10 On the Road to Paradise

Chapter 10 ON THE ROAD TO PARADISE Ohio is about two hundred fifty miles across. It would be a long day. Pep opened her book about circus animals. Coke fiddled with an empty Pez dispenser, which his mother had bought for him at the Museum of Pez Memorabilia back in California. It reminded him of home. "Where are we going now?" Coke asked glumly as they pulled out of the campground's parking lot. "The Pencil Sharpener Museum?" "How did you know there was a pencil sharpener museum in Ohio?" asked Mrs. McDonald. "It was a lucky guess," Coke said, slipping the Pez dispenser into his back pocket. "Well, I have good news for you," Mrs. McDonald announced. "We are not going to the Pencil Sharpener Museum. And we are not going to

the Paperweight Museum, or the National Construction Equipment Museum, or the Merry-Go- Round Museum, or the Bicycle Museum of America, or the Annie Oakley museum, or even the Cardboard Boat Museum. Personally, I would love to visit all those wonderful Ohio landmarks." "So where are we going?" Pep asked. "Today we're going someplace just for you," Dr. McDonald told the kids. "We're going to Cedar Point!" "Cedar Point?" Pep asked. "What kind of museum is that?" Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/). Click Get Directions. In the A box, type Paulding OH. In the B box, type Toledo OH. Click Get Directions. "It sounds like the name of a mental institution," Coke remarked. "Cedar Point happens to be the greatest amusement park in the world!" Dr. McDonald

replied, grinning broadly. "And it's in Sandusky, Ohio!" "Really?" Pep screamed, jumping out of her seat to wrap her arms around her parents. "I love you!" There are great amusement parks in California, of course. Six Flags. Sea World. Disneyland. But Sandusky, Ohio, is almost sacred ground for roller- coaster fanatics around the world. Its first coaster was built back in 1892. Now Cedar Point is filled with them, and they are among the tallest and fastest in the world. Both of the twins loved thrill rides, the scarier the better. Dr. McDonald popped a piece of gum into his mouth and an AC/DC disc into the CD player. It always amazed him that one of his favorite rock bands of his youth was also loved by his children. "Turn it up!" Coke shouted over the music. He liked his music loud. The louder the better. Dr. McDonald followed the local roads until he reached Route 24 East, which he stayed on for a long fifty-five miles. By that time, stomachs had started growling and it was decided unanimously to

stop off for lunch well before they got to Cedar Point. It's not a good idea to ride a roller coaster on a full stomach. Dr. McDonald pulled off the road at Toledo, where he saw a truck advertising a hot dog restaurant called Tony Packo's. BITE THE BEST, it said on the side of the truck. He couldn't resist. "Holy Toledo!" Coke said as they walked into Tony Packo's. The walls of the restaurant were covered with plaques, each one bearing a hot dog bun that had been autographed by a famous person. Jerry Seinfeld. George W. Bush. Bing Crosby. Patti LaBelle. Clint Black. There were five hundred of

them. "This place is like a hot dog bun museum!" Mrs. McDonald said, reaching for her camera. Tony Packo's would be perfect for Amazing but True. They found an empty table and the waitress, an older woman, came over. "What'll it be, folks?" she asked. "Hot dogs!" all four replied. "Good choice." The kids walked around examining the autographed buns on the wall, but it wasn't long before their hot dogs arrived, so they rushed back to their table. Coke was about to bite into his hot dog when he decided to put some ketchup on it. As he opened up the bun, this is what he saw burned into it: "Oh no," he said to himself. He quickly scanned the restaurant, then glanced over at the other buns on the table. Nobody else's bun had weird symbols burned into it. Without saying a word, Coke showed the bun to

his sister. She raised her eyebrows. "Memorize it," Pep whispered in his ear. "I already did." The cipher committed to memory, Coke doused the dog with ketchup and destroyed the evidence, by eating it. Back on the road to Cedar Point after lunch, the twins huddled together in the back of the RV as Coke wrote down the symbols he had seen on his hot dog bun. "It's indecipherable!" he whispered. "Every cipher is decipherable," Pep whispered back. "That's why they're called ciphers. And this one, actually, is easily decipherable. It uses the Ogham alphabet." "The what?!" "It was a medieval alphabet used in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales," she said, as she began writing it out. "How can you possibly know that?" Coke asked.