Last train to Columbus

July 14, 2022

Ohio bike day

We woke up to a surprisingly foggy morning so had to wait for a few hours for it to clear before beginning our ride. Our chosen route today was to try biking right out of the campground and get over to the Ohio to Erie Rail Trail. From that point we could go north or south.

By 10, the fog had lifted, leaving a beautiful sunny day. Not too hot and not too humid.

Don had selected some good roads to ride today. Some had wide shoulders, and others were quieter country roads. We only had to be on the busy one in front of our campground for 4/10ths of a miles before turning off onto a causeway that crossed Alum Reservoir.

From there we soon turned into a nice neighborhood with large custom homes and out the other side into the country. There wasn't a lot of traffic which was nice and drivers gave us lots of room.

After several miles we reached the connection to the trail and decided to head north today. The trail was pleasant to ride as it was mostly shaded by trees and had smooth pavement. Many other cyclists and walkers were out today.

The trail took us into the village of Galena where we stopped to use a porta potty in the park and read a sign about the brick factory that used to operate here.

Galena is a very old town - established in 1809. In 1893, the Galena Shale Tile and Brick Company started manufacturing bricks which continued until 1998.

We continued on and eventually came to one another little town called Sunbury. This community, established in 1816, was arranged with a central square in the middle of downtown where there was a small town hall. The trail ended briefly here so we had to detour onto streets. But we had to finagle our way around because the good signage that we'd seen earlier had disappeared.

At least it was a small town and we had a general idea of where the trail should be. After a few wrong turns, we came across a sign which took us back to the trail. Sunbury could have used a few more signs!

We rode further north past farms and small housing developments before reaching our end point. It would have been nice to go further today, but Don had made an afternoon appointment at a Toyota dealership to have the truck's oil changed and tires rotated. Oh well, maybe another trip.

Retracing our route back, we were fine on the trail but did make one wrong turn once we were on the roads. But we figured out our mistake (for once it was mine and not Don's!), and soon were back on track and at the trailer by 2 pm. Don had about an hour to relax before taking the truck to the dealer while I stayed behind to do a few things.

The evening was pretty quiet as we watched the trailers rolling in for the weekend. It was kind of funny, but 2 more Airstreams arrived and parked right behind us!

The first part of our ride today took across Alum Lake.

We finally found the country and this neat little house, complete with its own schoolhouse out back!

We appreciated the signage at the Galena town park and the porta potty even more:)

Galena had gone all out in putting in this large play structure. I liked that they had gone with a train theme.

The courthouse in the middle of the town square in Sunbury.

Unfortunately we also found original bricked streets!

Great signage here but not so much in Sunbury.

Another great sign. We rode on another portion of this trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park where the surface was packed limestone.

Today's ride: 31 miles (50 km)
Total: 180 miles (290 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0