Cleveland, Columbus Ohio




We got an early start south back into the states into Buffalo, NY. The border crossing took about 25 minutes.  We made our way to the Rock and Roll music hall of fame in Cleveland.  There was a live band playing outside that I’m assuming is a daily occurrence.  The band wasn’t all that good, the lead singer’s voice was pretty pitchy and off key.  We enjoyed seeing all of the instruments of our favorite bands, the clothing, and the videos.  After spending about 2 1/2 hours, we were hungry and found a brewery on the river to grab a meal and refreshment.  We then needed to fuel up before making our way south a little further since it was only around 4pm.  At the gas station a friendly ex police officer warned about the danger of Cleveland saying the day before someone was gunned down at a gas station.  He made it clear that he had protection and even lifted his shirt to show his gun in his pants.  I wasn’t alarmed, but it did solidify our plans to keep moving on.  We located an elks lodge in Columbus that was not an RV park, but we decided to see if the parking lot might be suitable for an overnight stay which it wasn’t.  We went in to have a drink and were not surprised to be the only white people in the whole place with about 50 people.  The Exalted Ruler happened to be cooking the food that night and came up to us to introduce himself and let us know about the facility.  It was interesting he knew about Beaverton, OR where we are Elks members because of being the sneaker capital of the US.  He was a very nice guy who bought us a round of drinks, fed us French fries and chicken wings. Paula nor I like chicken wings, but we didn’t want to offend so we powered them down.  I played a card game with a group and lost a little money, while winning 1 pot.  Paula made friends with the DJ who ended up giving us her address so that we could park/ sleep outside her house for the night, even opening up her bathroom for our use which we declined as to not impose. This experience was truly a highlight of our trip.  I think we all had this feeling that isn’t this nice we can all get along despite a different skin color.  I believe there would be a lot more black and white people that would get along and be friends in the right circumstance like what the Elks provided.  This is the world we want to live in and we will hold this night in our memories forever. 

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