We started our day at our favorite restaurant having a great breakfast and saying “see you in a month,” to our favorite waitstaff. Thank you, Steve’s Original Diner for being our home away from home.
Just in case you don’t know about RT 66. It’s starting place is in Chicago, and Rochester, NY, is a few miles from there. So, we have to do some driving to get there. Today our destination was Cleveland, Ohio. When you are both senior citizens and you know you have a few hours in the car, you can easily revert to being a child. We wondered if on this trip we would see all 50 states license plates. What a surprise. Before leaving New York state we saw 21 different states, counting our own. Then the highlight of the day, in Pennsylvania, we saw an Alaska plate. We had expected that and Hawaii to be on the endangered list. By the time we got to Cleveland we had seen 28 different plates. This game might not last as long as we thought especially since we still have nine more states to travel through before the end of the month.
We left home at 11:18 am with an odometer reading of 60,976 miles. We paid $2.74 a gallon for gas to fill the tank. We each have a suit case and computer case, one six-pack size cooler, and an extra bag for footwear and swim wear. We used to do nine-day trips on a motorcycle and I don’t carry any make-up, plus we will be staying in Best Western’s that have a laundry room, so we feel we have adequate clothing. Oh, there are two red coats in the miniscule trunk that match the car, in case we need them. I do travel with my own pillow.
We used WAZE for driving directions instead of Google Maps, but when comparing them they seemed very similar. WAZE does warn you about police in your locale, though we didn’t see them. We had the top down for a few miles, but rain forced us to stop and put it up. Had we been on a motorcycle we would have been wet till we got to our destination. There is a lining to that cloud of aging when back and knee issues make you give up a favorite toy for another type.
You are probably wondering why we only went as far as Cleveland. That’s where our “bonus son” and his family live so the stop was a no-brainer. What’s a bonus son you ask. A child you claim as your own, but you didn’t have to raise. He’s been a part of our life for 13 years. He’s now a sportscaster for WEWS Ch. 5, Cleveland, Ohio. His wonderful wife made us dinner and their two-year-old, Theo, kept us entertained until Daddy got home from work. Then we spent a couple more hours catching up on family news. Part of that conversation was about the Emmy Jon won for Hosting and Producing the Cleveland Browns football pregame show. Little side story, a few years back a friend of Bob’s asked Jon why he thought he could make a living doing sports news on television. Jon’s answer then was, “Because I’m good at it.” Now at the age of 31 he has his first Emmy. The kid knew his calling and followed it. We are proud of him. Tomorrow I’ll tell you more about his wife.
Theo and Bob
Jon’s Emmy in front of a saying he gave his wife when they were living and working on opposite coasts.
Sue Spitulnik 