Americana in the Lake Erie region

Day 27, May 19 Niles, OH to Dunkirk, NY

Data: 147.5 miles Riding time 8:15 (17.8 mph avg)

Covered bridges, root beer floats, Erie, Pennsylvania homes and harbor, Lake Erie shoreline, and big tailwinds for half the ride. It was yet another unforgettable bike ride. The published distance today was 138 miles, so I see I "detoured" a total of 9.5 miles to sight see. The last few days I've mostly ridden alone, which I have found I prefer on these beautiful country roads with little car traffic. It's just so peaceful and I can get lost in my thoughts as I observe all the minutia around me, like landscaping, flowers, people working, animals, whatever.

The early part of today's ride was not too different from yesterday, which was still really beautiful. Note: Many huge corn fields in Ohio have had single oil wells right out in the middle, pumping away all by themselves. ???

Once we turned north along a particular road that paralleled the Pennsylvania border, I saw different sorts of farms and dwellings than we'd seen in Ohio up to now. Interspersed with the "nicer" homes and farms were many older, run-down homes, trailers, old trailers, groups of old trailers, non-similar trailers combined together to make a larger trailer, and old shacks. Many had lots of old, broken-down cars on their lots, and other "antiques" lying all over the place. Goats and chickens were roaming. I'm sure these scenes are all over, but we just never came across them until today. Here is a tractor I passed on the road.

Also interspersed along this road were Amish farms. An interesting note: I saw an Amish woman in her full black dress mowing her lawn with a push mower. Quite a difference from all the riding mowers I've been seeing. Actually, it's not uncommon at all to see women doing hard physical farm work, like cutting logs with a chain saw, that I would normally associate with men's work.

Another note from all of Ohio: lots of flag poles to show patriotism, and most had a secondary flag for their favorite sports team - Ohio State, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns, and other colleges besides OSU.

The road north also had three covered bridges that I could see off to the east a couple hundred yards. I diverted off our route to visit this perfect specimen.

Once we got almost to Lake Erie, we turned east toward the Penn. border. But before we got there, we came to an old fashioned root beer stand that the tour leader had said was a "must stop". Sure enough, our group was sitting at every stool ordering floats and hot dogs. I had a float. Kasper kept feeding quarters into the juke box in front of him, playing old 60s songs.

Not long after leaving White Turkey Drive-In with full bellies, we got to Pennsylvania.

Being a Saturday, we saw, for the first time on this trip, other groups of bikers on the road. Some were doing a regular ride along Lake Erie, while another group was doing the "Underground Railroad" course from Alabama to a spot in central Ontario. They were camping, so they were really loaded down, as shown here in my photo of a guy named Alvin. I felt lucky that we could ride unencumbered.

In Erie, which has one of the few natural harbors along the southern Lake Erie coastline, I diverted from our route to ride a bike path through the harbor area and downtown.

The harbor was scenic, but so were the beautiful homes along 6th street. They reminded me of the homes in Quincy, IL.

The rest of the ride to Dunkirk was along the coast, about a quarter-mile inland from the shoreline. It reminded me of riding along the ocean since all you can see is water to the north (you can't see the northern shoreline - too far away). I was surprised to see so many vineyards; it turns out this has been a wine region for over 100 yrs. Some of the riders went in for some tasting at the Penn Shore Winery.

It was a three-state day, and here we are entering New York, our 11th state.

When we were getting close to Dunkirk, I went into a marina where there was a restoration-in-process of a late-16th-century sailing ship. It was built as an authentic replica in 1985, but it sank in 1999, and they raised it but need to finish restoring it.

I later diverted to ride around Erie Lake State Park, and in the end, I was the last rider in. But what a fabulous day. We had a yummy dinner in the hotel restaurant that overlooked the harbor. Guinness in the bottle, and Yingling on tap, were tonight's beer choices.

Cookies and brownies

Day 26, May 18 Wooster to Niles, OH

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!

