Day 20 - Conneaut, Pennsylvania to Westfield, New York

Today is our 39th wedding anniversary.  Where has the time gone?  John and I both agree that this is a great way to celebrate.  Last year for our 38th we were in New Town, North Dakota as we pedaled towards our goal of getting to Anacortes, Washington.  This year we are in Westfield, New York pedaling towards our final destination of Bar Harbor, Maine.  What a life!

This morning we said goodbye to Ohio after just a few miles of biking  and immediately started to bicycle passed fields and fields of grape vineyard.  It was very interesting and very scenic landscape with the vineyards in the front and mountains in the background and then when we would look on the other side of the road you would see more vineyards with Lake Erie as the background.  We also stopped along the road by a creek that was so clear you could see 12" to 14" fish as you looked over the bridge and down into the water.  I know our Mike and the grandchildren would love to be fishing there.  It was a  very pretty stream with little rapids. 

We arrived in Westfield about 3:00PM and checked into our hotel.  After cleaning up we decided to go and look for a place to eat.  We went to a Italian Restaurant (the owner of the motel recommended it) called Calarco's Restaurant and Lounge.  When we arrived we parked our bike out front and then went in to the restaurant.  We were there first customers so we sat down and placed our order.  A short time later in walked an older lady and came and sat down on the table right next to us.  She was bubbly and giving the waitresses some kidding and joking around.  After she ordered she turned to us and asked us why we wern't talking. lol  I mean we have been together 24/7 since we left home and plus we had bicycled 67 miles and we were just sitting there enjoying solitude. lol  Anyway we told her what we were doing and then she told us all about Westfield and the vineyards and the industry in the area.  She was very informative and we really enjoyed our conversation with her.  She has lived in the area her entire life and knew everything and everyone in the area.  In fact, she had seen us bike into town and had wondered where we were staying.

We arrived back at our motel around 6:00 and sat outside a little bit and then called it a night.  John and I were both very tired and we planned on getting up at 5:30 to be down to the Main Street Diner by 6:00 for breakfast and then be on our way.

Crossing the river on our way to Pennsylvania!

People out in the fields picking strawberries!

We saw rows and rows of grapevines in numerous vineyards as we bicycled along Lake Erie!

More vineyards - it must be so pretty when there are actually grapes on the vines!

If you look closely you will see the numerous fish that were in the river!

I would of loved to of sat on the rocks here with a good book and just enjoyed the sound of the river!

John feeding the fish with a pizza pretzel combo! lol

Hoot Hoot - our 7th state to bike in this trip!

This is the little gal that was so informative and told us all about living in the Westfield, NY area!

Day 19 - Painesville to Conneaut, Ohio - 59 miles today

John and I got up at 6:00AM this morning and enjoyed breakfast with Gary and Natalie.  After saying goodbye Gary drove us back to Painsville where we continued on our journey.  Gary, thank you so much for your sag support over the last couple of days.  You and Marilyn are great friends!

We were on our way biking around 7:30 and had a very good day biking as the weather was cooler due to it raining earlier in the morning.  In fact, as we bicycled passed Geneva-On-The-Lake we noticed that there were numerous trees down.  We figured it was from the storm from two days ago but found out later that this storm had passed through around 6:00AM today.  Here we were biking through around 9:00AM so the storm had passed and it was a very pleasant morning for biking.

As we were biking we noticed a sign on the side of the road saying that there was another detour.  I had just mentioned it to John when John noticed a man had pulled his truck over on the side of the road and was motioning us to stop.  We stopped and he told us that the road was detoured up ahead and that we should take the route that he suggested.  Now this man wouldn't of had to take the time to stop and let us know that and we thanked him and I had mentioned that it was people like him that has made our journey so special.

We continued on and stopped at a little store in Madison, Ohio named D'Abates Madison Market for something cold to drink.  We had a very nice conversation with Darryl and received the following email from him telling us about a Frank Lloyd Wright house that was on Lake Road West and he also gave me a little history of his store.

