Thursday night at the Plaza

Thursday afternoon found me with 3 days of vacation left and back in the midwest.
After Jolene's service, I back tracked a little to Delta Ohio and spent an hour or two at a few antique shops I had passed that morning. As I drove the country roads and came into downtown Archbold ( Jolene's hometown)...I couldn't help but wonder how many times Jolene had driven by these sights.
I passed the Arch motel...another antique mall...and then in downtown Archbold came across a feeling of deja vu as I passed a diner in the middle of downtown. I did a double take...and parked...grabbed the camera and crossed the street to take a picture. As I saw the small neon milkshake and hamburger signs in the window...I laughed out loud. Jolene and I had always talked about visiting each others hometowns...and as I stood in downtown Archbold...I said out loud, "Jolene, I have already been to your hometown!" I'm 95% sure that I drove thru Archbold in '99 while on tour with a band. I remember saying slow down as I took video of a small restaurant with silver and neon signs. Sure enough later that night I passed the community college where the concert was! I mused in my head that Jolene was probably in high school and maybe even hanging out when I passed the restaurant back then. Last night, talking to a friend from her home town...I found out...(incredibly)...that she WORKED at that restaurant as a waitress...so who knows maybe she's even in my drive-by video...it was a definity a surreal movie moment. I know Jolene is shaking her head in wonder, just as I was as I stood and looked at the diner!
After seeing the sights in Archbold and driving thru Bryan...where I took in a car show......(I NEED a car with fins), I decided to head to Indy via back roads. On my way out of Bryan I stopped at the Plaza motel to take a picture...and realized how very tired I was...having only slept two hours the night before. So...I pulled in, got a room and spent the rest of the night taking a drive thru Defiance and sitting in the lawn chairs outside my room using the free internet!! Mom and Pop motels forever.



Directions to here: Alternate 20 to 66 (ohio) to SR 2 to vintage neon...room #1

Wednesday's road into Thursday

Wednesday night was when I had to leave Jersey, if I was going to make it to Jolene's memorial service...so after another trip to the diner and lots of photos, I said goodbye to my Jersey friends and headed down a back road that would lead me to the mind-numbing Interstate for the 9 hour trip to Ohio.
Driving past a deli, I lamented the fact that I didn't even have time to get a real east coast bagel while I was in Jersey...let alone see all those Jersey shore kitschy motels!
...and then it happened...
i had just passed a recreation area with a lake and a pier on the right hand side of the road...and a pretty large restaurant on the left...when, i saw a large dog crossing the road. I slowed down and the dog seemed to be apologetic for being in the road and picked up it's pace...to get across into what looked like someone's yard. Then I realized that it wasn't a dog...it was a BLACK BEAR...crossing the road in the middle of RESIDENTIAL NEW JERSEY! I could not believe my eyes...especially since the next sight I saw, just a half block later was a woman walking her small dog!
I picked up my phone and called the Nichols'...as if somehow they could confirm that I had really seen what I just saw. And much to my furthur surprise they didn't seem that alarmed that a bear was walking loose in the middle of suburbia. As a matter of fact, they seemed surprised that I would be surprised that I saw a bear crossing the road. Apparantly, West Milford is KNOWN for it's wandering bears...and they aren't dangerous (???). I asked, "well, shouldn't I report it?" and Ginny told me I probably be laughed at if I did...which to me, only proved to me that I really was in New Jersey...where the phrase "shut up, you're an idiot"...is in all actuality a term of endearment.
So, I may have been facing a 9 hour site-seeing-less drive on the boring turnpike...but I had one heck of a site seen that amused me for quite a few miles of the 750 yet to come. I"m just sad that I didn't have the camera in hand....could you imagine? Bobble and the bear!!!! Well, actually, bobble has met a bear before...here's bobble when Brownie Hoshaw visited.

directions to bear crossing: Echo lake road ??? ...aka...twilight zone