September 17, 2007 by PT Rothschild.

(my friend Kurt took a trip back east to watch some ball games and visit places of interest. Here is the continuing saga of his journey - ed. note)

THURSDAY – JULY 26^th

We drove to Cleveland (about 1+ hour, 64 miles) and arrived ½ hour before 10AM opening of the awesome Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (10AM-5:30PM). We used all of this time as they had mostly new exhibits from the last time we visited. The 6^th floor was The Doors history/exhibits, 5^th floor was The Clash (those two floors were dedicated to The Who in our last visit), and the 1^st floor had a special exhibit and 79-minute film showing several performances by groups at the Monterey Pop, or “Summer of Love” concert where 32 groups performed on June 16-18, 1967 in Monterey, CA (of course, this is “pre” Woodstock). Performers included Jimi Hendrix (lights guitar on fire), Mamas & Papas (John Phillips was co-organizer of event), Janis Joplin, The Animals, Country Joe and the Fish, Simon and Garfunkel, The Who (Peter Townsend destroys guitar and drum set on stage), Jefferson Airplane (&Grace Slick), Canned Heat, Ravi Shankar, Grateful Dead, and David Crosby played/sang with both of these groups - The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. Don’t ever say “There’s nothing to do in Cleveland.” Just for reference, the R’n'R HOF inductee Class of 2007 was: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Patti Smith, R.E.M., The Ronettes, and Van Halen.

It was now 5:45PM and the Cleveland Indians game vs. Boston was scheduled to start at 7PM. It started to rain. We waited a while for a sign from the heavens (a different sign than rain), while we recalled the last Indians’ game we attended in which 10 runs were scored in the first two innings, after which we sat through a 3-hour rain delay. The game finally resumed with one more run being scored in the remaining 7 innings, and ended at 1AM. We saw it all, and actually enjoyed most of it. This time we were older and “wiser”. While we were waiting, it started to pour buckets of rain and there were severe thunderstorms. We decided to call it a night, checked into our motel in nearby Independence, OH, turned on the TV and saw that the game was in the 3^rd inning. There had only been a one-hour rain delay. We watched the rest of the game in the comfort of our private room.

FRIDAY – JULY 27th

Drove to Canton, OH (1 hour from Independence motel) to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame (9AM to 8PM). We had also been here before, but over half of the museum had been rearranged and/or remodeled. It was well-organized, entertaining and informational, at least for football fans. Steelers’ fans dominated the place, since there is one whole room dedicated to the teams spanning over the decades and especially the 5 Super Bowl winning teams (and city of Pittsburgh is not too far away from Canton). We spent all day watching football films and clips and going through the museum. That evening, we drove to Buffalo, NY (about 4 hours, 235 miles) for evening stop-over at the Econo Lodge. (to be continued)

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