Cross Country Journey - First Stop, Ohio

I am in the process of moving from New York City to San Francisco (well, I guess technically the East Bay, but until I find a place who really knows exactly where I'll end up).  Since I've got some time off in between jobs, I thought it would be nice to make my journey into a cross country road trip; however, being carless in NYC kind of cramped the driving the whole way bit.  I figure I'm going to be close enough though.  I departed NYC on May 11 (thanks Maureen and Ron for letting me crash at your places after my lease ended!) and flew to my parent's place just outside of Youngstown, OH.  I only cheated the first 400 miles of the trip, so like I said, close enough.  

My folks' place in Austintown, OH.  We moved here in 1988 from another house in the same town.

My first order of business was to purchase a vehicle in order to make the whole driving thing an actual possibility.  I was pretty set on getting a Prius prior to arriving in OH, so we hit a Toyota dealership in Boardman first thing.  My first test drive of the Prius was nice, although I could tell I hadn't driven in a while.  I'm still getting used to driving again.  My dad was a bit against me buying car made outside of the US, so the Chevy Malibu hybrid was constantly being mentioned and I also wanted to test drive the honda Insight hybrid for a comparison as well.  We headed for the Honda dealership next where I test drove the Insight.  It didn't drive nearly as smoothly and I felt like I was sitting really low in the vehicle, so I was quite as excited about it.  It wa a lot cheaper than the Prius, but since Toyota was offering 0% financing, by the time you factores in the interest with the payments ont he Insight it was going to cost more for a lot less vehicle.  The Insight was officially out.  We went to another Toyota dealership in Warren after that to see if I could get a better deal on a Prius and to test drive it again just to be sure.  The second test drive confirmed my feelings at that point and Dave at the Warren dealership was going to give me a much better deal than I was being offered at the Boardman dealership, so I was sold at that point.  My dad wasn't so much - the whole not made in the USA thing, so we were off to find a Chevy dealership to test out the Malibu.  It was amusing to watch Dave and my dad chide each other about the Prius vs. the Malibu hybrid.

The one thing that the Malibu had going for it was the discount I could get on it since my dad retired from General Motors, but in my opinion, that was about it.  It was more expensive (MSRP) than the Prius and didn't get nearly the milage of the Prius.  Plus, it is a mid-size vehicle, and I really prefer compact cars.  We hit the Chevy dealership only to find out that that particular dealership didn't even carry the Malibu hybrid because they didn't have a certified hybrid mechanic on staff.  My dad finally took it as a sign and my decision was made.  I called up Dave the next day so they could do a search for the color I wanted.  I picked it the next Friday and after a two year hiatus became a car owner again.  Now that I've got my car, I will be able to complete my cross country road trip (I guess I don't really have a choice at this point either come to think of it).

Me with my new car, a silver 2009 Toyota Prius.  So far I'm averaging 48-49 miles per gallon - it's hard to beat that.

I've spent most of my time in Ohio relaxing and enjoying my time off.  It is so nice to have a break from working.  I've also been able to get back into running.  I've been gettingout every other day, and it feels good to be getting back into shape.  Plus, it has occured to me that the YC marathon is now less than 6 months away, so I need to start thinking about training for that.  It is nice to have the motivation of a race on my calendar to get me back into things as well.

Aside from running and chilling out, I've been able to see my sister, visit a friend from college and my grandmother, and do a little hiking with my dad in Mill Creek Park.  The hike was a great trip down memory lane.  We went to a couple of locations in the park, the first of which was the rocks behind Bear's Den Cabin.  My dad used to take my sister and I there as kids and we would clmb on them and play hide and seek.  There is little bit more graffitti now but all in all it doesn't look that much different.

"The rocks" - great hiding places abound.

Home base was the tree on the left.

A cool fungus growing on the tree.

We also went by Lanterman's Mill.  At one time it was a fully function flour mill powered by Mill Creek (I'm guessing it wasn't called Mill Creek until after the mills were there).  It has now been restored and does work, although at this point everything they are milling there is just for show.

A covered bridge near the mill.

My parents and I headed to my sister's in Columbus the Friday before Labor Day.  We had a good time playing Rock Band on the Wii.  My sister's boyfriend Lee is awesome on the guitar, my sister sang, and I rocked out on the drums.  It was so much fun.