Friday the 13th aka day 2

Friday, the 13th, 7:30am
Gas report: $1.96 -- $1.87 -- $1.989
Weather: Brisk wind, 0 degrees, sunny with clear skies. Heavy cloud cover at 9:12. By noon the sun is peaking through & raising the temp. to 5 degrees Celsius.
Ironic that today is the 13th and not yesterday. We’re travelling alongside Lake Erie on I90 in Cleveland on a 4-laner. Like other big American cities we’ve passed through, it has a large stadium, airport and massive marina with an equivalent population of gulls flying overhead, all downtown.
I71 south, halfway between 80 and 271 in Brunswick, Ohio, we pull off and into a garden centre parking lot. We have a sway problem. After a long telephone conversation with a Hensley technician, we identify the culprit – a bent sway bar. The local autobody shop saves the day in under one hour. Bending the bar tube didn’t work as that created a flat spot so they cut it and welded on another piece of pipe. And magically the master lock on the trailer door now functions. Go figure.
What do you call it when the sky is darkened by a zillion smallish black birds? They break into two, one each side of the 6-lane highway. Then another slightly smaller group which settles in the eastern field. A Lodi discount mall complete with train rides – much, much bigger scale than my father’s setup. A sign warning that firewood and ash tree transport is prohibited beyond this point.
Breakfast never happened as each place we attempted had no parking for us. At 12 we finally suceed with Cracker Barrel, a chain we’ve eaten ate. Despite the hour, this restaurant has a very big crowd and serves up excellent buttermilk pancakes with real butter and maple syrup.
Dog report: Seems Leila adapts better to change, inhaling her meals with the usual speed; Gypsy is a wee bit clingy and hyper and not so enthusiastic about her food. Both need a good run and of course that’s not going to happen for a bit. As always they have the complete back of the Ford (seats are down), 2 toys each and of course 2 beds.
Cincinnati – big city, home to the Reds & Paul Brown stadium next to another slightly smaller one and arena all overlooking the Ohio River. Surprisingly traffic was nothing like what we experience in Ottawa at the same time of day.
We plan to stop east of Louisville at a Red Roof Inn close to the ring road. If I have the patience, I will address the problem of not being able to send mail. It’s just a toggle switch setting, but of course I can’t remember in what menu. Maybe this time I’ll have the smarts to write it down.
Well guess what, the best laid plans … Seems there is a state agricultural fair happening in Louisville and there is not a motel room to be had. So much for my 5:00pm plan which is now an 8:00pm plan ‘cause it took that long to drive to Elizabethtown. Well at least we didn’t have to continue on to … who cares at this point. And I have to add that this motel is the shabbiest I’ve ever stayed in.