Another month, another United Ford Owners Meeting [7/8/09], time to tank up the car with gas and head on down to Columbus!
Missed my usual Lodi TA Truck Stop dinner [was moms b-day and so headed with the rest of the family up to Stancato’s in Parma for one of their excellent Italian Buffet extraordinaire!]. On the way down, got off I-71 at Exit 204 Lodi / Wooster to tank up since I wanted to stop off in Holmes County at Millersburg for a county roadmap along with some other local 411 swag for Hood [since we talked about him crusing around Holmes county vicinity at the Applebee’s cruise, and have been going around to all of the various counties picking up county road maps even though getting lost is becoming a specialty of mine as of late] and Holmes county being in my back yard so to speak figured it was high time to “get lost” once again, and if someone tells me to “get lost” I simply reply: “I alreardy am, thank you kindly!”.
After gassing up and headed on down Route 83 towards Wooster, and trying to remember which route thru Wooster got me to the other end of Route 83 without taking the Bypass [Wooster is really what I call a spaghetti of a whole bunch of roads coming together: US 30, US 250, Route 3, Route 83, Route 585, Route 302, Old Route 30(A) all converge in Wooster, which is why I always defer to my father whenever we go to Wooster and the Ohio Light Opera since it is his territory and I always forget which road leads to which road I want to get to since it all goes round about, but with the completion of US 30 Highway (FINALLY) a few years ago, all of the off ramp escapades have made it a little easier, but still have to pay attention to all of the signs since halfway down Route 83 I had to remember that I went the wrong way the last time I wanted to go South on through to Millersburg and ended up doing the “Bypass Carousel” and eventually finding my way, so I zagged instead of zigging this time and went past the College of Wooster and the old Best Western up the hill to the OSU AgCenter Extension and hooked up with one of the best roads to cruise on in Wayne / Holmes County, Route 83 South!
Sometime will post a listing of all the best back roads to travel, and for the driving difficulty and enjoyability, Route 83 South is quite possible the best, since it has nice curves, long straight-aways and is very easy [and of course as always, providing no local yokels are up ahead tying up the road]. Northbound Route 83 is also enjoyable, but is mostly about the beautiful scenery that can only be seen in the rearview mirror cruising southbound – and as always, the usual disclaimer applies if it is during the summer cruising months and should have been mentioned before to which I do apologize: Windows along with the convertible tops down is preferred cruising through these counties, only if one is not offended by “farm” smells that one may “run” across from time to time [and since I have little choice in the matter since I have to keep my heater cranked all of the time to keep the car from overheating] along with the occasional raccoon “speed bump” driving any one of these roads with the throttle wide open and driving thru towns and villages that time has seemingly stood still for the past 100 years is something really enjoyable! One might ask, well the road is the same so why is one direction more better for driving and the other direction better for scenery, well, its just probably me having driven up and around these parts for the better of 20 years now, and is just personal preference [the way the road is set up heading southbound Route 83 the car handles the curves better the one way than heading up the same road the opposite way etc, and have had arguments with my cousins until we go out and settle our point by going out and driving it – we didn’t have video games back then in “1990 Something” – deputy sheriff lived by my cousin and every time the department got a new squad car they would go out and see who was faster, the squad car or the Cougar and it got so that the deputy would tell the chief that he was taking my cousin’s car since it was faster out on calls until one time he took a hill a little too fast and ended up airborne and in the back half of a wagon which ended that cars law enforcement career] but always tell folks just to do what song title says: “Go Your Own Way”
Finally got to Millersburg [a lot quicker than I am currently writing, eh?] and had the address of the Holmes County Road Engineer, and although I emailed them earlier to make sure [since the local visitors chamber didn’t have the detailed road maps I went down to earlier in the year] I found out that there was a distinct difference between East Jackson Street and West Jackson Street, both Route 39, and after 20 minutes of back and forth on West Jackson [including a side trip up a lane and a half road winding up and up and up and passing a local Amish buggy, only to figure out a way back down but first had to turn around so found an old “Wye” turnaround and went back down and stopped and asked at the local gas station, and found out I needed to be on the other side of Route 83 heading east on Route 39, so after heading back with maps in hand, headed back south towards to Columbus on Route 83, and turned onto Route 62 South for further adventures.
Had a “parade” of locals, which normally turn off after a couple of miles since most traffic that is run into will part ways and will have the open road to open up the throttle with, but for some reason today, just couldn’t shake two of them [one having a Georgia license plate, and the other who (unfortunately was a newer Grand Marquis) insisted on driving 30 MPH around corners and cranking it up to 70 on the straight-aways, and passing was definitely not an option, but found a place to “slingshot” pass both of them just above the Route 13 interchange. Got kinda confused with the new “turn about” just outside of New Albany, but once I found Morse Road then I knew Hamilton Road was just around the corner.
Got back on I-70 and moseyed on back North on I-71 after the United Ford Owners meeting, but it was still light out and hadn’t been up North on Route 3 in a long time, so got off at US 36 in Delaware and headed west to connect back up with an old “friend” so to speak, and for all of my years of traveling up and down / back and forth, I have always missed PaceMakers Drag Racing Park where the car club holds its drag racing meets, so made sure I knew where it was for the next club meeting there, and found it just south of Mt. Vernon [and the question is: Will I be able to find it going southbound now that I know where it is heading northbound?? Stay Tuned!].
With the light turning to dusk and dusk now night, time for a Possum Run, which is driving the back roads [preferably paved] at night with the throttle as WIDE OPEN as possible [sometimes do a timing run – getting to a place as fast as possible and then going again to see if the time can be beaten going only the back roads, sort of a nighttime Cannonball Run], and not hitting any possums in the meantime. Drove up thru Loudonville, and thought about driving up to Reflection Ridge – which is a tiny Methodist churchyard where my grand-folks and all their kinfolk got married that overlooks US 30 and the City of Wooster and the traffic below looks like little lightening bugs scurrying along in a straight line – but instead decided to do a Timing / Possum Run up Route 60 between Loudonville and West Salem, which in hindsight was not among the Top 10 Dumb Things I Have Ever Done, but is pretty close, since the asphalt was just repaved with no edge lines or centerlines, so it was AGHHHHHHHH! all the way up, and had all exterior lights on and ready, since a pitch black night on new blacktop with no white edge lines on a zigzags road, it could be me ending up as Middle of the Road Kill, and yes, I did see a possum on the side of the road [which looked like it was saying “After You” to which I obliged] as I whizzed by and turning off some lights for the oncoming traffic, and looking up ahead to see if there was a car up ahead as to see which way the road was going to turn [although with most country roads, its best not to rely solely on a car’s taillight since it is most likely another back road all together] and with what I consider the most dangerous intersection I have ever come across, Route 60 and Route 95, whereas even though Route 60 has the right of way, there are blindspots at all four corners, and at night the lights help immensely, I that is one intersection I won’t go on during the day and should obviously be made a four way stop [this intersection along with Route 89 at US 250 it is a wonder more folks aren’t killed at either intersection than already have been].
After 2 more “Double Z” curves finally made it up to US 30 interchange making great time, but ODOT spoiled the fun and had to take a detour, and normally ROAD CLOSED is not in my vocabulary, but tonight decided that detour means opportunity so headed back west down US 30, and hadn’t been on Route 511 before, so hooked a right and headed back towards Ashland and got on US 42 Northbound to complete the Possum Run to West Salem. Rounded Lodi and headed back east towards Wadsworth on US 422 / I-76 East to get to their 24 hour Wal-Mart then back up Route 94 to pack it in and back to the barn to wrap up another Cruisin’ Day
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