We were in Canton. We wanted to be in Columbus. In between were three counties I’d never been in. We were in no hurry. I decided to try something new. I picked three small towns, one in each county. I set my GPS on the first and followed it wherever it led. When we got there, I typed in the second one and did the same, and then traveled to the third the same way. The towns were Berlin, Coshocton and Martinsburg.
We traveled the entire way on two-lane roads and some of the way on roads so narrow that there were no lane markings at all. For at least an hour, we saw more Amish buggies than we saw cars.
The landscape was a rolling mix of fields and wood lots and tidy farms and small towns. It was the most pleasant drive I’ve taken in a long time. The only bad part was that all the amazing-looking bakeries and food markets and antique stores we passed were closed because it was Sunday.
All those closed bakeries and cheese shops made us hungry. When we got to Columbus, we headed for Flip Side, a restaurant that specializes in burgers and milk shakes. My cheeseburger, onion rings and blueberry pie shake were all very, very good.