The Seaway Trail

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, our story begins. No this is not StarTrek, space the final frontier, rather, my going down memory lane. Kathy and I did not start out on Lake Road, just East of County Line Road near Geneva-On-The-Lake Ohio, but this is where my earliest memories of being "at the Lake" took place. The lake is Lake Erie, the house Grampa Vencl built. A tent was pitched under the shag bark hickory tree in the foreground, and under it we slept while the foundation of cement was poured and a concrete block house rose to its full two stories. Near completion, I remember our family driving in my dad's blue 1941 four door Ford with a load of tar paper roles (Dad was a sales person for Industrial Roofing & Sheet metal) and just before Painsville Ohio, the car's axle broke. Dad called Uncle Fred (my Mom's youngest brother), and he eventually came, picked us up, and drove us to Grandpa & Grandma. The Ford was repaired the next day and Dad arrived with the roofing tar paper so that the house was enclosed. I was 4 years old. When I was 5 years of age, Dad bought mom a 1947 maroon four door Chrysler with "automatic shift" and we took that to Grandma & Grandpa's house on the lake. Look carefully and you will see a single car garage where Grandpa welded shut a hole in the gas tank of the home made tractor of the Hallupka's of Pittsburg Pa. Joining the garage and house is a breezeway where a roasting pan contained hossenfeffer, rabbit that Grandpa had shot with his 12 gauge shotgun (modified stock to accommodate winter clothing), and Grandma had marinating in a sour cream mixture. I remember eating the hossenfeffer, picking the occasional buckshot out of my teeth. You will notice the front door. Just inside, to the immediate left was a round 6 inch cathoray tube television with a magnifying glass to amplify the picture. Programing began at 4 PM. Upstairs was unfinished and each extended family had a bed of their own to sleep. Grandma & Grandpa slept in the bedroom just off the kitchen and living room, next to the North facing screened porch. 

Our journey along the St. Lawrence Seaway Trail actually starts just East of Toledo Ohio on the South shore of Lake Erie. We followed the Erie Circle Route and Ohio Coastal Trail, using National Routes 2 and sometimes 6 to Cleveland, arching South somewhat to 422 to route 44, Ravena Road, North to Punderson State Park; our first night camping. In the morning, in search of a coffee shop for breakfast, we pass through Chardon, finding nothing on the route, then Painsville, again nothing and then National Route 20. There are no good landmarks for me as we drove East. It has been 58 years since I last visited Grandpa & Grandma "at the lake." They had long since moved away into the last home Grandpa built on Willard drive in Geauga County. I did find County Line Road, then Lake Road and Grandpa & Grandma's house. A passing jogger had a quizzical look on her face as we stopped and took our picture. 

Kathy and I drove along Lake Road as it hug the contours of Lake Erie's shoreline until we reached Ashtabula and a no name diner for a late morning breakfast, coffee and conversation; cash only. Along the coast, a detail map will show "Lake Road" goes from County Line Road in Ohio, through Erie Pennsylvania, to Buffalo New York. Our stop in Erie Pa., at the entrance to Presque Isle our campsite was on the sandy shore, was cold because of a 20 knot wind off the Lake. We slept well since we had our propane furnace on which warms Rudy very well. On Presque Isle the next day, we took pictures of lighthouses, of floating summer cottages, one needed a boat to reach; and, I saw the Great Lakes bulk self unloading carrier "Cuyahoga" unloading sand. I had first seen the "Cuyahoga" earlier in May as I was crossing the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron as she was passing under the double arched bridges, as I was heading to Canada to retrieve Bounty.

Along the South coast was Dunkirk, a magnificently maintained lighthouse which we climbed to the top with its 3rd order Frensel lens. Then onto Buffalo, its rust belt of Hamburg and closed and shuttered Bethlehem Steel Co. Tom Erke, a friend from Orange High School, his first job was in the public relations department of Bethlehem Steel Co., explaining "Orange Steam" to the local community, coming from the smoke stacks.

If you discount the 25 cent magnifying viewer, and the sky scape in the background, you will see a picture of Kathy and Rich, standing almost at the very spot that my Dad and Mom stood on their honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls 8 decades ago. Scenes change, people change, and yet, things stay the same. The Seaway Trail took us along the Niagara river to Lake Ontario, Old Fort Niagara, which we will catch the next day as we head for 4 Mile Creek NY State Campground. We camp on the Lake Ontario shore, we can see the skyline of Toronto and Hamilton Ontario across the Lake.