Central Ohio is HILLY

Day 25, May 17 Marysville to Wooster, Ohio

Data: 107.3 miles Riding time 7:00 (15.4 mph avg)

Note: I wrote a journal entry for Day 25 last night, as usual, but it wouldn't save, so I lost the entire thing. I spent a lot of time on it because the ride (yesterday's) was super. There's no way I can rewrite it as I did last night (one can't recreate a masterpiece - haha). But, I'll try to summarize before writing today's entry.

I love this shot with my shadow that Mike Munk took yesterday.

The roads on which they have us riding through Ohio are absolutely fabulous. Most of it has been on what they call the Cardinal Trail, so it's been laid out as a bike route. The scenery and terrain are so varied -- rolling hills, steep hills, forest, farmland. That's me at the back of the paceline.

And the terrain can change in an instant. One time it reminded me of when, in the Wizard of Oz, they leave the dense forest and suddenly Emerald City is in front of them on a flat plain. Another thing I remember commenting on was how most of the homes have those inviting big front porches, with stuffed chairs and wooden swinging chairs. Here's a "cute" house I stopped to photo.

The day started out with rain, and stayed cold the whole day. As we left Marysville in the morning, we soon rode through the town of Delaware still bunched together in our peloton. I wonder what drivers in town think when they approach an intersection with a long line of bicyclists waiting for a left turn?

After the first break, I rode alone and therefore stopped to take lots of photos. Here's one of a tree trunk carving. I've seen several, and most have been of carvings of eagles. I liked this one for a change.

I came across three silos for storing feed corn that I thought was interesting.

The tour leader kept talking about how much we were going to like Road 603. I thought he meant the scenery, but it turned out to be extremely hilly. Just check out this photo of Road 603 in front of us!

Here's a photo I took at the top of one of the hills looking back at other riders. The man in the photo came down to talk to me. He's retired, and a runner and biker, and will compete in the Senior Olympics in June, just like Dad always did. He had been working in his flower and vegetable gardens most of the day.

We saw alpacas several times today; they're popular for their wool. On one of my rides from Simi Valley, I pass two alpaca farms. We also passed what I understood were "veal" farms, whereby each calf had its own little abode. A few of them peeked out at me as I got off my bike to take this picture.

I just had to include this picture of some of us "having our fun" along the way of our all-day bike rides. Gotta break up the monotony as best we can!

When we got to Wooster, I was surprised to see it was Ohio's best hometown, since I'd never heard of Wooster.

A group of us had dinner at an Italian restaurant called El Rancho Grande. Sounds Mexican, doesn't it? They served no alcohol, so Kasper got on his bike and rode a couple blocks and bought a bottle of wine and a corkscrew and rode them back for us. Here we are, with Kasper, Pam, Brian, Brian's sister Elizabeth, and Greg.

P.S. I seem to have lost my cellphone while taking Brian out to dinner in Marysville. Neither the restaurant nor Brian had it, so it's a mystery.

Visits with Brian and Nestle R&D

Day 24, May 16 Richmond, IN to Marysville, Ohio

Data: 106 miles Riding time 5:56 (17.8 mph avg)

Brian came for dinner, and I visited several old friends at the Nestle R&D center! The ride was one of the best so far, so this was a great day.

Ever since my last visit to the R&D Center as an employee last June, I told these guys that I would be riding up to their front door on May 16. It came to pass! In fact, our route went right by the front door. I had wonderful visits with many old friends - the Einersons (Mark retires in just 32 days), Antonio, Kyle, Ken, Johan, Pu-Sheng, Bob, Lynn, and others. Here's a picture of Kyle Kent, Bob Lapoir and me, and you can see my bike in the background. Bob worked with me in Van Nuys and we went scuba diving a couple times at Santa Cruz Island on my boat.

