Days 32 -35

We left Detroit and headed into neighboring Ohio. Ohio has three Halls of Fame that we (ok, John) wanted to visit.
1) The Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington
2) The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, and
3) The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland

Pickerington is a suburb of Columbus, where we headed first. Susan was unsure if she wanted to join me touring the Motorcycle HOF, but decided that she would. She seemed to enjoy the exhibits and I tried to add a little color commentary to make things more interesting. I actually have met four of the inductees in the HOF: Larry Roeseller, Wally Dallenbach, John Penton and Roger DeCoster. (I met these guys while riding on the Colorado 500 Dirt Bike Charity Ride.)

The Motorcycle HOF certainly operates on a much smaller budget than the Pro Football and R&R HOF, but they do a good job and I'm glad I got to see it.

Next we traveled to Cleveland and stopped at the Pro Football HOF along the way in Canton. This HOF is done very well and is very impressive. They have a pretty cool hi-tech Locker Room Exhibit that uses holograms of people like Joe Namath and Vince Lombardi giving you a halftime locker-room pep-talk. They also had busts of every inductee and examples of every superbowl ring that each winning player received. (I have a story about Ronnie Lott's Super Bowl ring that I will tell you next time you see me.)

The next day we visited the Rock & Roll HOF, which is also done very well. Susan and I especially liked the exhibits that pay tribute to the original Blues musicians that paved the way for Rock & Roll. Susan and I will be traveling through Memphis later in this trip and we plan to follow the Mississippi Blues Trail (www.visitclarksdale.com/trail-markers) on our way there. We look forward to learning and hearing more about the history of the Blues.

Certain musicians received larger exhibits due to their significant contribution to Rock&Roll. We were glad to see that this included Jimi Hendrix, The Spinners, and Pink Floyd.

Our campground in Cleveland was a KOA Resort one which are usually more luxurious. Our site was next to a very cute pond. There was this rock that resembled a sleeping pig, so they enhanced this comparison with some pink paint.

Cleveland is right on the shores of Lake Erie, and the Rock&Roll HOF is right on the water's edge. Next to the HOF is a Naval Museum ship - the submarine The USS COD. I was happy to include a tour of the sub as part of our day in Cleveland. The COD is one of the 77 Gato-class submarines that were commissioned during WW2. The COD fought in the Pacific from June 1943 to August 1945, when Japan surrendered. The COD is preserved as a museum ship and I enjoyed taking the tour from bow to stern.

The tour starts up front at the forward torpedo room. There are actually six forward torpedo tubes - you can't see the two lowest ones.

The crew is anywhere from 77 to 97 men. Bathrooms are like little closets stashed here and there.

The control room was illuminated in red which is what happens during General Quarters.

The Radio Room (above). The Galley (right). The Engine Room (below). And the Maneuvering Room (lower right.)

Tomorrow we continue east into Pennsylvania for just a bit and then into New York and Niagara Falls!