 Here is what Darryl wrote regarding his store:  Darryl's parents started the store in 1955 - the floor you walked on today in the store is original laid in 1956.  The counter you put the drinks on, John, was from a Ford dealership in Painesville, Ohio.  It was there old parts dept. counter bought in 1956 - remember the huge worn spot in the middle?  We played in the store as little kids as our parents house is next door to the store - please be safe and have a great trip - Daryl and Cindy D'Abate from Madison, Ohio.

Now was that a cool email to receive from a complete stranger!  The last several days we have had numerous cases of random acts of kindness extended to us and these people are what makes this journey so special.  Unfortunately the media now days tells us of the devious acts of a few but fortunately we have been experiencing first hand some of the kindness and generosity of the vast majority of the people that we have met.

When we got to Ashtabula, Ohio we stopped in at a Subway and had lunch.  A gal came in and commented on our bike and asked us where we were from and where we were going.  After hearing our story she said "You two are like rock stars".  Well we don't know about that but we sure are enjoying this bicycle ride.

After biking 59 miles today we decided to stay in Conneaut, Ohio.  Our original plan was to stay in Lake City, Pennsylvania but I tried to call the hotel that is listed on our Adventure Cycling Maps and found out that it is no longer in business.

Last evening while reviewing our maps and mileage with Gary we realized we have reached another milestone on our cross country tour.  In crossing the states we will have had put on over 5200 miles and as of today we are starting our final 1000 miles.  It is a bittersweet milestone as the miles sure are tedious and sometimes stressful but just the same with all the great experience we have had we hate to see it coming to an end.  However, with that said we still have 935 miles to go and we are going to enjoy every minute of it.

Saying goodbye to Gary at Painesville Main Square!

Main Square in Painesville, Ohio

The little corner mart that we stopped in on our way through Madison, Ohio!

This man took time to stop and tell us about the detour and suggested a route that we should go on.

We saw rows and rows of nursery stock and greenhouses as we bicycled through Ohio today.

Day 18 - Bay Village, Ohio to Painesville, Ohio and then to Gary Solomon's mothers home

First off and most important I would like to say "Happy 60th Birthday honey!  What a way to spend your 60th birthday.

We got up at 5:45AM and packed up and checked out of the Red Roof Inn.  They gave us a certificate to go to the convenient store next door for a breakfast sandwich (that's there idea of a continental breakfast) so we went over there and sat on a curb outside the building eating our breakfast sandwich.  We wanted to get an early start because it was suppose to get hot today and we were also going to meet up with Gary Solomon for lunch.  We hadn't biked very far and we came upon road construction and a road closed sign.  Fortunately we could bike alongside the road construction and we were able to get  through on the sidewalk.It was amazing biking along Lake Erie and getting glimpses of the lake and all the huge beautiful homes that are built right on the shoreline of Lake Erie.  Today we got to bike through Cleveland which was on very heavily traveled roads with a lot of stoplights, pedestrians, and vehicles.  John did a tremendous job of getting us through the city.  He not only has to watch for vehicles coming at us or behind us but to make sure that there isn't a vehicle pulling out from the side streets.  He also has to dodge all the potholes while I watch the map and try to make sure that we are on the correct route.  We also biked right by the Cleveland Brown footballs stadium that is built right along side Lake Erie.  It's a very impressive building but I was more impressed with the dedication to the fireman that had lost their lives fighting fires (the statute was right by the stadium). 

As we were following the route there were directions to go onto a bike path and bike for several miles.  When we got to what we thought might be the bike path we decided to walk it because it was not paved.  Well, here it was a path to the beach and we ended up coming upon a tree down on the path and having to go around that and then push the bike thorugh the sand to get to the correct bike path.  The mesquitos were horrendous but fortunately they didn't seem too hungry.  We were real happy to get back on the street and continue on.