Brian and I went to dinner at a National Historic Place, which was recently converted into a restaurant. It was the home of Doctor Henderson, who lived there over 100 yrs ago. Here's a picture of us -- before I found the fly in my wine glass and they gave us a complimentary second bottle of the wine.

Soon after starting from Richmond this morning, Dave, Geoff, Jerry and I crossed into Ohio. There's always time to stop for a picture entering a new state. In this case, we are crossing into our 9th state.

The ride today was a real beaut. It had rained overnight, so everything was fresh and wet. We rode on scenic country backroads, over gently rolling hills. It reminded me of driving in Germany. Here's a shot of Dave, Geoff, Jerry and me riding early this morning, when it was misty/rainy.

We passed little farms with pigs lying in the fresh mud, goats on a steep hillside, chickens pecking all over the front yard, and even a farm with a few of all the animals including two llamas. The farm homes, with their big front porches with couches and swings, were a little different than in the previous few states; today's were narrower and taller, and many times had posts that were big and round, and carved. Check out all the goats on this rustic farm.

We left early today -- at 6:30 -- and, coupled with a good tailwind, it helped get us done with the ride quite early. It was so early, in fact, that I stayed at the lunch after everyone else left, just so I wouldn't get to the R&D Center too early. I finally decided I'd better get going in case it rained, so I got to the Center at 1:20, and I originally had predicted 3 pm. The lunch stop was at a small church and cemetery in Concord dating to 1824, so I looked at gravestones. We also passed a spot in Fort Jefferson with a sign saying that a fort was first built there in 1791.

We passed an historical marker in St. Paris for Lincoln's funeral train, which stopped there on April 29, 1865 on its way to Springfield, IL. So far, Ohio has been a super setting for our bike tour, and we're told it will continue on tomorrow's 105-mile ride. One final shot from today along our route. Can't use your boat anymore? Turn it into a planter with pizzazz.

Only 8 days to go.

My first flat tire

Day 23, May 15 Lebanon to Richmond, Indiana

Data: 107.3 miles Riding time 6:11 (17.4 mph avg)

Yes, I finally got a flat tire, and it seemed to be the big news of the day for everyone on the ride. Word spread quickly, and rider after rider offered their condolences as I encountered them later. It came after 2425 miles. Lucky for me, the van pulled up almost immediately, so I didn't even have to change it myself (Shane did).

I was with five others when it happened, and all of them wanted to stop and "be part of this event." The funniest thing was that the two horses across the highway kept doing a horse laugh, so my buddies teased me that the horses found it funny too. Of course, I also got the jokes that my buddies had let the air out of my tires at the lunch stop, or that they had driven in a wire and it finally punctured the tube. It actually was just a tiny thin wire that had gone straight through the tread. Notice how my buddies have all stopped and the van is approaching.

This happened out on National Hwy 40, which is also called Old National Road. The original road was from 1806, and was the first road funded by the young national government, with the hope of helping the population head west and settle new land.

The ride today was another beauty. We got started late (9 am) because we had an early-morning visit to a bicycle-making company about 30 minutes away by car. The tour leader's site has more on this, since he owns this kind of bike and loves to talk about it. Here we are hearing about how they make their bikes. The tall fellow near the left with the white hair, Bill Reenstra (Berkeley Bill), actually bought one of their bikes as a result of this tour.

Today's route was, in large part, an upscale area just north of Indianapolis, featuring huge estates with big fancy homes, and many horse properties like those I see in Thousand Oaks back home. The lawns were massive, and we made jokes about how they have to start mowing again as soon as they're done. My photo shows one example of these huge estates.

Our route later was along pretty country roads, through small-town-America villages, with some buildings dating from as early as 1834. I saw roads with huge trees on both sides, making the road look like a tunnel. Lots of tree-lined rivers too, each one making me think I could have fun rafting around on them as we did on the South Fork of the American River on Hwy 50 when we were kids. I wanted to take so many pictures of everything, that I took none; how can you choose just one? Mike Munk took this one at the beginning of today's ride. That's me at the back.

