Day 1 Success--Welcome to Ohio

Quick Review of today:

Today's State (5/20/09)

1) New York
2) New Jersey
3) Pennsylvania
5) West Virginia
6) Ohio

Overnight stop: Columbus, Ohio--570 miles from NYC

Time Zone: Eastern Standard Time

Today started without a hitch! Luckily my brother took a shower the evening before; he has a history of 1-hour showers. We were out of the house by 6am and on our way. We flew through Jersey and spent most of the day traveling through Pennsylvania. Finally we cut across the northern tip of West Virginia and arrived in Ohio. We spent about 9 hours in the car today; not a bad drive at all and hardly any traffic.

Ohio appears to be the typical "bible belt" state. From western Pennsylvania and into Ohio the Jesus signs were abundant. It is great to know that two sinners are passing through. Between being NYC Jews and me a gay man I do feel a bit threatened here. We stopped at a gas station shortly after arriving in Ohio. There I saw "Bubba and the hicks" congregating outside. The gas station smelled like they were frying everything in site. When I went to the bathroom I could not help but think I would be identified as a gay Jew and lynched outside (not actually, though the thought went through my mind). I was further reminded of a lyric from one of my favorite Broadway shows The Last Five Years (by the genius Jason Robert Brown) where Cathy is singing about her perilous acting carrier and having to perform gigs in Ohio. She states, "Then I'll get on my knees, and pray I can state in my next bio: I'm never gonna go back to Ohio!" In the moment I could almost relate to her temperament. To make thing worse, after we pulled out of the hick gas station we heard anti-gay rhetoric on the radio. The host of the show was arguing that gay men have no right to serve in the military openly gay. He was also arguing that gay men should not be appointed to the Supreme Court because "their moral underpinnings are blunted."

However, after exploring the state and entering Columbus there are some redeeming qualities that could be acknowledged. Columbus has a much more urban appeal and modernized populous. The concierge at the hotel directed us to a wonderful shopping center that even for a New Yorker was impressive. We ate at PF Chang’s and walked around this all inclusive shopping center that featured nearly every restaurant and store every sited at malls. It was certainly a highlight of today...I think I even spotted a few gay Ohioans there!

Well it is about time to get to bed. All in all great first day. Tomorrow we push towards Kansas City our second overnight stop. Additional pictures of the trip will be posted on my facebook account...more to come soon!