October 13th: Arriving in the land of Cleve, the Clevers, and Abigu
Eliza and I finally arrived in Cleveland last night around 11pm, thanks in part to a retarded traffic light system in NY State where route 17 changes into Interstate 86 in a small town West of Binghamton via a set of 3 stoplights set 3 blocks apart = GIANT TRAFFUCK, aka a 6 mile backup in the middle of cow country. State/City planners and traffic engineers please note: YOU BLEW THIS ONE. Not that I am bitter or anything, but that was an hour and a half of my life that I am not getting back. Thankfully I had two weapons at the ready: H. Gregg and his trusty-rusty google maps and my sister. Gregg served as navigator, and by counting streets and landmarks, helped navigate us around the giant cluster of traffic. My sister in her infinate wisdom had gone to Barnes and Nobles on Friday to get two books: the Guinness Book of World Records 2006 and Fun Facts; when I start getting sleepy or angry, or start doing anything else the seven dwarves did, she reads me facts and makes me guess the answers to such curiosities as "which mammal has the deepest recorded dive?" and "is there a tree taller than the Statue of Liberty?" Highlights from the drive include lovely fall foliage, many jersey and holstien cow farms, Abigail suggesting "Hypotenuse DeRocker", and the 1-888-HOLY-COW storage facility East of Binghamton. We failed to witness a flake of snow that still had the Rochester to Buffalo section of the NYS Thruway closed last night. For those of you concerned about our sustenance, I still had a 1/2 of a turkey sub from Roma's in Saratoga Springs, NY, however, Eliza decided to snack on a Wendy's Junior Bacon Cheeseburger in Erie, PA. She had chozen poorly as the bun was stale, and she decided against eating the rest of her frosty because she was freezing. But the good news was that we were only an hour and a half from Cleveland when we stopped for gas and food in Erie, and we would be meeting Abigail and Raghu at Royal Vines, a wine-inspired eatery in North Royalton, Ohio. Abigail and Raghu had 2 glasses of Champagne Dreams ordered for us upon arrival, as well as a pear, walnut, and blue cheese pizza (its a dessert pizza - sweet and savory at the same time). Of course, Eliza and I ordered the flourless chocolate cake, and two more drinks. I had a hot toddy as well. We met Alex the bartender and "Eric, honey?". Eliza asked us all what HALL-oh-ween was. I am still not feeling all that great but Dr. Raghu is doing his best to take care of me. Finally got to bed around 12:30pm.