Around 11:00 we received a call from Gary Solomon and we decided to meet up with Gary for lunch at Arby's in Willowick.  Once we placed our order we decided to go to a park to eat and we were able to sit on a picnic table overlooking Lake Erie and enjoy good company and good food. While eating lunch we looked over our route maps and decided to do another 22 miles which would have gotten us to Perry Ohio which we thought would put us beyond the heavy traffic areas and out of the Cleveland suburbs but just in case we got tired out, Gary offered to drive ahead to Painesville and wait for us there. This shortend our ride by about 6 miles.

So we headed out towards Painesville and just within a mile we came upon a flagman and as we bicycled past him he holler out "Happy Birthday John".  What a surprise this was and then we realized that Gary, who was driving ahead of us to Painsville, had told the flagman that we were coming and he should wish John a Happy Birthday.  It was great and definitely brought smiles to both of our faces!  What a guy that Gary is!

Boy are we glad that Gary was going to wait for us at Painsville because after lunch the temperature heated up to 94 degrees and by the time we got to Painesville we were more than willing to call it quits. Fifty three miles of traffic induced stress along with very rough roads, pot holes, man hole covers, detours, and high temps were enough for one day.

Gary was waiting for us at the Painsville Main Square and we happily helped him load our bike into his van and we rode with him to his mothers home in Mayfield Heights.  We were introduced to Gary's mom, Natalie, and shown where we would be staying and encouraged to make ourselves at home and given the opportunity to shower and clean up while Gary and Natalie went to the market to pick up refreshments and items for dinner.  When they got back we enjoyed a couple hours of socializing and getting to know each other while Natalie prepared a delicious supper of baked salmon, corn on the cob, tossed salad, and homemade biscuits.  John made the comment of how much Natalie reminded him of Mom Johnson.  I informed Natalie that was one of the highest compliments she could get from John.   After Natalie and I cleaned up the dinner dishes and John and Gary went to the store to get ice cream we had a delicicious homemade cake that Natalie had in the freezer from her 80th birthday in April.  She said we had to have a birthday party for John being it was his 60th birthday.  We also had a chocolate coconut bar that she had made and had indicated that was one of Gary's favorite desserts.  Natalie certainly made sure that no one went to bed hungry.  I forgot to mention that Natalie is 80 years young and has more energy than most 50 year olds.  What a pleasure it was to meet her and a wonderful treat it was to have a home cooked meal after eating in restaurants the last 2-1/2 weeks.  Your hospitality, conversation, and truly delicious meal was appreciated by both John and I.

Skyline of  Cleveland!

This is one of many huge beautiful homes that are built along Lake Erie!

Shoreline of Lake Erie!

What we thought was a bike trail ended up being a graveled path to the beach!  In front of the bike there is a tree down so we had to push the bike up and around that tree and keep the mosquitos off of us at the same time!

This was an interesting fence alongside the bike path!

Cleveland Brown Stadium on Lake Erie

Statute dedicated to the Fireman that had lost their lives in the call of duty!

Gary picking us up at Painsville Main Square!

Cleveland Fire Fighters plaque outside Cleveland Brown Stadium

Gary in his mom's kitchen!

John trying out Gary's Gold Rush bike! 

Happy 60th Birthday honey!

John, Gary, and Natalie - what a special lady she is!

Kathi, Natalie, and John in Natalie's dining room!

John enjoying the birthday cake and ice cream!

Day 17 - Clyde, Ohio to Bay Village, Ohio - 69 miles biked today

After eating breakfast we loaded up the bike and we were on the road by 6:50 this morning.  As we bicycled through Clyde we went passed a huge Whirlpool factory - apparently they run 3 shifts as the 3rd shift was just getting out when we went by.  Thank goodness we went back on the bike trail so we didn't have to bike among all the vehicles.

About 8 miles out of Clyde we came to a "Road Closed" sign due to flooding.  Well, John decided we should go and check it out so we wouldn't have to bike to far out of our way.  The pictures are below showing us walking through the water - now, I let John go first and decided I would go after him once I knew it was safe.  Didn't his mother ever tell him that you should never walk acrossed washed out roads???  John went and opened up the Bob bag just to make sure it was actually waterproof (like they advertise).  Fortunately nothing was wet and so we were back on our way.

