I FINISHED THE ENTRANCE RAMP FROM MAIN STREET TO I-76!

 

Yesterday, my friend, Tom, and I worked really hard cleaning the entrance ramp from Main Street to I-76 West.  He has done a great job keeping the side of the ramp clean, but down in the grass and up along the freeway, it was HORRIBLE!  

We both got too tired to finish yesterday, so I went back early this morning to chip away at it.  Amazingly, I got it all done.  Here are the bags and big items I'm going to ask Keep Akron Beautiful to pick up tomorrow, along with the bags from yesterday at the entrance to the ramp.

There were piles of trash, obviously thrown from cars, but there was so much more than trash . . . ants, maggots, baby rodents, spiders and a dead deer!  Ick!  Ick!  Ick!  

Almost every piece of trash I picked up with my trash grabber was completely covered with ants, and the lowest part of the grassy area was a 20-foot strip of wiggly maggots.  And the dead deer was stinking up the whole place.  The smell almost made me throw up, but I knew nobody else would clean this.

Trash is ugly.  Trash is dangerous.  And trash is a buffet for disgusting bugs and critters!  Now that this area is clean, I'm hoping all that goes away.

Here's the entrance ramp now, looking at it from the top where it merges onto the freeway.  (You can see the dead deer, but don't look at that.  I didn't.)

Cars were flying by, both on the ramp and the freeway, but I was wearing my vest, and there was plenty of room for me to get way over.  And part of the entrance ramp is blocked off with orange barrels, so I could put all my trash bags over there and walk back to my car safely.

Tom kept saying, "People are pigs!"  And I agree that eight large trash bags is a crazy amount of trash, but who knows how long it's been there.  My guess is, years.

After I finished the entrance ramp, I raced home to take a shower.  Ick again!  Then I went back out to pick up trash on Wilbeth Road.

I began with the exit ramp from Route 8 to Wilbeth Road where the panhandler sits.  I have no idea how there can be so much trash in this spot!  I stuffed my 45-gallon bag and could barely get it back to my car.

Then I cleaned Arlington & Wilbeth where the pizza shop is.  I love cleaning this corner, because there's a dumpster in the parking lot.  And because the trash is new, it's easy to pick up.

After that, I cleaned another area that I noticed was all trashed up again.  A sudden rain storm popped up, and it actually felt really good.

I picked up 3,168 pieces of trash today in four hours, so I may have overdone it.  I'll know if my hand hurts tonight.  Maybe I'll take tomorrow off.  It's hard to stop once I get going.

Since September, 2023, I have picked up 425 nails, screws and bolts!  I was hoping to find a couple more so I could say I picked up 428 on 4/28, but that didn't happen.  And that's really not a bad thing.

Here's another picture of Stella & Henry enjoying Spring in my front yard.

I love Springtime!  Time to mow the grass again!