Day 8

Mel was getting anxious because she was pretty sure we were going to hit her home state. Lisa and I were just excited to potentially get out of the hills. We tried Fried Dill Pickles (not recommended) at a great diner in Mercer, PA and then headed up to the Ohio border. Seriously, as soon as we crossed the border, the road flattened out.
In Warren, OH, I called my mother and asked how far we were from Shaker Heights, where my grandmother lives. She said 20 miles.
Ummm. It’s not 20 miles.
Lisa and I decided to head toward Shaker because we thought it would be closer than Medina, where Mel headed. Once again we found that state maps can make towns look deceptively close.
The dollar drafts sign about twenty miles down the road was way too tempting, so we stopped and met Craig at Coachz “Grill”, who told us we were welcome to stay in the backyard for the night. We also met Coach Tarr, who runs a basketball camp at St. Peter’s Chanel in Bedford, OH. He asked if we’d come speak to his students in exchange for a human tunnel to bring us into town. I mean, who can turn that down? Meanwhile, the waitresses at Coachz took one look at us and decided we needed to clean up a bit if we were going to hang out for the night. A hot shower magically appeared in the basement. Ladies, thank you.
A night of good sleep was in order, though I discovered that my sleeping bag is kind of suffering. It got a bit cold.