Keeping it Cool in Canton

After my last post, you may have been holding your breath to learn how my time in Canton, Ohio was. I think it's safe to say that I had a pretty good time in Canton. While I had quite a few mini adventures during my time in the area, I'd rather not bore you by telling you about every book store and mall shop I went in. Instead, I am going to turn this post into an anthology of sorts, where I'll four separate individual stories that captured my stay in Canton.

Note: Keen Football fans may know that Canton is home to the NFL Hall of Fame. For those curious, I did not see the Hall of Fame. Admission was $46 and while I do respect the sport of Football, I don't consider myself a big enough fan to fork over that much-especially on a more frugal trip like this.

Story 1: Average Day in Canton

While each new day in Canton had it's own unique flavor and adventures, they all had a very similar structure. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I would wake up, go to the YMCA to charge my electronics and get work done, make lunch at Stadium Park, return to the YMCA and hang out while my food digested, work out once it had, take a shower, and then head back to Stadium Park to make dinner. Those days acted as a sort of recharge period, where I could take a break from the adventures of the day before and literally recharge the electronics that I had used on said adventure. As a matter of fact, almost every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of my entire trip looks pretty much as just described. These days do a great job of helping me stay grounded on the trip and provide some much needed structure.

However, as great as structure is, there is nothing like the days where you experience new things. For me, those were Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. On those days, I'd wake up, go explore one of the places or events on the days itinerary until noon, make lunch at Stadium Park, go explore something else, and then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'd go workout at the Y. However, Sundays are my rest days, so on those days, I'd just skip the workout and continue exploring my surroundings.

Now for the question that has probably been on the mind of many of you readers: "Where do you sleep at night?" Well, the short answer is in my car, but to be a little more specific, I use an app called iOverlander2, where fellow van or car lifers post stores or city streets that allow overnight parking. I'll be quite blunt in saying I wouldn't have been able to embark on a trip like this without this app and I'm super thankful it exists.

Appreciating the YMCA that I spent a lot of time at whilst in Canton

Stadium Park, the place where I made all my meals in Canton

Story 2: Artful Walk

On Thursday, I decided to take a stroll from the Eric Snow YMCA to the Canton Art Museum. Along the way I got plenty of good pictures (the following six photos were taken during my walk) and got to see lots of cool art that had had been donated and put up by the city. When I finally made it to the museum itself, I realized I had set my water bottle down at some point to take a photo and had accidentally left it there. Determined to find it quickly, I decided to retrace all my steps before exploring the museum. Unfortunately, I did not find it. I walked the exact same path and checked every spot I would have set it down, yet still came up empty handed. I'm almost 100% sure someone saw it and took it for themselves. Alas, while I had lost a water bottle, I still had a museum to explore.

Overall, I enjoyed the Canton Art Museum. It was a bit small, with only one gallery-that was broken into two rooms-but there were still a few pieces that I would certainly considered having in my house if they were free. Fortunately, they offer free admission on Thursday, so I got to see the art for nothing. I'd say the Museum is worth checking out on a Thursday if you happen to be in Canton and have some free time, however, I don't think I'd spend any money just to see it.

Admiring the wall murals in Canton

Bringing up morale with Football legends

Just keeping it chill with a Giraffe statue

I, too, can be an ominous head using the sky as a backdrop

Admiring the outdoor art pieces at the Canton Art Museum

Another cool piece of art you can see without having to go inside

Story 3: Enjoying Canton First Friday... Or Not

On Thursday night, I had attended a pretty fun board game meetup where I got a recommendation from one of the attendees. He told me that from 7-9 pm on the first friday of every month, Canton holds a social event downtown, where businesses stay open later than usual, people roam around and socialize, and various venders set up tables to sell their goods. He said it was a pretty fun event and that I should check it out if I was around. He said that this would be the last one before they shut it down for the winter.

