Some years ago, I used to travel the country whenever I had the time free. I started out doing it on motorcycles, then upgraded to a Ford Ranger with a cap on the bed. I upgraded again to a camper made from an old Ambulance, and Oliver--Lagniappe's half brother and predecessor--used to travel around in it with me. We even lived in it for a whole summer when I took classes at a law school in Colorado.
Well I've been without a travel vehicle for a while now, and I've missed having access to the open road almost every day. So last week, I lucked onto a deal on an older but quite servicable van that had the potential to become a new road cruiser. as I also needed a spare vehicle as a back-up to my very high-mileage SUV, I bought it. And I'm using it now to visit family for the holidays. And yesterday was Lagniappe's first time being a camper dog.
We headed out yesterday and Lagniappe immediately made himself quite comfy in the new van. The last owner obviously had a dog in the truck because Lagniappe had no compuntions at all against getting up on the seats right off the bat. I know him well enough to understand that he smells dog on those seats so he considers them open to him now. That's annoying but it does keep him from pestering me, which he does frequently when he gets bored and restless all cooped up in the back seat of my SUV.
We spent the evening last night in Cleveland. I'd heard of an area downtown Cleveland known as "the Flats" that was known for good restaurants and night life. Frankly, I was expecting a bit more than I found. W. 6th Street had some high-end restaurants but other than that, there wasn't much going on, And the riverfront itself was dead. However, given a tip by a guy that I met on the street (I love to ask random strangers for references) I found a cozy little place the had a pretty good Beef Stroganoff at a decent price. I'd give them a plug here but cannot recall the name and as I'm getting back into traveller mode, I'm discarding receipts every morning during AM truck cleaning.
After dinner, I walked Lagniappe to the Public Square, where I'd heard that there were "lots of Christmas lights". Again, I was a bit underwhelmed at what I saw. There were plenty of lights wrapped around the small trees there, but it really wasn't all that unique or worth the five-block walk from my truck. But I did get to watch Lagniappe bark at a carriage horse (he doesn't care for them), a statue of a guy seated on a bench (Tom Johnson, a former Mayor of Cleveland), and a black guy who came running up from behind us. Lagniappe reacted to the sound of feet running up on us and turned to give the guy a pretty good warning barking. The guy stopped and yelled "Hey, call your dog off!" I told him that he needed to not run up on a German Shepherd like that. He replied that he was only trying to catch the bus at the corner, and when I saw that there was a bus there, I pulled Lagniappe back in and let him go, telling him that the dog doesn't understand bus schedules but will bite people that he thinks--mistakenly or not--are threatening him or me. After the guy was gone, I told Lagniappe what a good dog he was and for the next couple of minutes he practically pranced along with his head held high, the perfect picture of a proud dog.
As it was cold and raining and the Warehouse District and Flats were dead, we drove on along the lake shore for a while, listening to Christmas music, admiring the various light displays, and looking for a place to sleep. Trying to pick a safe place to park a small, hopefully inconspicuous camper van can be tricky, especially at night. But as the area we were in seemed to have more than it's share of pawn shops, check-cashing stores, and fast food enterprises with Lexan glass between the customers and the employees, I decided to just keep moving for a while. Finally we crashed for the night in a roadside rest area near Vermillion, Ohio and got a decent night's sleep.
Now, as I write this, I am in an unnamed state (much cooler and more sophisticated than Ohio, and just a little bit north of it) and I'll be here for a few days. Not sure what I'll do after Christams, when I'll leave or where I'll go when I do but at least I'll be on-line whilst I'm here.
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