Lincoln 24/7

pausing for the moment

it was 5:45 am. bruce and i were standing in our underwear in the travel lodge parking lot of mansfield, ohio.

"at least we are not missing a good sunrise," he said, as he peered into the mushy sky.

all we were missing was sleep.

somewhere, situated right along where the last glacier did a u-turn sits mansfield. and somewhere within mansfield live a 210 lb. rotweiller, a python, and a 3-year-old girl named brianna. and as she stood on the sidewalk with the snake around her neck and small puppy in her arms, bruce was sitting right in front of her with an 80mm lens.

48 hours ago i was sitting on a tractor with four amish boys on their farm. this morning i was in a penitentiary cell. at least the door was open. at the suggestion of several mansfield residents we visited the ohio state reformatory earlier today. there we met daryl, the caretaker who gave us an all-access tour. the place has been shut down since the early 90's, but by the looks of things it had been shut down for much longer. as i sat in the 8'x8' steel cell block surrounded by 116 years of peeling paint i was reminded of how great it is to live life in motion, and not on pause.

the state has flattened out and bucyrus light is even flatter. so after a footlong shaggy dog at the daily scoop, and a quick stop at the public library, we are pushing on west, with no time to pause.

Posted by Todd Roeth at May 16, 2003 01:20 PM