(The Bridge on- no kidding, Arlington Blvd in Newton Falls, Ohio.)

I woke in Newton Falls, OH, having run out of airspeed and good ideas around five-thirty last night on the Ohio Turnpike. I always feel better with the Keystone State behind me. Sam’s Pizza “A tradition since 1958!” provided the grub for dinner- delivery, what the hell- and between the general fatigue and such I selected a mostly white little town.

Actually, I knew the general region- off Ohio Route 5 somewhere around the Lordstown Generous Motors manufacturing complex- which is hiring, I was surprised to see, based on the banners hung from the security fences.

(Downtown Newton Falls. A nice community.)

The Garmen GPS selected the place, though I was able to fine tune it to the type. I don’t smoke at the moment, so most of the hassle of travel has vanished as the smoke blew away. I selected predictable over quirky. Previously, I looked for old-school motor hotels- that will be worth a story for the car book one of these mornings. You remember the kind- two long wings of single floor rooms, side by side, and parking directly in front of your unit. I liked being able to step outside and smoke, even if the room was “smoke free,” and to be able to watch the car.

It is liberating these days, if a Holiday Inn XPress can be considered liberation.The desk staff was helpful, the internet connection worked and though the walls and floors are thin, it was a perfectly decent accommodation (at the government rate).

This is a car story, since I spent most of the day in the Panzer, and it was a depressing day. You know what I am talking about, and it was good to be in a little town that is calm, and whose people are unfailingly polite and upbeat.

I went over to look at the bridge, since it is the second oldest in all of the Buckeye State.

(This is what the Newton Falls Bridge looked like with the advent of the motor-car: they added a safe place for the kids to walk to the new school on the other side of the Mahoning River!)

This is a nice place. It is an American place. I feel at home here, and the falls on the river that turned the generators to manufacture automobiles has helped make it that way.

More from Ramblerland on the morrow.

Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303