COMMANDER'S LOG

Stardate 200807.21

HybridFest: There and Back

Madison, Wisconsin

Stardate 200807.18 This was the longest road trip so far in the Prius. The plan was to go to HybridFest, in Madison, Wisconsin, stopping with family and friends all along the way, and then to come back via a northern route, doing some camping on the way. Liz would come with me as far as Chicago and fly back to New York. She informed me that she intended to drive the Prius the way she usually does. She did, breaking 70 MPH a couple of times, and dragging down the MPG about equal to what I was able to boost it, together averaging 49 MPG. I had a glitch at the start, partly because I left early on Saturday morning, after a full week of work. I couldn't find my passport, so of had to give up making the northern route through Canada.

We arrived in Pittsburgh to stay with my brother Jerry in Sewickly.

We spent Sunday visiting the Pittsburgh Conservatory where the theme was chocolate. In the evening we went to visit Helen Webster, a friend from medical school days. She cooked a fine dinner of ribs, and had a few people from the old days there, including George Morris, whom I hadn't seen for 30 years. They all came out to get a tour of the Zhang Heng. Tony said it was a great idea, because it gave car-focussed kids something to aspire to other than speed. On Monday morning before we left Jerry, he let us go for a drive in the Mercedes SL Roadster, top down and all. He warned us that half the people who take it on a test drive get a ticket. I was careful but got a taste of how godawful powerful this thing was. It WANTS to go fast.

Then we went to the North Side of Pittsburgh where I grew up. First stop was Heinz Stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. There was a large exhibit all near the entrance, and I was filled with an unusual joyous feeling as I walked through it.

I almost teared up at seeing Franco Harris' and Terry Bradshaw's lockers. We got a tour of the whole facility including the locker rooms and one of the luxury boxes. Bought a few things, including a Troy Palomalu football jersey.

From there, we went to my old neighborhood. I had Googled it before and found that there was a deli there now, that had gotten some good reviews. While we were there the owner came by, and I told him that this was where I grew up. He said that his father had rented the place to my father. He looked at me, and said, "Willie?" My jaw dropped and I sputtered a string of shocked expletives. He had never met me, but I guess he had heard about me from his father.

We had lunch there, and while sitting at this high table on stools, I realized it was exactly where our kitchen table had been. Everything in the neighborhood was gone: cigar store, grocery stores, drug store, barber shop EXCEPT the bar on the corner.

The Modern Cafe was still there, and as far as I could tell, completely unchanged from my childhood: same neon signs, stuffed vinyl upholstery in the booths, etc.

We had a picnic lunch at a Topiary Park which was a reproduction of Seurat's Afternoon in the Park, the famous Pointillist painting. We also visited two different specialty ice cream shops. Jenn made dinner at home.

On Wednesday, we left for Chicago, with a stopover in Champaign, IL, to see Clare, an old friend from my residency days. Now retired, she lives in a condo right on a small lake, and has a beautiful garden.

She made a delightful lunch along with much good conversation and reminiscing. On the drive to Chicago, I woke up from a nap to hear Liz complaining about another driver who was preventing her from getting in the right position to do a distant draft on a truck. In Chicago Pam & Bennie were waiting for us, along with Aaron. Jessica was out for some sort of function, possibly related to winning a championship for her softball team, which Pam coaches. Their victory made them eligible for the State Championships in a couple of weeks. We went out for a dinner of ribs, and got caught up on each other's lives. The next morning we went for a walk after breakfast to Frank Lloyd Wright's neighborhood. On the way, I spotted a hardware store. I had this feeling that they had something I had been looking for in many stores and online for several weeks: Scotch Dual Lock, the stiff velcro-like stuff that I had used to put the hatch sign on the back of the Zhang Heng. And sure enough, they had it.

We were moving cars, including the VW that Bennie had recently acquired and was (sort of) restoring. I told him we had gone for a ride in Jerry's Mercedes, and he told us that he had also, and got a ticket within a few blocks. I left Liz off at the airport and started driving to Madison.