April 4th – First full travel day.

We officially kicked things off yesterday—Shelton to Westlake, Ohio—and honestly, if every travel day goes like this one, we’re in great shape.

The drive out was surprisingly easy. We hopped on Interstate 80 and cruised through Pennsylvania with barely any traffic (a minor miracle in itself). The weather? Perfect.

Before heading to the hotel, we made a detour to Edgewater Park. It was over 80 degrees (in early April…we’ll take it!), and we walked out onto the pier over Lake Erie. It was super windy, but still worth it.

After that, we checked in and then headed over to Crocker Park, which turned out to be such a fun find. It’s basically a walkable little hub of shops, restaurants, and bars—super lively but still relaxed.

Dinner was at Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse, good steak, nice wine and ice cold beer for Joey. It was the perfect spot to settle in and watch the UConn men’s basketball punch their ticket to the finals. I think we were the only UConn fans, but that okay, they won!

We wrapped up the night back at the hotel, completely content and ready to recharge.

And tomorrow? On to Chicago…where we officially pick up U.S. Route 66 and really get this adventure rolling.

So far, so good. Let’s see where the road takes us next.