We reversed course a bit, heading into Youngstown NY, coffee, breakfast and Internet, abruptly terminated by spilt coffee onto my Apple G4 laptop computer. I drain, literally drain the coffee from my computer, took out the battery, and we set the computer to dry out over the next 48 hours, which it did, and restarted without a hitch. Old Fort Niagara was followed by a Congressional Earmark highway (starting nowhere and ending no where) into Rochester NY. Rochester has a lighthouse which we found as well as 65 Valley Street along the Genese River where Rebecca you were conceived and brought home in 1973. I an Intern and first year Pediatric Resident at Strong Memorial Hospital. Options for lunch include "Sticky Lips" and "Bay Side". Our coastal journey East includes many lighthouses, some private we can see only at a distance, others ,we can climb and view directly, others, accessible only as in the days of yore, by boat. 

Original source writings confirm the loneliness and isolation of the lighthouse keeper and his family; nine and a half months of the year, for $400 per year pay. Please tell me how bad people have it now.

The Antique Boat Museum in Clayton NY is a highlight for me as I search for Bounty amongst the various buildings. Christ-Craft boats in their many shapes and era's abound, but no Bounty. It will not be until we leave the St. Lawrence Seaway Trail at the Eisenhower Locks and turn South into the Adirondack National Park that I get a hint of the merger of Thompson Boats of Courtland NY with Christ-Craft, for a brief time in 1960 to @ 1962, that I discover Bounty's possible origins. More anon about Bounty.

From a campsite in Old Forge Adirondack where a near strike lightning thunder bolt awaken us as well as the general community we are told the next day, we have visited the Adirondack Natural History Museum to learn about the early formation of our Earth, Glaciation, shallow rooted black spruce trees seen before by us on the Taylor Highway near the Artic Circle in Alaska. Further South to Rome NY, the now shutter and rusted Reever Ware Copper Clad cookware factory, all now made in China. Chamber of Commerce efforts at attracting business and employment to no avail. At a local diner, we hear of people at first moving away, and then returning because of missing family ties: "its hard to be in Northern California for Christmas when your family is in Upstate NY."

We head West towards the 11 Finger Lakes. Cayuga Lake, the Southern shore of which is Ithica NY and Cornell University we reach Taughanock Falls NY State Park. The NY Western County Road 89 passes the NY Chiropractic College, the College of Massage, the College of Nutition, the College of Acupuncture. If we are known by the company we keep, Cornell's reputation is in jeopardy. Kathy and I trek the Falls trail, 3 1/2 miles and 500 feet up and down before heading to Allegheny State Park, via Watkins Glen, Tobia's breakfast restaurant and more county roads, byways, and rural Eastern America. 

We stop in Randolf NY, for the Amish artifacts and find late 19th and early 20th century architecture store fronts, varied, colorful, unique, cobbled together in small town, rural USA. More cobblestone facings. Our destination is Jamestown NY, birthplace of Lucile Ball (I Love Lucy), a museum for she and her husband, Desi Arnez.  2 hours later, we are on the road again, county road 959, then 956, and back onto National Route 6 headed West, through Pymatuning State Park, Chardon Ohio, onto Interstate 90 through Cleveland Ohio, back onto route 2, and camping at East Harbor State Park, next to Marblehead Lighthouse, overlooking Cedar Point on Sandusky Bay.  The next day, and after a lighthouse tour, we head for home, through Toledo. We stop in Ann Arbor at Whole Foods, me holding a McDonald's Chocolate Milkshake cup while wearing my MSU Spartans 2000 Basketball National Champion's tee shirt. I got "looks" but no comments; an occasional smile. We did sign a petition to place the issue of stem cell research onto the November 4th 2008 ballot. 

Our meals were generally at mom and pop diners and eatery's, one extravagant meal at the Boat Yard in Ithica NY, two stops at McDonalds for the whole trip. Many dinners were in Rudy, PB&J on Rye bread from Great Harvest here off Okemos Road in Michigan. Two quarts of 1% milk and V-8 juice.

All in all, a great 10 day trip, comfortable sleeping, lots of seeing rural Americana, rusted industries, yard and trailer trash, farm land and all. Plenty of trees. No foreclosure signs. The sights we saw did not suggest that these people saw their home's equity as a piggy bank in the quest for a economically unsustainable life style.

We can wonder why Hillary connected with these USA citizen.