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.