Category: Ohio

Well we made our first-stage (eastern) objective, despite two days of threatening skies and intermittent rain. We were greeted by friendly faces, the first home cooked meal in four weeks and my wife Marilyn, who showed up to surprise me. But we didn’t make our seventh-hundredth mile. Oh well. Odometer evidence below.

Ken and Clare Hall, my brother-in-law and his wife, have been an integral part of my life for a long time. And not only are they family, they’re close friends as well. One of those nice twists of fate that has you actually liking the people you are related to.

Ever since we left New York, crossing the Appalachian Mountains had been a big milestone. We knew the range had nothing like the height or reputation of its western siblings, but this gnarly, weatherbeaten series of ridges was intimidating. And while we only nudged 3000 feet a couple of times, that intimidation was richly deserved. Finally, when we crossed the Ohio River this morning at Wheeling, WV, and entered Ohio, that milestone had been accomplished.

But the very day that the one objective had been accomplished, another was proving impossible. It had finally sunk in, that while we made it from New York to Ohio in 16 days, we just weren’t going to make it to California in the four weeks we had left. The solution seemed obvious.