Hit the road from Conneaut, Ohio early Sunday morning. Back to back 100-mile days have left me a little spent, and I’m looking to take it a bit easier today.
Stopped in a small community, Geneva, Ohio. Walked into Mary’s diner, which looked really retro from the outside but the red, swirley design on the front counter made me nauseous so I left.
I was consulting my map when an old man and his wife exited the diner and made their way toward their car. “You out riding?” said the old man who was adorable with evergreen work pants pulled up to his chest, small tufts of hair coming out of his ears and he wore white, Velcro tennis shoes. I said I was bicycling back to Milwaukee. “Traveling by yourself?” he asked all happy as he turned to wait for his wife who used a walker with tennis balls on the legs.
The old man, Pete, didn’t wait for me to answer and he threw another question my way.
“You been raped yet, while on this trip?” I bit my lower lip. It was like Raggedy Ann just swore. “Well, you know that’s out there … I think you’ve been lucky so far,” said Pete who was a cut-to-the-chase kinda guy.
I tried to change the subject and asked Pete how far Cleveland was from Geneva. “You’re not going there are you? There’s a lot of shootings there, especially on the east side,” he said. “It’s the 'coloreds,' you know.”
In order to retain my thoughts of feeling safe, I had to leave Pete and his sweet wife with the walker. Despite his warning I continued into Cleveland and managed to catch a ride to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was raining something awful and I deemed the stop a well-deserved break.
The Hall of Fame was well worth it. Some of the highlights included the Les Paul display with an electric guitar from 1915. There was a portion of Otis Redding’s plane from when it crashed in 1967 en route from Cleveland to a performance in Madison. Real letters from musicians to Rolling Stone Magazine were interesting. A hand-written note from March 1969 criticized the magazine for not being accurate in a story about groupies. The letter was from Frank Zappa.
Another type written note on yellow, lined legal paper was from March 1982 and photographer Annie Leibovitz outlined her own contract with Rolling Stone. Her last line: "I AM the chief photographer."
There was a big exhibit on The Clash. I thought it funny a boy who was about 10 years old and was secretly using his cell phone to snap a picture of the album cover for "London Calling." No video or snap photography is allowed at the Hall of Fame.
As I was set to leave, it was still rainy and Jim and Debbie, who were also leaving the Rock and Roll exhibit gave me directions on how to get out of Cleveland … and then they made it easy. “Why don’t we just throw your bike in our van and we’ll drive you to the next town.”
PHEW! They gave me a lift safely outside Cleveland and joined me for dinner after touring around Oberlin, Ohio.
Judy is a Milwaukee native who is ever exploring the country. Her favorite mode of travel is her 21-speed, blue Centurion bicycle, which she bought after high school. Judy has worked in the local media for the past 20 years. "I need to do something to support my biking habit."
Judy has an extensive history in radio news, having worked at WISN, WUWM, WTMJ, WKTY in La Crosse and WBKV in West Bend. A strong interest in sports also had Judy reporting for ESPN Radio covering the Packers, Buck, Brewers and Badgers. "One of my first Brewer games at County Stadium the security guy yelled as I walked into the locker room LADY IN THE LOCKER ROOM. Now its so commonplace. But that story makes me sound really old."
Judy is currently working at WISN-TV in Milwaukee. She is a freelance writer and her pieces have been seen in The Small Business Times and The Business Journal. Her travel journal has appeared in Minnesota Trails Magazine, The Statesman and the West Bend Daily News, to name a few.
Aside from biking, running and being active in her community, Judy is known as someone who is "very, very thrifty." "I get candles for Christmas. My friends call them my space heaters because I normally keep the heat in my house at 40 degrees during the winter. Its not that I cant afford to turn up the thermostat, I just hate paying for heat."
Judy said her "conservative attitude" plays a part in her bike tours ... not needing to pay for gas and frequently spending nights camping inside churches. "First of all, it makes me feel safe since Im traveling alone and second all youre doing is sleeping, so why pay for that. Its no wonder I cant ever get someone to travel with me."
Judy grew up in Whitefish Bay and graduated from Dominican High School and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Judy is the second oldest among seven siblings and spends a lot of her time working as a "park tester" along with her eight nieces and nephews.
