Fall Colors, Honey's Fridge, UAA Priorities

Is there a law against taking photographs while you are driving? Fall in Va.

The fall season is more optimistic than spring.
Louder, showier.
Fall's prediction of renewed life is bolder, because to believe in new life you have to look past fall, past winter, and believe in the spring.
It's difficult not to wax cliched when writing about the scenes I have seen from northeastern Ohio, southwestern Pennsylvania, western New York State and Massachusetts along the way.
This morning, as I head down I-81 toward North Carolina, bright trees line the highway and pop in the grass median.

My fridge took a licking, but keeps on ticking.

I saw Holsteins grazing amid gray rock outcroppings in Pennsylvania, and a rusty red vine wrapping the trunk of a bright orange hard wood in West Virginia.
Fall is sprung.

A UAA nugget
I have been emailing back and forth with Leo Kocher, the wrestling coach at the University of Chicago, about setting up an interview time when I am in Chicago next week.
(He has coached Chicago wrestling for 32 years, including 21 All-Americans and two D3 champions. In Cleveland, the Case Western Reserve wrestling coach, Bob Del Rosa, has mentored the grapplers for 44 years including four national champions.)

We finally agreed on a time, and Leo also invited me to practice. When I told him I probably would come on Tuesday, he reminded me that practice Tuesdays is at 6, because it's science lab day.


Honey is the mother of invention
Last night about 6 as I was entering New York or crossing the GW bridge or bumping along the New Jersey Turnpike, my refrigerator fell out.
The cabinet that once held it in place gave out at the top. It's kind of hinged now, with the bottom still attached to the cabinetry and the top swinging free.
The fridge is fixed now, with a couple of 2 X 2s and an aluminum pole that I also use to prop up my hinged bed platform platform when I need to get something out.
I also tied an empty plastic bag around the pole so I won't hit my head when I "cross the kitchen."
And she's still cool. Saved my beer.

The commonwealth of mixed messages
Virginia license plates used to say "Virginia is for Lovers." Perhaps they still do, but there isn't a single Virginia car parking in the welcome center where I am taking a break.
But on the sign marking the Commonwealth of Virgina at the border with West Virginia, the current message is "Virginia Is Open for Business."

What about Honey's tires?
Yesterday it took me about four hours to drive 30 miles because I had to stop at an interstate truck stop soon after setting out.
I thought I had blown another tire. Upon further review, the mechanic figured out that the rubber valve stem extensions that facilitate airing up double truck tires had been installed improperly and my shiny plastic fake chrome wheel cover had carved them like a knive slices into a pumpkin. Thank goodness only one went flat.

Don't forget ...
... to read the story all about this road trip. Click here.