July 31 Sandusky to Burton, OH 96.7 miles

Heron and waterway, Lake Erie in background

Great night’s sleep last night despite the trains and the kids coming back from the amusement park late. Thank heavens for ear plugs! We got up to clear skies and a camp breakfast. I have started to use my protein powder in the mornings rather than after riding and its working very well that way for me. We don’t get much protein for breakfast and since I need it anyway, the protien powder does the trick. Otherwise, I’m starving for lunch way before lunch time– no kidding!

Greg unlocks his bike

Ash and Pauline at the market in Vermillion

Today’s ride was in way more traffic than we’ve ridden in so far on this trip. We left our KOA campground in Sandusky and headed toward Cleveland. Fortunately, the Ohio drivers are very polite and even when there wasn’t much shoulder, they gave us as much room as they could. We had our first water stop located in the parking lot of a small store in a town called Vermillion. They were baking bread and it smelled SO GOOD that I just had to get something to eat so I got a turkey and swiss sandwich and it kept me going until lunch. Pauline and Ash posed for me in front of the old wooden wagon in front of the store. Then off I went. I was anxious to get through Cleveland.

Lake Erie

Outside the Rock 'n Roll all of Fame

We got to the town of Rocky River about 48 miles into our ride and were supposed to cross the river but we couldn’t cross where we planned because the drawbridge was being worked on. The detour was really poorly marked and our road directions were non-existent so everyone ended up taking a different route. I finally stopped at an auto repair shop for directions and was given a very nice route past some nurseries on a quiet road that got me back to Route 6. Unfortunately, Route 6 has lots of traffice but as I said, the drivers here are very polite. I met up with Ash and Pauline just as we entered Cleveland and rode through town with them. You really need a couple of people to navigate through the bigger towns. Its really hard to watch the road, watch the cars, and read the cue sheet to see where to make the next turn. And the last 2 days, our directions have been pretty sketchy.  We had a couple of places where we weren’t sure if we had accidently passed our turn or if there was an error but we finally started to get out of downtown (where we passed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) and into the suburbs. We passed some gorgeous houses today– some of them were more estates than homes. Just as we thought we were home free and out of Cleveland there was a “detour- bridge out” sign in our path. We got directions from a Parks and Rec guy around the detour that took us through a lovely residential area and then we were  on our last 15 miles to camp. This was a pretty difficult 15 miles, lots of very steep hills. I like the kind where you can just get into your small chainring, get up the hill, and then shift back into your large chainring for the downhill but these were the type of hills where you were constantly shifting.

Patty and Tony

I thought I had the route licked at about 3 miles to go and was just about to stop at Dairy King for a celebratory ice cream when I looked forward to see where our road went next. I was horrified. It wasn’t a steep hill– it was a cliff. YIKES! I couldn’t imagine trying to climb it after eating ice cream so I forgot about stopping and decided to get my butt over the hill. Like many hills, it wasn’t nearly as bad when I was climbing it as it looked like from a distance. And at the top of the hill was Burton. This is a very small town but it does have the basic necessities: a laundromat and a coffee shop. The fairgrounds where we are camped is nice with some trees for shade and the showers are pretty good. I think we’ll be ok here for our rest day.

These pictures are from breakfast this morning…..

Brendan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brendan, Tony, Dwayne, Chuck, and Patty wait for cue sheets

Joe enjoys his latest concoction: oatmeal mixed with hot chocolate

Rachel with Ed in the background wearing his favorite pink shirt

Steph gets a few extra moments of sleep while Kevin contemplates the upcoming day

Rueben's INCREDIBLY UGLY cycling clothes

Catey contemplates breakfast

 

Diana and Janet wait for cue sheets

Guess what– today is the first day since I can’t remember when that I haven’t had ice cream. Hope I don’t wake up in the middle of the night with withdrawl!