Where Oh Where Has Our Beer Gone?

Finally we are at our Hotel in Cleveland – the lovely Hampton Inn Cleveland Downtown. It is amazing how an entire day on the road can wear you out! Luckily due to our perseverance and fortitude we made it to Cleveland where we hope to discover between tonight and tomorrow… does Cleveland in fact rock? Prior to us going out to find the answer, here are the stats and yet another reason to wonder why Pennsylvania is still a part of the Union...

This will probably not surprise anyone who has been through here before, but the lowlight of the day was definitely Pennsylvania. I was kind of surprised in a way, because we really were not in Pennsylvania for all that long so there was not much time to screw things up. But they sure did in spades. One of our goals as we cross this great country of ours, is to grab a six pack of local-ish beers from different spots as we travel through. We figured that we can have one or two a piece and then bring the rest to San Francisco to have a Beers of the Nation evening when Ben and Noreen arrive next weekend.

Weeeelll….. despite the fact that one can enter a store in Pennsylvania and purchase Fireworks, Guns, Ammo, Karate Weapons, Knives, Swords and other explosives (and probably hookers and blow too for all we know) you are NOT allowed to by “just a six pack”. Upon further discussion with the lady at the special beer depot that we had to seek out, you can not buy a 12 pack either. You can only buy 24 at a time! Now, back home while an inconvenience at times probably would not warrant much of a problem. However, when you are on a 4,000 mile journey in a car already overflowing with stuff, packing in 2 twelve packs is not really an option. Not to mention that we had never had the beer before so if it tasted like shit, than we were stuck with 24 nasty ass beers which no one would want.

Upon explanation of our dilemma and imploring her to at least let us purchase a 12er, the woman did offer a counter arrangement which she truly thought would help us in our desperate time of need – “I can sell you a warm 12er and a cold 12er. Will that help?”

(Insert about 12 seconds of confused silence here)

We left.

Now we shall never know how that Erie Brewing Co. beer would taste… stupid Pennsylvania. Maine may not allow you to purchase instruments of death when you go grocery shopping, but at least we can buy a friggin’ sixer…

Anyway on to the stats and then we are hunting down beer from the tap:


Total Miles Traveled: 802
Total Time for the Trip: 13 Hours 31 Minutes
Total Driving Time: 10 Hours 49 Minutes
Total Stoppage Time: Two Hours 42 Minutes
Top Speed: 86.8 Miles Per Hour
Average Moving Speed: 74.1 Miles Per Hour
Overall Average Trip Speed (including Stoppage Time): 59.4 Miles Per Hour.
Number of Times Pulled Over: 0
Number of Other Vehicles Pulled Over: 11