My Travel Buddy

My day job, for those who don't know, is as lawyer in solo practice in Newark, Ohio.  My main focus is in real estate law, so from time to time clients send me off to other counties to do title research.  It's my favorite part of the job, getting out of the office for a bit of a change in scenery.

Yesterday, I was called on to travel to Wooster, Ohio, in the northeastern part of the state (for those not from Ohio, that's WUH-ster, not WOO-ster).  I ran a mapquest search to confirm my directions, and on paper, it looks like a relatively straight line from here to there.  In real life, the trip was more challenging. 

The first leg of the trip is fairly straightforward, until you get to the little town of Danville, Ohio, where US 62 takes a hard right.  The way to Wooster is to go straight, up what looks like someone's driveway but really is Ohio State Route 514.  If any of you have ever seen the movie Rat Race, I was looking for a sign that said "you should have bought a squirrel."   By the time they get that high in the Ohio route numbers, you know we're getting off the beaten path. 

It was a beautiful drive, with lots of hills and sharp turns, and had it been a warm day on a motorcycle it would have been an ideal getaway.  In a Ford F-150 and in a hurry.... let's just say my knuckles were white.  Route 514 turned into 226, and I rolled into Wooster a bit frazzled.   At 4:30 p.m., the government offices were closed and with them, most of the doors of the town closed.  As dusk approached, I saw a little antique store on the right heading out of town.  What the heck, I thought...

This place was long and narrow and just packed with stuff . . . just not my kind of stuff.  About the best things I saw . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company