The trip started in 10-degree weather with snow packed streets and at 3:30 AM. Why you may ask did we start a trip this way? Two reasons. Nigel had some vacation time to use up and it was a Friday. Vacation time you understand, the Friday thing is a little harder to grasp so let me try and explain. We live north of Chicago and wanted to travel south of Chicago, which meant we needed to drive through Chicago. The rush hour traffic in Chicago starts about 5:30 AM and runs to about 2:30 AM each day. This gives us a very small window in which to slip through the city unhindered by rush hour traffic. We took our sleep needs and driving requirements under consideration then computed the time it would take to reach Canton, OH with a stop in Elkhorn and came up with 3:30. I drew the short straw and started the drive. The weather was cold and Chummy was also cold. He started right off but with just the front heaters working it takes awhile before the entire 28' of space is warmed up. Fortunately I had invested in an I-Pass and did not need to open my window at the numerous toll plazas through Illinois. The drive through Chicago was mostly un-eventful except that my window washers, which I had so carefully fixed, the day before failed to operate. Fortunately I have driven this road many times before and was able to remember where the turns were so a clean windshield and clear sight down the road was not necessary. I stopped somewhere just inside Indiana for fuel, Nigel woke up and tried to see out the front windshield. I then began to explain about my memory and he offered to drive. After filling the tank with fuel and cleaning the windshield we set off to conquer the Indiana Tollway.
This stretch of road through the top of Indiana can be described no other way than dull. I am convinced that it is permanently overcast with drizzle being the only deviation of weather. The terrain rivals the Dakotas on a good day with a faint glimpse of the backend outskirts of a town. We did have some excitement on our trip across nothingness. When Nigel pulled up to the tollbooth to get the ticket he found that the window was frozen and I had to get out and pick up the ticket from the toll collector! Along the way we stopped at Elkhorn to buy a light at the RV Salvage store and go to the bathroom at a rest area but neither of those activities came close to the excitement of me having to walk out and pick up the ticket from the tollbooth.
Eventually the eternity of Indiana came to an end and I made one last trip to the tollbooth, Ohio loomed ahead and soon I would be standing in front of the Ohio Turnpike Toll Booth picking up a ticket from them. The fun never stops. Ohio at least imported some gulleys, which formed small hills and added additional interest to the driving. We stopped at a rest area and made lunch for ourselves and turned the furnace on to really get Chummy heated up. Since we were out of Indiana the sun came out and the blue sky was very welcome. The remainder of our ride to Canton went by quickly and we were soon pulling into our campground.
Since I had paid for the fuel earlier in the day Nigel was quick to offer to pay for the campground. I being the ever-accepting father agreed to let him pay and pulled Chummy up to the propane tanks to get a fill before we set up. After all I thought we would need heat and that was part of camping. I found Nigel shaking his head outside the cashier's office and we proceeded to set up camp. Surprisingly we were the only ones in the park. We filled the water tank and hooked up the electric and the sewer. I turned on the water pump and there was no water, only air. We hooked up the water hose to the street inlet and purged the lines to get water and it worked fine all night long. In the morning we had no water, just air. I did have a large puddle of water under the sink and it was starting to run out into the aisle. This was a clue that maybe there was a water leak somewhere and maybe I better drain the tank. We decided we could live without water for the next two days.
Chummy stayed nice and warm using Nigel's propane in the furnace and an electric space heater. We were only a few steps from the showers and bathroom so that was not a big deal to make it over to them. The building was well heated and the showers were hot. We made our dinner for the first night and planned our day at the Hall of Fame. I was in bed early since the day had started at 3:30 and I was tired.
Today was the big day. We had talked about seeing the Football Hall of Fame for several years and now here we are. Nigel is a bigger sports fan than me but I am a bigger history fan than him so together we make an equal pair to see this venue. We both are Chicago Bears fans even though we live in Wisconsin. I was born and raised in Chicago and had attended a fair amount of early Bear games in Wrigley Field. My enthusiasm for this team was passed on to my son and he holds on to it even over his wife's objections. Although, it is hard to live in Wisconsin without some Packer interest rubbing off on us, particularly when that is the only game broadcast to us on a Sunday afternoon. I have read every book ever published on George Halas and the early Bears and Nigel had scoured the web page for the Hall of Fame (HOF) we were pumped.
