Tag: Halley's Comet

cemeteries · Hydrology · Obelisks · Road trips · trains

The Big Lacuna

steveboilard2 Comments

As you will recall from my last post, I recently flew out east to visit family and friends for a few days, after which I would travel the entire western segment of US Route 2, from St. Ignace, Michigan to Everett, Washington. The visits have been made, and I have now arrived at St. Ignace. I will be traveling Route 2 over the next 8 days. Be looking for daily posts on this site.

I did manage to drive a small portion of Route 2’s eastern segment while I was visiting as I left Cousin Bonnie’s in Vermont. That segment terminates (or begins, depending on your direction) at Rouse’s Point, NY. And (drum roll please) here it is:

All good things must come to an end.

I then spent the next two days making my way across Route 2’s lacuna. (Along the way I stopped at a Greek restaurant for a little moussaka. Ah, Lacuna Moussaka–what a wonderful phrase!)

Anyway, although I was technically not on Route 2 during this time, I did encounter a few noteworthy roadside oddities. And here they are:

We start with this awesome, restored, historic building in Endicott, NY which was once part of the Lighthouse Service Station chain that supposedly served much of New England. It now appears to be some kind of private office or business, though there are no signs indicating what, exactly, they do.

I also stopped a number of cemeteries (the east is lousy with ’em!), and found some notable gravesites:

Lucille Ball’s grave (along with other famly members), in Jamestown, NY. Lucy was born in Jamestown, don’t you know.
Obelisk alert! Here, in Owego NY, lie the remains of Sa Sa Na Loft, who was killed by a runaway freight train in 1852. It’s supposedly the “oldest white-sponsored grave tribute to a Native American woman.”
In Elmira, NY: Family plot marker for Mark Twain and his son-in-law, Ossip Gabrilowitsch. Elmira was Twain’s wife’s hometown.

Let me note here my favorite Mark Twain factoid: When he was born in 1835, Halley’s Comet appeared in the sky. It was known that the comet passes earth every 75 years or so. And so, as the next encounter with the comet approached in 1910, Twain made this comment:

I came in with Halley’s Comet… It is coming again … and I expect to go out with it… The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’

And they did. Twain died the day after the comet emerged from the far side of the sun.

Hitched to Halley.

The most impressive cemetery I encountered during my Drive of the Lacuna was Lake View Cemetery, in Cleveland, Ohio. It includes these notable figures and impressive works of art:

Marker for Untouchable Elliott Ness. His ashes were scattered over a pond just behind the marker.
Very touching sculpture over the grave of local musician Sergei Gaidaenko. He’s of Ukrainian background.
It’s well worth 45 seconds of your time to watch this video, with Sergei’s music in the background. I never met him but I miss him.
Here’s something you don’t see every day: A jukebox tombstone. It belongs to local disk jockey Alan Freed, who supposedly coined the term “rock and roll” in 1951.

If you’re interested in what all the fuss was about, check this out:

At a miniature golf course in Owego, NY. Alert readers will recall a number of Pink Elephant sightings on my earlier trips; see here for a refresher.

And speaking of recurring creatures, this Beetle/Spider in Erie, Pennsylvania very much resembles earlier encounters. Observe:

Erie, Pennsylvania
Somewhere in New Mexico
Reno, NV

And of course, there’s this recurring fellow:

Fremont, OH
Milford, OH (from a prior trip). Full story about the Big Boys is here.

Finally, I bring you the Haunted Hydro, a so-called “Dark Attraction Park” that is open during the Halloween season.

Scary juxtaposition of skull and portapotty….

The place looks pretty run down, even abandoned. But I’m told that it’ll be resurrected in time for Halloween. The main part of the attraction is a century-old hydroelectric power plant (hence the “hydro” part of the name). You can see it in action here.

The 1911 Hydro

Finally, this afternoon I arrived in St. Ignace, Michigan, where I’ll start the western segment of Route 2 tomorrow morning. By the way, the the Lacuna ended as it began, with a lighthouse–this time a real one:

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, in St. Ignace

Until tomorrow!