Another summer is now in the books. Today autumn begins and, according to my calendar, we have only 100 days left in the year. I like fall, but this time of year is bittersweet for me. As a kid, it meant that I was back in school, seeing some people I liked and many that I did not. It meant getting up at an ungodly hour, riding a bumpy, noisy school bus while inhaling diesel fumes for the next thirty minutes on my way to school.
Fun Times on Lake Erie
Forty years ago at this time, I was starting my senior year of high school. That summer of 1985 our family would spend weekends on Lake Erie, at a place called Bay Point on the Marblehead peninsula near Sandusky, Ohio. It was right in the middle of Ohio, between Cleveland and Toledo.
We lived in Canton and would drive up late Friday afternoon, after everyone got off work, or we would leave early Saturday morning. The drive was about two hours. Coming into the area was reminiscent of arriving in Florida for a summer vacation, with the causeway over Sandusky Bay, the blazing summer sun, the aquamarine water, and boats out for a leisurely cruise or a day of fishing. The only thing missing was palm trees.
Our family had a small trailer at Bay Point. The campground had a shared bathroom about 200 feet from our trailer. It was kind of gross. The showers always had wet sand on the floor and smelled. The water came from a well and had an off odor. I would never walk barefoot on the floor there, even in the shower. (Actually, especially the shower!)
About a hundred feet from the camper was the beach. It was a modest beach with fine-grain tan sand. We could see Cedar Point amusement park and the occasional fireworks shows the park would have. In the distance we would sometimes see lake freighters hauling iron ore to Cleveland or Buffalo. There were many teenagers there, so I was not without company of kids my own age.
Then there were the Lake Erie islands, particularly South Bass Island, which was where the honky-tonk party town of Put-In-Bay was located. My cousin Craig had a boat, and we would sometimes go there for the day. One time that summer we did an overnight trip. The boats would tie up against each other, and everyone would walk—or stagger—across each other’s boats to get to the dock. Everyone was in good spirits and that helped give the dock area a lively party atmosphere.
For an 18-year-old single guy like me, it was a fun place. Of course I could not drink in the bars, but on a private boat one could enjoy many pleasures, including Lake Erie wines. (Summer in a bottle as I call it.)
But seriously…
That summer I was taking Algebra II at McKinley High School in Canton to get current in math. Taking Algebra II in the summer meant I could take trigonometry my senior year and be ready for calculus in college. My original plan was to major in computer science, but that never materialized because of my dread of calculus. (Instead, I would go on to major in journalism—a mistake that I regret to this day.)
While summer school tended to be a bit more relaxed and less formal than classes taken in the regular academic year, there were still homework assignments due Monday morning. Those assignments I did in the evening at the campground, before everyone would get together for card games or board games. I could have done the work Sunday night after we got back, but by that time I was wiped out from too much alcohol, sun, and fun. Pondering multivariable equations was not something I would have been able to do at that time. All I really could do when I got home was crash, get a good night’s sleep, and be ready for school the next morning.
The teacher—whose name escapes me after all these years—was a cool guy. He was into classic cars but disliked anything made past 1970. In fact, he felt that the 1970s was the nadir of American car manufacturing. (It’s referred to as the “Malaise Era” today.) I can only imagine what he must have thought of such beauties as the Chevrolet Citation and the Pontiac Fiero, both complete duds from the mid 1980s.
In the end, I got a “B” in Algebra II and went on to struggle with trig, finishing with a “C” in May 1986. More to come on my senior year. For now, wishing all my readers a Happy Fall!
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