Just a few miles down the road our chain link caught on the derailer (again) and so John was able to fix it.  We decided we'd better find a bike shop and get a new chain and new derailer.  We had bought all new chains before we left on this trip but the one we bought just wasn't doing the job.  This was the 5th time the chain has separated since we left on thsi trip.  We stopped at Bicycle Bills, in Vermillion, and although they were extremely helpful they didn't have the chain length that we needed for our tandem.  However, they did call the bike shop in Avon Lake and found out for us that Marty's Cycle had what we needed.  So off we went to Marty's where we had a new chain and new derailer installed on our bike so we should be good to go. We were very impressed with the service from both of these bicycle shops and would strongly recommend that anyone biking through the area stop at either of them.

We also met a bicyclist heading to the west coast today.  He was on a trike and planned on taking his time to pedal across the US.  In fact, the day before he said he didn't start biking until noon because he attended a yoga class that was held at the campsite he stayed at.  He said he biked a total of 11 miles that day.  He was biking alone and seemed to be really enjoying his time on the road so far.

When we got to Huron, Ohio we bicycled along Lake Erie and enjoyed frequent views of the lake along with the views of the beautiful homes along Lake Erie.  We can't imagine what they pay for property taxes. lol

We are spending the evening in Bay Village at a Red Roof Inn and just got back from having supper at Applebee's.  They have such delicious salads!  Tomorrow we will be meeting up with Gary Solomon and spending Wednesday and Thursday with him. Unfortunately Marilyn will not be able to come along as she is flying to Colorado to spend some time with her family.

Tomorrow John will turn 60 years old.  I had mentioned today that I felt bad that I wouldn't be giving him a birthday party.  He said he has been on a party for the last 2-1/2 weeks and it will continue until we get back home. lol 

Now this is just a challange to John!  Fortunately we could always see pavement as we were wading through!

To our grandchildren "Don't try this at home"!

John was checking to make sure our Bob sack is waterproof!  Thank goodness it was!

Gazebo in downtown Clyde!

The bicyclist was over on our side of the road talking to us - here is a picture of his bike and how he was loaded for cross country trip - he is camping!

View of Lake Erie!

Another view of Lake Erie

Biking along Lake Erie on Highway 6!

Day 16 - Napolean, Ohio to Clyde, Ohio - 67 miles biked today

We stayed at a Best Western Plus last night and we were both pleased with the hotel, the computer in the lobby, pool, and the breakfast.  We got up at 5:45 and after getting packed up we went out and ate breakfast and then headed down the road at 6:40AM.  Once again we were biking along the Maumee River for 14 miles until we got to Grand Rapids and then we were biking away from the river.  We bicycled 48 miles and then stopped for an early lunch in Gibsonburg - we could tell that with the bright blue skies and the sun we were in for a hot afternoon of biking.   After leavnig Gibsonburg the bike route took us on a low traveled narrow road (it was like a extra wide bike path) with views of farm land in every direction.  As we were biking along that road we saw a doe with a new born fawn out in the field.  The fawn couldn't have been but a few days old but boy could that little one run. 

Originally we had planned on biking 60 miles to Fremont but we decided to continue biking to Clyde - there is a beautiful paved bike trail (North Coast Inland Trail) that goes from Fremont to Clyde.  I was very impressed with some of the huge beautiful and nicely landscaped old homes in Fremont along the bike route.  Wow, I can't even begin to imagine what they pay to heat one of those homes in the winter.

We checked into the Red Roof Inn around 1:45 and the gal gave us a room with double beds for $59.00 - she told us we would be on the 2nd floor and that we could store our bike in a meeting room.  We went up to room 218 to get changed to go swimming and when we opened the door we noticed that the room hadn't been cleaned and that someone else was using that room - they had a laptop and luggage in the room yet.  We immediately went downstairs and told the gal and she ended up giving us a $80.00 room for the price of the double bed room with a jaccuzzi in it.  However, she said that they would not turn the water for the jaccuzzi on.  LOL  Oh well, what ever it takes - at least we got a king size bed. We did enjoy a swim in their pool area before getting dressed to go to dinner.

