A Grand Beginning to the Trek

Mountains to 3000 feet, plains, valleys, rivers, fields, national monuments, even the fin of a brand new windmill (the French call them eoliennes), you can find them all on America's roads. Yesterday was one of those gorgeous days, the weather was great, the roads not overwhelmed with traffic, which made the drive easy. We tend to forget that magnificence of the Appalachian Mountains with their rolls of hills, each one higher than the previous until you reach the Eastern Continental Divide.

Without haze we walked to see rocks 340 million years old in one of the cuts made in the 80s at Sideling Hill for the interstate. Bends of rocks, pressed by the pressures of the earth. A few minutes later we saw the unfinished work of a madman building the newest ark to take humanity, and one assumes two of every type of roach, bug, snake, deer, rat and elephant when the floods come.

Yesterdaywas four states and DC, 420 miles and a bit less than eight hourson the road—mainly because we tend to stop every two hours: Coffees at the Queen City Creamery in Cumberland, Maryland, lunch at a picnic table made of leftover smoked chicken, courtesy of Wally McClain with some cottage cheese, and gas at $3.99 a gallon in Ohio.

Ohio is quite different. Instead of mountains, it's plains. Columbus sticks up in the distance, a collection of newer architecture rising like the Emerald City. Broad wide streets, Victorian neighborhoods with brick four-squares, and sprawling suburbs of garden apartments and 60s spilt levels, very low rise.

Our BnB is in the Short North district, about a mile north of downtown and a mile from the Ohio State campus. At night High Street is lighted by arches of chromoscope lights that change color every few seconds to give a changing view of the six lane wide street...almost a boulevard. Clubs and shops that make it an urban scene.
Terry, Ben's sister, outdid herself with dinner last night. Her friends Lorraine Levesque, a retired nurse who travels and cooks extensively, and Janet Rife, volunteers manager for six downtown theaters in the city, and who runs a sex toy business on the side, made for fascinating conversation. Never let it be said you can't have good crab cakes 500 miles from the Chesapeake Bay. You can. And a Volcano Red wine from the Big Island of Hawaii, made from grape juice and jabotica berries in honor of Pele, the Hawaiin goddess of volcanos and fire. www.volcanowinery.com/.

Janet kindly gave us a ride back into town and we learned the ins and outs of her business. Today she is taking us on a tour of the theaters, many of which date back to the 1920s and 1930s. Columbus has six of them, still operating as venues.