Data: 96 miles (forgot to record the time and avg speed)
Surprise! As I pulled into the motel in Niles, there was Cathy Rykwalder (my sister-in-law) sitting there on the grass! She drove 7 hours from Falls Church, VA to see me, and brought homemade goodies and five 12-packs of soft drinks for the riders. She had planned this visit for a long time, but kept it a secret.
We went out right away for a milkshake, since I'd missed having one the previous two days. She went to the "Rap" for tomorrow's ride, and we gave out two of the four bags of homemade cookies and brownies. Everyone loved them. Then we went out to dinner, and I also showed her every photo I've taken so far. That was nice of her to drive clear out here and to bring all those goodies, and it was lucky this was not one of those nights when I would have had no time to visit. We'll all be enjoying the cookies, brownies, and sodas at tomorrow's rest stops and lunch.
As far as the ride, it was again fantastic. Ohio has been my favorite state so far. The scenery here is incredible on the country roads. We take a magazine called "Country", and I feel as though I'm riding through the pages of the magazine, as it's full of photos that depict what I've been seeing in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and eastern Kansas.
I rode alone for the entire day (other than the first hour) because I feel more "free" to sight see and stop for photos. As we got started today, Dave Roark took this neat picture with the shadows cast by the morning sun. I'm behind Rob and Judd.
We continued to see many carved tree trunks. In this case, the woman living there invited me to come up close for a photo, and mentioned that the tree was 200 yrs old.
President McKinley was born in Niles, so they had a monument to him here that seemed patterned after the monuments in Washington, D.C.
As we got close to Niles, out route took us on a long bike path that we had to ourselves, newly paved and with tunnels under the roadways. It was pretty cool!
It must have been "Ohio Lawn Mowing Day", in that I saw about 25 people riding their lawnmowers. Since it was a weekday, they were all elderly folks, and just as many women as men. In one spot, three consecutive lawns were being mowed as I rode by. Also, I spotted a DeLorean car sitting under a tree in Canal Fulton, a very picturesque village along the way. We made some jokes about Marty McFly and Doc Brown.
Tomorrow we'll pass through Pennsylvania on our way to New York, and ride along Lake Erie. Can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment