The Events of Wednesday, September 22, 2010

          Today, we were awakened at 7:30 to begin departure procedures. We cleared beds, had breakfast, showered, packed up, checked to make sure we didn’t leave anything, brought laundry out to the RV, checked again, and then finally said our goodbyes. Our hearts heavy with sadness, we departed the lovely Wells family around 10:30 to continue on our adventure. I could fill this blog with a long boring account of our drive towards Cleveland, but I don’t feel like it. Instead, I can tell all about the fun and excitement we’ve had in the vicinity of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

          After a bit of disorientation, after driving through the park along the scenic Riverview Road, we found ourselves at Park Headquarters. Here, an extremely kind man pulled us inside, asked what we wanted to do, and then called the nearest visitor’s center (there are five in this national park) to keep it open until we had seen it! He was an amazing guy: not concerned about going home for the day, but instead wanting his visitors to enjoy all they could of the park. At the visitor’s center, we met Ranger Jordan, who was even more amiable. He gave us the whole spiel about the history of the park and the Ohio and Erie Canal that runs through it. We got our Junior Ranger programs and explored. This visitor’s center focuses on the building and design of the boats that ran on the Ohio and Erie Canal. Why the “Ohio and Erie” canal? The Erie Canal begins in New York and reaches from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The canal part entitled the Ohio and Erie Canal goes from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, which leads to the Mississippi River, which in turn leads down the river to the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the displays in the visitor’s center were really cool. One showed how one log can be cut to provide 16 planks of wood, four 4x4 posts and four 2x2 posts and numerous other wedge pieces and helpful scraps. Through another display, we found out that the first license plates were on the Ohio and Erie Canal—the boats were required to have labels on the rear, in a certain highlighted form, at least four inches high. There was also an interactive display about the way pitch was put between the planks in the form of skinny ropes.

          Ever since we began the trip, I have wanted to be a ranger; either as a summer job during college or as a permanent career if I can figure out how to make it work with my engineering interests. In order to gather information, I have tried to ask rangers at each national park we visit what I should do to become a seasonal ranger, the basic starting position. I have received two classes of answers. The first: apply at USAjobs.gov, and it helps to have a degree in something relating to the environment. The second is the STEP ranger program, where young college students with any major can work seasonally. Today, Ranger Jordan told me that USAjobs.gov gives instructions on the step program and that I should try to be a ranger close to where I go to college or live. When I told him that I wanted to be an engineer, he said that the park employs architects, engineers, and a special type of ranger: historical engineers. I guess they look at the boat designs and the locks and figure out exactly how they functioned back in the day so they can be authentically recreated.  It would be really cool to combine engineering with being a ranger. As we exited, he wished us luck on our travels and approved of my interests in joining the NPS. This might actually work out for me…

          After the Visitor’s Center, we decided to take a walk on the Towpath Trail, which is the trail the mules used to pull the canal boats. After another little bit of map confusion, we found a spot to park to access the trail. I ran the 1 ¾ miles from Lock 39 down to the Canal Visitors Center and then met the rest of the family on the way back. We got to see some of the canal and “Lock 39”, which is the 39th lock in a series of 44 locks on the section of the Ohio and Erie Canal between Cleveland and Akron. This succession of locks raise the canal boats a total of 395 feet over the course of the canal. I can’t wait to go to the Canal Visitor’s Center tomorrow, which is supposed to explain the way locks work. After the walk, we had dinner and then drove on toward Walmart to boondock. However, the Walmart we had in mind had closed down – two years ago, a fact that neither the GPS nor Google Maps seemed to know. Plan B! We found a different Walmart that will be equally good for us and set up there for the night. Unfortunately, we could not find a place to rent or buy A Christmas Story. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see why we wanted to watch this particular film.