Luckily I don't need to buy a third camera, after mine flew out of its holder in my pouch when I hit a bad bump. The camera hit the ground, but it still works! Each day out here in middle America, we have smooth roads at times, and bumpy roads at other times. We all verbalize an "ahhhhh" when we move from bumpy to smooth; it also translates into an instant increase in speed of about 2 mph.

We get some funny road names across the country too. Here is one from today.

As opposed to the previous two days, we had a tailwind much of today, explaining why I had an avg speed of 17.4 even though we took it easy. In general, it seemed people were tired from the days of side- and headwinds. Of course, we still need our Dairy Queen milkshakes when we're done! Here are my buds Jerry, Dave, and Geoff as we found our DQ entering Richmond, IN.

Only 9 more days of this fabulous ride. We really have been lucky with the weather, even when there were tornadoes and lightning storms in Kansas, since we were able to make it through even those days. Tonight it's supposed to rain, and tomorrow will be cooler. Also, tomorrow I will be visiting my friends at the Nestle R&D center in Marysville, and Brian will drive out from Columbus to have dinner with me.

15-mi race to start the day

Day 22, May 14 Tuscola, IL to Lebanon, IN

Data: 123 miles Riding time 6:30 (18.9 mph avg)

Why were there only two of us eating breakfast at Denny's this morning? And why was the other one Dave Roark, the racer? This caused me to have a wild and crazy beginning to the ride today.

They gave us the choice of eating the motel's free breakfast, or going to the Denny's. Usually, the two choices at Denny's have been the Grand Slam or oatmeal. This time, they also offered the veggie omelet. I wanted to have that. Apparently no one else did, except Dave. So, that meant everyone else took off by 6:30, just as Dave and I were going into Denny's. We enjoyed our omelets, but then were 30 minutes behind. Shane joined us (staff always leaves last), and paid the bill. So off the three of us went, and after about two miles, the route turned north, with a brisk tailwind. Well, Shane and Dave were in a racing mood, and took off at 28 to 31 mph for the next 15 miles. Shane had to stop to help someone with a flat tire, but Dave and I continued to speed along.

I hung on for dear life, but at least I hung on. I never once took a turn pulling at the front. Finally, once we'd caught and passed several groups, I said thank you, and dropped off and rode at a more sensible pace -- an enjoyable pace -- with Phil, Bob Papineau, and Scott Keeler. When we got to the first rest stop at mile 45, my avg speed was still 21 mph even though I'd cooled it off for some time. Here's a photo of us enjoying the ride. I love the shadows riding as fast as we are.

Up to the first rest stop, the scenery was similar to yesterday; we were on country roads between perfectly wavy corn fields. The occasional farm house and dogs were the only sights to break it up.

After that, though, we were on traveled roads that went through little towns every 10 miles or so, and this was quite scenic. We crossed the Wabash River, a wide and beautiful one. Right on the other side, in Covington, we stopped for drinks at a gas station, but I had a Nestle Crunch Ice Cream bar.

The weather today was super -- again. It helped make it a great day for a bike ride. I rode with so many different people, which is fun. Our lunch stop was in Hillsboro, and they had a funny sign as we entered town.

Hillsboro had an old-fashioned soda fountain shop, and many of the riders went in for some ice cream or a milkshake. The outside had old bicycles as decoration, plus there was an old clock on the corner.

As usual, we had our milkshakes when the ride was finished, at a Steak n Shake right near the motel. There's also a White Castle directly across the street, so I had five of those as a snack after the dinner. Here are Steve and I enjoying our recovery drink.

Today when we crossed into Indiana, we entered the Eastern time zone. Hard to believe. Here's the photo at the state line, with Phil, Bob P, me, and Scott. As soon as this photo was taken, the other three turned around over by the pole and answered the call of nature. I have a photo of that too, but I'll spare you.