LATEST TRICKS: At the Crossroads of America

We made it safe and sound to Indiana last night and pulled into the Patchwork Quilt Country Inn in Middlebury about 2:30 this morning.  Owners Tammy and Ed McKean went above and beyond, making every accommodation to make our arrival comfortable.  There was even a plate of freshly-baked cookies waiting for us in our room.  Now THAT'S customer service!

Our first stop of the trip was CoffeeMania in Cortland. Rover, our mini-van, needs fuel...and so do we.  There's no finer brew and the service is always prompt and cheerful.

Our first restaurant stop?  A&W for chili dogs to go (with onions to add fragrance to our long drive).  Cortland  is fortunate to have one of the few remaining A&W's in the country with car-hop service.  It is beautifully maintained and has a lovely, old-fashioned miniature golf course right next store.  A nostalgia-lover's paradise!

Fueled and fed, we headed west to Ithaca.  We made a brief stop at the Ithaca Bakery for more "fuel" and Ithaca Brewing Company for a sample of Partly Sunny, their excellent summer ale.  Alas, no more bottles until next year...something to look forward to!

From there we made our way across New York state on the Southern Tier Expressway, crossing Chautauqua Lake at sunset.  We passed briefly through the northwest corner of Pennsylvania near Erie and then on through Ohio.  Since Ohio hadn't been on our original itinerary (we had planned to go through Ontario, Canada to Detroit), we found it particularly appropriate that we passed through the Buckeye State entirely in the dark.  We just weren't meant to see Ohio on this trip, both literally and figuratively!

Here's a snapshot of Cleveland, as seen from Rover as we drove by at 9:07pm Wednesday night.  Next up: Indiana's Amish Country.
--Ted