Based on his description, I was definitely intrigued, so around 8 pm Friday, I headed downtown to check it out. When I first got into the downtown area, I noticed that it seemed unusually dead. Common logic and many past experiences of mine suggested that most downtown areas would be hopping on a Friday night, though strangely Canton was not. However, I was about a ten minute walk from where the actual event was being held, so I just assumed everyone had congregated in that area. Yet, as I started to get closer to the area the density of people didn't really increase. At one point, I even went on Facebook to double check that the event was indeed happening and at this time. The First Fridays Canton Facebook suggested that it was very much happening. Eventually, I made it to the central plaza where it was supposed to be happening and all I could see where a bunch of teenagers horsing around a firepit. By that point, I been walking around for quite a long time and had not seen any trace of this so called event, save for an individual or two stumbling out of a bar. To this day I still don't know what the deal with Canton First Fridays was. My intuition tells me that Canton First Fridays WAS happening, but more in a spiritual sense. I think there were a few businesses that were open later than usual, but since it had been getting colder, none of the vendors decided to show up and everyone huddled inside the bars. To be clear, I do not blame the gentleman from the board game meetup, because I think he was just as ignorant as I was, however, I am quite frustrated at the First Fridays Facebook account, because the event that they suggested in their posts just simply did not exist. If there was one good thing to come out of the whole fiasco, it was that I got to take a picture of a wall painting of Calvin and Hobbes, who are some of my favorite comedy strip characters.

Note: For those of you wondering, I had a fun time at the board game meetup, but there isn't much to report on that front, other than the fact that we did indeed play board games and socialize.

Hanging with my boys Calvin and Hobbes in Canton

Story 4: Peppery Mishap

I woke up on Saturday morning with a spirit for adventure and started reorganizing my car with the intention of going on some kind of adventure. For a little context, I have a small cooler that contains all of my hardcore survival gear. It's contents range from wet fire starter and an emergency blanket. As I moved said cooler to its resting place in my car, the lid popped open. As any normal would do, I put it in it's spot and began to shut the lid. However, as I did so, I heard a "Pssht" and the lid popped back open. I was still a little groggy from just waking up and didn't think much of it, so I once again tried to push the lid down and once again I heard the peculiar noise. At this point, I was bothered enough to open the cooler lid fully and figure out what was going on. When I opened it, I found the the entire inside and it's contents had been soaked in some kind of orange liquid. Not knowing what had happened-and not thinking super clearly-I shut the lid. This time it closed fully, but the second I did so, I realized what had occurred. My bearspray had gone off!!! At some point in my travels, the safety pin on my bearspray had come loose and I was none the wiser, so when I shut the lid, the bearspray trigger became trapped between the lid and the side of the cooler and had gone off. Moving and thinking quicker than I have in a long while, I quickly closed the lid again and removed the cooler from the inside of my car.

Unfortunately, I spent the next 30 minutes cleaning out the inside of the cooler and throwing away any unsalvagables. Fortunately, the overall damage done was minimal. Yes, I had to throw away a lot of my survival gear. Yes, my cold fingers were drenched in bear spray when I had finished cleaning, but my car and the various inlets on my face were spared from the annoying pain of the pepper spray. I also happened to be next to a gas station, so I was able to give my hands a very, very thorough cleaning. My eyes and upper lip did get a little secondhand spray on themn later in the day-even after I had washed my hands, but the amount was so minimal that what would usually be pain was just irritating. I was super frustrated at myself for letting something so stupid happen, but I was immensely grateful that it didn't go off directly in my face and the inside of my car had been spared from the blast. In the end, this just serves as a healthy warning to never keep a can of bearspray without a safety lock of some kind. You may think you're smart enough to not let it go off, but you'll be surprised at the goofy situations that thinking will put you in.

Conclusion

As I look back on my time in Canton, I recognize that it was beset by quite a few inconveniences-ranging from losing my water bottle to discharging bear spray in my car-but that said, I ultimately find that my time in Canton returned my traveling spirit. As demonstrated by my last post, I was feeling quite reluctant towards the rest of my trip, due to a series of stops turning out really uneventful. However, I was able to fill my time in Canton with mini adventures and strange happenings-even the previously mentioned inconveniences were eventful in their very nature. As it stands, I am excited for the rest of my trip now that I have been reminded of the very reason I started it. I still plan on heading south after spending Christmas with my mom, but I will do so with a reignited resolve.