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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

On this day, we were traveling only 40 miles from the big city of Cleveland to the small city of Burton; from the hustle and bustle of downtown to the quietness of the country; from the present to the past – non-Amish to Amish. We took a main street route exiting Cleveland which wound through the famous Cleveland Clinic campus and then through Little Italy and all of a sudden we were in the countryside. We arrived in Burton very quickly, too soon for the Red Maple Inn to have our rooms ready. Apparently all 17 of the B&B's rooms had been occupied the previous night. We were soon to find out why. So we drove the 1/4 mile or so back to the traffic circle and headed for the Car Wash/Laundromat. While Rob and Doug washed the cars, Marilyn did a load of laundry in a laundry run by two Amish ladies. When we were able to check into our rooms it was thanks to some Amish ladies who worked in the Inn. It seems that, in this day and age, there have been some changes. Amish folk can ride in a car if it is a way to get to work, but use the horse and buggy otherwise. Amish folk may not have electricity in their home, but can work in an inn or laundromat where they are required to use electrical appliances to do their job. After the cars were clean, Rob and Doug left in the ZR-1 to get a new battery for it at the local dealership. It had needed a jump on two occasions during the trip, mostly when we had used the GPS without starting the engine. Rob knew that the battery would eventually fail as it has been discharged several times when we first had the car and while he would have preferred to replace it with an Odyssey, this one would be free under warranty and would make for a much better rest of the trip. Marilyn and Daryl unpacked and took the Glenores' car up to the diner next to the laundromat, where Daryl had her version of comfort food, a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich with the best french fries ever, and Marilyn had a superb salad. As we were close to finishing, the guys turned up and had a little something to eat as well since we were going to be in the Burton Car Show that night and had no idea what the food situation would be. This car show was something Leonard had done before and when we got back to the Inn from lunch, Leonard and Carol were there. Burton has a car show every Wednesday on a few blocks of their Main Street just off the traffic circle. We got there about 4:30 to get a place. Apparently the previous week they had had more than 100 cars. On this date there were fewer cars because of a misunderstanding in communications. Our three cars were the Featured Car of the Week and the DJ played Beach Boys music every time he mentioned one of them. It was an easy-going evening. The shops were open, including a blown glass gallery, which Daryl pulled Rob away from the cars to see, so you could wander around and talk about the cars with the owners (Leonard loves sitting by his car and talking to folks who come by) or get something to eat or check out the stores. The car show broke up a little early because everyone had heard there was going to be a storm, but the sky was clear as a bell. Just before we left, Marilyn won more car cleaner in the raffle. That night the sky opened up and the storm did occur with major thunder and lightening.

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