Today, we split our forces into two parties. Grammy had an appointment in Cleveland so we headed out there…Mommy and Nicholas had a day of fun with Karen Tulga who had visited us in North Carolina a few months ago.
Getting to Cleveland from Columbus is pretty simple…take I-71 north until you get there about two hours later. We had some fun getting to her meeting point as Mapquest’s directions are good, but not foolproof. We ended up in this neighborhood west of Cleveland and took a right when we should have stayed left. Fortunately, a nice lady walking a dog got us to where we needed to be.
Whilst Grammy was off at her appointment, I had a few hours to kill so I headed downtown. Next time, I’ll take the interstates in…the surface streets are beautiful with the trees and the nice old houses…but imagine these asphalt pyramids every 20 feet or so. I guess I’ll be taking the Escape for an alignment soon.
Once downtown, it was readily apparent why the Cuyahoga River actually caught fire once…there has to be more marine diesel in that river than in the fuel bilges on the ships! There’s a lot of heavy industry round downtown which is almost an island with all of the bridges connecting to it over the river. Navigating downtown Cleveland can be an exercise in futility but I managed to drive by Jacobs Field and Gund Arena before heading to my target which was the submarine docked near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Sadly, the submarine (the U.S.S. Cod, GATO class) had already closed for the season but the William G. Mather was open for touring. The Mather is a 1920’s era laker (a Great Lakes freighter… imagine the Edmund Fitzgerald and you’ve got the picture). At the time of her commissioning, she was the class of the laker fleet 618 feet long capable of carrying 14,000 tons of iron ore from Duluth to Detroit and Cleveland at 13 mph. (Not knots, you say? According to one of the engineering mates who worked her in the 1950s, it was a Commerce Department regulation requiring speeds of commercial ships/planes/trains to report speeds in miles per hour…since then, planes and ships again report knots). She entertained the company brass and guests whilst moving the cargo hither and yon and was renowned as the ship that built Cleveland. She had one major engine overhaul from 2,300 hp diesels to 5,000 hp diesels…and she gained two miles per hour under full load. But that meant you made Whitefish Point off Michigan a day earlier than the competition which was key to getting the business. She’d eventually be outclassed by the huge super-lakers (like the Fitzgerald) and retired after fifty-plus years of service. She now serves Cleveland as a grand reminder of the early Great Lakes freighters.
The one interesting thing was that it often took much longer to secure the Mather’s cargo holds (there are eighteen holds, each with about a hundred huge bolts that took three guys to turn with a special crowbar) than it did to drop the iron ore into the holds in the first place. If you’ve ever been to Duluth/Superior, you’ll have seen this firsthand. Essentially, the laker pulls in and the hatches are opened. Then the chutes drop from the ore loader alongside and start dropping the ore into the holds. Good captains would have the crews securing the hatches as soon as the next chute started dropping ore but the fill rate pretty much ensured that they’d be about three holds away from putting to see when load-out was complete. However, the paperwork to clear Duluth often made up the difference so when the Captain came back aboard, she was ready to put to sea.
OK, so I’m a naval geek as well. 🙂
Grammy and I met up after her appointment was finished and we stopped by Panera which I had seen on the way into Cleveland for lunch. And a mighty fine lunch it was…and of course, we had to bring brownies back to Columbus and beyond.
Dinner was at a local Greek restaurant (Yanni’s) which was very good. The (obviously Greek) waiter was a real trip with a quick wit…he had a bit of fun (unwittingly) at Suzette’s expense when he made the observation that he really enjoyed our party’s conversation at table with the observation that at German dinners, conversations were verboten but with the Greeks, the trick was getting them to shut up! Suzette has German and Croatian ancestry…oops! But it was funny in a way…just imagine a scene from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and you can imagine this place… and the sense of humor. I could definitely be coerced into going back…
The obligatory game of Oh, Hell (which Daddy pretty much slept through the bidding and playing, sorry guys!) and Daddy headed back to the hotel in Worthington. Mommy and Nicholas had just come in from their outing and were getting ready for sleep.
One thing does bear mentioning here…Nicholas had been laid down for the night in a Pack ‘N Play generously loaned to us by Patrick and Suzette. We figured all was well and were settling down to some sleep and post cards. All of a sudden, we heard this squeal of delight from the other room and looked at each other with this look of what in the world was that?!?. The little devil was playing and having a grand old time. One small bottle of formula took care of those monkey shines… 🙂
