“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.” – Song of the Open Road – Walt Whitman (Wiki)
After a year of waiting & healing (somewhat) I finally departed on my 9000+ mile excursion around the US and BC, Canada on Saturday. As is always the case I spent the first 100 or so miles playing the, “what did I forget” game. Aside from a few small things, that I can easily pick up along the way, the only potentially significant thing was a second ATM card (I usually carry two when I travel just in case). Oh well, I was about 50 miles from home when I remembered so I threw caution to the wind (ha ha) and carried on without it.
Since I’ve always been a baseball fan (and player) I decided to take the opportunity to catch as many games as possible as I work my way through the various cities on my route and the first one was in Cleveland. Unfortunately (as usual), I left quite a bit later than expected so (as usual) I drove like a mad man to get to Cleveland ASAP to catch the game. I arrived in the second inning….not too bad.
They have a great stadium (Progressive Field, Wiki) and it was a good game.
The Indians beat the Royals 4-0 and included a great catch by Indians center fielder Bradley Zimmer…..
And an unexpected bonus after the game….fireworks. I’m sure it wasn’t because I was visiting 🙂 but I enjoyed them anyway. It was really nice with the city in the background. Here’s a sample…..
The next morning, I attended service at Church Alive International and heard a good message entitled “The 4 Things You Should Teach Your Children”. Number 2 was, “Choose Your Relationships Wisely”….good advice for sure. He gave a statistic that was something like 80% or more of what we think and believe is influenced by the people we routinely associate with. Something to think about for sure.
After the service I drove straight to the second item on the Cleveland list…..The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Wiki). Being a musician I’ve always wanted to visit this place and in short, I LOVED it! While the collection of memorabilia was not huge (aside from guitars which they have many….YAY), I really liked the way they told the story of the history of Rock & Roll from its roots (according to them) of country, blues, gospel and even bluegrass….double YAY! I spent almost 4 hours there and could have spent much. It is a definite must see for any musician or anyone who loves Rock & Roll and ventures anywhere close to Cleveland.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Who knew Elvis was the original wolverine
Rick James bass
Angus Young’s school boy suit
Cleveland Rocks
Before saying goodbye to Cleveland I had one more stop. How many of you recognize this house?
“You’re going to shoot your eye out!!!” 😉
After that I drove about 2 hours to Detroit to check it out and visit the MoTown Museum (MoTown Museum, Wiki ) it’s in the original house where MoTown was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1959.
While I was there I had a conversation with a man who told me about the Berry Gordy Jr. mansion (Images) that was only a mile or so away. So I drove over and checked it as well.
After that I headed downtown to check out Comerica Park (Comerica Park, Wiki) the home of the Detroit Tigers. Unfortunately the Tigers were out of town but the stadium looked really nice. Actually, downtown Detroit looked a lot nicer than I expected (I apologize if any of you are from Detroit). I also saw Ford Field (Ford Field, Wiki) of the Detroit Lions) and the famous Fox Theater (Wiki) everyone in soul, blues, gospel and so many others performed over the years.
My day that began at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland ended at the “Big House” in Ann Arbor Michigan (Michigan Stadium). For the record I am not a Michigan fan. However, this is a place that, growing up a sports fan, I have heard about and seen on TV most of my life. Since I was literally passing within 5 miles of it on the interstate I had to take a few minutes and drive by and check it out. The Crisler Center (where Michigan plays basketball) is right beside the stadium.
I drove a couple of more hours and crashed for the night. On to Chicago tomorrow!
NOTE:
To view ALL pictures related to this blog click here: Cleveland & Detroit – US & BC trip 2017
To view ALL videos related to this blog click here: Cleveland & Detroit – US & BC trip 2017
Roger King says:
Sounds like you are off to a great start. What an experience!