Nomad Life - Day 167

Despite my late bedtime, I still woke up at 0600 this morning.  I took advantage of the extra time by reading, working on Duolingo exercises and completing puzzles on my phone.  At 0730, I went to breakfast in the Lobby of Red Roof Inn (Clyde).  Back in my room about 20 minutes later, I spent time working on my blog and eBird records.  There was also some time for me to research lodging options for later in the day.  Next, I started packing up my car - I was able to check out of my room by 1015.  The temps were 14 F but it seemed MUCH colder.  Before I could leave the parking lot, I had to clear a lot of ice in my wheel wells.  When I was able to depart Clyde, I backtracked (via US-20) to Fremont and went to Mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church (1030).  The inside of the building was very pretty and it was warm - however, I had the misfortune of sitting immediately in front of a woman who sang and prayed about as loudly as anyone - it was distracting!  When the service was over (1115), I drove (about a mile) to Spiegel Grove, which was the home of President Rutherford B. Hayes (they also had a Museum and Library there too).  Because it wasn't yet open to the public, I started walking around the property (1125).  The estate was pretty big and had lots of trails - I later read that former President used to have a goal of six miles of walking every day.  Despite the cold, I still encountered lots of people with dogs.  After about 30 minutes on the trails, I went inside the (now open) building and got a ticket for the Presidential Museum (1200).  Actually, I could have toured the home but skipped that due to time constraints.  Instead, I toured the exhibits, which were very good.  I learned more about the 19th President and the hotly contested Election of 1876, which was decided by only 1 Electoral Vote after months of wrangling.  I believe I saw everything they had on display but I never saw a single mention of why Hayes left office after only one term - a docent told me that he'd indicated he thought he'd accomplished all his goals and didn't need to be reelected...  I departed from Freemont at 1305 - by then, it was a chilly 20 F.  These temps didn't seem to agree with my Subaru, unfortunately, because I'd started to get the "TPMS" failure light on my dash again - fortunately, it's intermittent and the tire pressures seem good.  To continued my drive towards the East Coast, I got back on US-20, which was a nice four lane highway - unfortunately, I had really bad luck with the few traffic signals I encountered and spent the next 30 minutes stopping and starting with no traffic around me.  I passed through Monroeville at 1335 and changed to OH-18 about 10 minutes later.  After that, it was Clarksfield (1400), Penfield (1415), Litchfield (1420) before I exited the highway on to side streets that took me to the town of Medina by 1430.  After that, I used OH-3, CR-37, I-271 and OH -303 to reached the town of Peninsula.  My goal, all along, had been to check out Cuyahoga National Park - I arrived at the park Visitor Center at Boston Mill by 1500.  The park property was located very close to some busy ski areas (Boston Mills Resort and Brandywine Resort) and I watched lots of people having a blast on the slopes.  Even with temps in the teens and 20s, I managed to log some time outdoors and I had fun exploring the little (reconstructed) "village" at Boston Mill Station, a stop along the Ohio & Erie Canal Tow Path and Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.  In addition to logging some more distance on the Buckeye Trail (it crossed the Park), I also walked on the Ohio & Erie Canal Tow Path.  During this stop, I also talked with the staff in the Visitor Center and helped them with a survey.  Next, I drove north on OH-9 until I reached the village of Brecksville (part of Cuyahoga County!) at 1545.  From there, I continued to the east and south until I reached Brandywine Falls five minutes later.  Once I was parked at the lot there, I carefully navigated slippery stairways and got some spectacular views of the completely frozen Brandywine Falls.  This stop was even better than the last one had been - I logged a second mile of walking for the day (reaching two since I woke up).  It's always good when I can make progress on my step goals while also making good time in my drive...  Finished with the sightseeing, I departed the National Park at 1615 and took back roads (towards the northeast) until I reached OH-91.  This part of the drive was intended to take me through the town of Twinsburg and I arrived there at 1630.  During my visit, I explored the town square, the Middle School & nearby Chamberlain Park, which is apparently the scene of the Annual Twins Day Festival (each August).  In our family, this place has been famous for years; my girls and I were thinking this was a town completely devoted to Twins but it turned out to be a rather normal Midwestern Village.  I'll admit that I felt a bit cheated but, at least, I learned about the (twin) founders, Moses and Aaron Wilcox before I gave up my search.  Instead, I stopped at the local Dairy Queen to eat a late lunch / early dinner (1700).  Even though I ate in the restaurant, I was on the road again less than 20 minutes later.  It didn't seem intuitive, but Google Maps suggested I take I-480 to the west so I could intercept I-271 again.  I didn't argue and was soon headed north.  The progression of towns and routes from this point included: Mayfield (1735), I-90, Mentor (1745), Madison (1800) and the Pennsylvania Border (1830).  Meanwhile, the temps dropped to 5 F and I began to get tired.  I stopped briefly at a rest area and made a hotel reservation.  Otherwise, I passed the time by listening to Super Bowl LX on SiriusXM.  At 1900, I arrived at my hotel, the Red Roof Inn near the Interstate in Erie, PA.  Once I'd checked into my room, I turned on the TV (rare for me to ever do when I'm traveling) and watched Super Bowl.  Because of this choice, I stayed up until about 2300 and then had lots of trouble getting to sleep because of the loud neighbors.  Hopefully, I'll still get some quality sleep because I need to be in Albany tomorrow night!