There is a little Farm Market across the road and we will go over there this evening to get what ever we want for supper.

Maumee River out of Napolean, Ohio

We've seen several convenient stores that have drive up service.  Apparently you drive your car in the garage and honk and the attendant will bring you your groceries, beer, or what ever. 

This was an interesting fence along the highway as we were leaving Gibsonburg.

This was a very narrow country road (it felt like we were on our own bike trail) that went through the middle with fields on both side.

If you look close you can see a doe and on the right is a baby fawn running across the field after we startled them.

This was just one of the many big beautiful homes that we saw as we were biking on the bike route through Fremont.  I loved the US flag hanging on their front porch. The porch had a swing on it and looked so inviting.

Biking on the paved North Coast Inland Trail from Fremont to Clyde!

Day 15 - New Haven, Indiana to Napolean, Ohio - 67 miles today

We got up at 5:45AM this morning and had a great breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express.  We were on the road pedaling by 6:30 as it looks like it is going to be another hot-hot day!  Yesterday we checked into the hotel by 1:30 and just spent the afternoon recuperating because the heat really takes a lot out of you.  John had napped in the afternoon but I hadn't and so I was in bed and looked at the clock and it was 7:00PM - that's the last I remember until the alarm went off at 5:45AM this morning.  Yes, I was a little tired.

We finally met another bicyclist on the road today.  It was an older gentleman that had left the Ohio/Pennsylvania border 3 days ago and was heading to Anacortes, Washington.  He was biking by himself and planned on camping some nights and staying in hotels the other nights.  Boy, he has a long way to go. lol

We spent the biggest share of the day biking alongside the river so that kept it a little bit cooler but it still got hot this afternoon.  When we arrived in Napolean we noticed there beautiful court house and then there was a catholic church right behind it so we stopped and went into the St Augustine Catholic church for a few moments of silence.  The church was very pretty but not as pretty as the one we had seen earlier in our trip in Petersburg, Iowa.

We checked into a Best Western Plus at 2:00PM and took a swim and then went to the restaurant next door for lunch/dinner.  This hotel has a guest laundry facility so we are doing our laundry and I am catching up on the blog as there is a computer in the lobby that we can use.  It beats typing on my mini laptop.

The weather really was great today - we had a very little headwind this morning but then by 10:30 or so there didn't appear to be much wind at all.  As long as we kept the bike moving we stayed cool enough but the minute you stop it got hot on that black pavement real quick.  We are happy to report that we really have not had much trouble with dogs.  It seems like a lot of the people that have dogs have the shock collars or underground fencing or have there dogs tied up.  Thank goodness!

The exciting news from the Johnson's is that today we hit our first 1,000 miles on this trip.  We left home two weeks ago, today, so we have biked over 1,000 miles in two weeks.  We are happy with that considering we had to take one day off due to rain and haven't had ideal biking conditions quite a few of the days.

Hope everyone is doing well - it is always so good to hear from our family and friends.  I know that Mike and his girls were going camping this weekend and Matt and his family are up at Lyn & Wendy's cabin and Emily caught a big fish.  Loved the picture that you sent!  I spoke with Crystal yesterday and she is looking forward to her boyfriend coming back home from his fishing trip today.  So it sounds like everyone is doing well and we are also. 

Take care and we'll keep on biking!

Leaving Indiana and saying "Hello Ohio"! Notice wind generators in the background!

They are working at adding more wind generators to the area!

This is only the 2nd biker that we have met that is biking cross country.  He started on the Ohio/Pennsylvania border and is planning on going all the way to Anacortes, Washington!

We had beautiful biking today on slower traveled roads with the river along our right side most of the way!

The water is quite brown due to flooding with a lot of debris floating by!

Courthouse in Napoleon, Ohio

Inside of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Napoleon!