It was a very gray and overcast day with no sign of sunshine.  I departed the George Craig Travel Plaza by 6:35am at MM 90 with 189 range and headed back to the toll roads for a quick trip to Maumee, OH.  Only 10 miles later at mile marker 100 a truck passed by from Jasper, Indiana… bringing to mind a very dear friend from Marin, CA.  I listened to internet radio,  ABC News Channel, and heard a report about the devastating effects of drowsy driving.  This confirms that the frequent resting approach to my journey makes the safest sense.  Another report was about a company called Vertical Water which is in business to help maintain maple forests.  They are selling maple water, which is the sap from maple trees without all of the cooking down that it takes to turn it into maple syrup.  I will have to find some of this healthy water at Whole Foods Market sometime soon.

I paid the last toll in Indiana with a 5 dollar bill and received 70 cents change at 7:37am.  This was about halfway to the Maumee, OH charger and I had 18,069 on the odometer and 123 range in the car. The Welcome to Ohio sign said, “So Much to Discover”.  For me it will be about discovering my earliest roots since I hope to see the places where I was raised as an infant.  (Details in next post).  As I drove in Ohio I found that most of the barns here are red, and there are a LOT of them.

I paid the $4.25 toll at Exit 59 and arrived in Maumee at 8:40am to charge at the Meijer Superstore.  Odometer was 18,130 with temp of 76 degrees and only 66 range remaining.  Here I saw my first rain since Wyoming.  It started as a very gentle one, but then it developed into a real downpour… good for rinsing off the car!  Freight trains were rumbling by with the track adjacent to this massive parking lot. I noticed a strange sight, a car circling around for more than 10 minutes which appeared to be slowly moving closer to the charging car.  Is it possible that no one was driving and there could be an impending crash?  No, it turns out that the guy in the car was talking on his cell phone while driving in circles.  WEIRD!  And what a waste of gas.  He finally drove away.

I met Lisa as she drove up in a scarlet red 85kw Tesla.  She is from Indianapolis, IN and was on a trip to have fun with friends in Cleveland, OH.  Her kids were in camp and her husband was busy working, so he loaned her his car for this fun break. After speaking with her, I went into the store to purchase 4 rechargeable batteries with charger to get my camera back to functional. I ate some breakfast, called my Mom to talk about Ohio and our family history there, and set off at 11:50am to see Lake Erie and some of the towns where we had lived.  It was pouring rain and had cooled slightly to 73 degrees.  I departed with 203 range.