Pedal Pedal Pedal: Day 17 - Clyde, Ohio to Bay Village, Ohio

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!