down to Kent in order to attend the small party/reception for my friend Alicia and her new husband, Phill. I did take interstates because, shit, even with taking them I was on the road for about an hour and needed to save time.
After the party, and re-meeting a few people that I hadn't seen in about 3 or 4 years, I parted ways and decided what the fuck to do. Here's the map of my trek back home from Kent, OH to Detroit, MI.
Again, you are correct in noticing that I took NO interstates home! This route was much slower, but brought me through a few more small towns than driving along route 2. I took a funky way home once in Taylor because I had to stop at Meijers and get some food stuffs.
All told, I put 431 miles on my car in two days. Definitely not my record, but still quite a sizable chunk seeing as "average" drivers should put around 800 miles on their car every month.
At more than one point on this trip I realized how much I loved driving. Maybe not driving, but at least navigating. I had the new audio system installed, I was playing one of those songs that just fits the moment, the sun was shining into my windsheild, a beautiful 75 degrees, I'm parked at an off-ramp's red light, waiting to turn onto Ohio 2, all my windows down, notice that I'm in the minority in terms of Michigan versus Ohio plates, and think to myself that it can't get much better than this. It's freedom. I pick my route, not Google Maps. I entertain myself by looking at what's passing by me, wondering how many other people have been by this location or why they chose to live life in the middle of nowhere.