We had set aside the entire day and possibly some of the next day for the HOF. I tend to do museums and places like this very slowly. I like to read each plaque and every sign. See every movie and every exhibit. Then I like to return to the ones I really liked to make certain I did not miss something. We arrived at the HOF at 10:00 and were totally done at 3:00! I mean totally every single exhibit was absorbed and digested twice. We played each game and saw the movies. We did the interactive thingies until we could do no more and it was 3:00. We were even finished in the gift shop. The exhibits were very good. The artifacts were fun to see and the movies were great. I really liked the old films. The thing is there just were not a lot of them. You would think that a professional sports league that draws millions of fans each week during the season and has been around since 1920 could put together a bigger display of their history. Missing completely was any mention of the great announcers who have called the games over the years and some of the great coaches. Can you believe that John Madden was not there as a coach but was there as a developer of the Madden Computer game! No section was devoted to Tom Landry, Curly Lambeau, or my coaching idol George Halas. Enough of my critique, we had a very good time playing with the exhibits and we were both happy that we made the trip to see the HOF. Now what to do with the rest of our time.
Canton, OH also has the presidential library of William McKinley and I think Nigel would have said no. I did not want to go so I never asked him. In Akron just north of Canton there is the Goodyear rubber plant and a lot of nothing else. The temperature outside was hovering around 15 degrees so outside activities were not an option. Our decision was a trip south to Frankfort, KY and visit to a distillery down there. Nigel said he wanted to stop at a bar in Lexington and we could watch the Bears game there. It sounded like a great plan to me so arranged to leave early in the morning with a route in hand. That night we enjoyed listening to the Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers on the local Cleveland station. We were both eager to get started on our road trip in the morning. I woke up a little bit after 8:00 or a full hour after we had planned on being on the road. Nigel was sound asleep. I grabbed my towel and soap and took off to the showers; Nigel came in about 20 minutes later to say that the sleep gods were against us. Time for a new plan.
Ohio has a fallback for every Airstream owner and that is Jackson Center. Soon we had the sewer hose and electric line stowed away and Chummy was on his way home. We began to wind our way along the rural roads of Ohio that would lead us to Jackson Center where Chummy was born. We wanted to get there in time for the Bears game today and then tomorrow hopefully get a tour of the factory. The trip across Ohio was beautiful even though I made several turns that Nigel did not understand and he had to find a different way to get us to where we wanted to go. Jackson Center had not changed since last year. We pulled into the Airstream lot and I managed to get Chummy stuck in a snowdrift. Using a dustpan and snowbrush we dug him out. Nigel would not allow me back behind the wheel and he pulled into the camping spot. We turned the game on just in time to watch the pitiful performance of our Chicago Bears, enough said. After the game we walked downtown and got a pizza, then it was back to Chummy for an exciting night in Jackson Center.
The next day we were in luck with a factory tour. There was a tour scheduled with the local high school and they allowed us to tag along. I was thrilled to actually be in the plant where the Airstreams are made. These are handmade or better-said hand crafted by people who really care about their jobs. Most of the employees I talked to had worked there for many years. I met a man who had worked there forty years and used to assemble the classic motor homes he may have even built Chummy. He and I had a good talk about how I could fix the overhead cabinets where they were sagging down. The best part of the tour was in the front lobby. Nigel kept asking me if I saw the pictures posted on the board and I was wondering why he was asking. I eventually walked over and saw Sammy's picture right there on the wall. Fran had submitted a picture to the Blue Beret magazine and they had published it. Someone must have felt it was too cute to hide and cut it out and put it up in the lobby. Naturally I had to walk over and tell everyone that it was my grandson who was in that picture. The tour was over, and I had to leave Jackson Center again, at least this time I got inside.
The ride home was quiet and with out surprises. The traffic gods were with us through Chicago and took the traffic away. We have no idea were it went but we drove straight through with out delay. The trip was a success with a lot of on the fly planning. Next year though, we have decided to go west when it is warmer.
