Where marks

July 14, 2016

We woke to find our run of rain free days had come to an end. The sky was overcast and a light rain was falling.

Beyond the hotel portico rain is waiting for us.

Team S reacted to the rain by putting on rain jackets. Team A reacted to the rain by taking off their arm coolers. The rain brought pleasantly cool temperatures with it.

Within the first mile we crossed I79 and started climbing a long steep hill in the rain. Meadville is still in the Gulf of Mexico watershed so all of these raindrops were destined for the Gulf. Except they were not. Most ended up in puddles that evaporated within a couple of hours. What percent of the rain that falls in the Gulf watershed actually flows out the mouth of the Mississippi? I suspect it is a tiny fraction.

Within an hour or so the rain stopped, so we didn't witness any raindrops trying to beat the odds by falling in the St. Lawrence watershed and getting to plunge over Niagara Falls. I'm sure that is on most raindrops' bucket list.

We encountered some mysterious grain that was still green. We gave it a taste test. It was sweet. It was nothing like oatmeal, so it wasn't oats. It didn't remind me of bread, so not wheat, nor did it taste like whiskey, so not rye.

Unknown grain, possibly barley since we don't know what barley tastes like.

It was only 40 miles to our destination in Erie and big chunks of that were down hill. Before we even though of stopping for a bite to eat we were there. We checked into our hotel by 11 and went to eat Chinese food for lunch.

The forecast had called for rain all afternoon but the sky was obviously clearing so we hopped on our bikes and went for a ride around Presque Isle state park. It is often difficult to see Lake Erie from route 5 which runs along the lake, but high on a bluff. The bike path around PresqueIsle is right next to the water and has beautiful views.

Presque Isle Bay is Pennsylvania's only port on the lake.

Monument to Oliver Hazard Perry. He captured the British fleet on Lake Erie during the war of 1812.

Gusty winds made Lake Erie rough, in contrast to the calm waters of Presque Isle Bay.

When we got back from Presque Isle it was time for the tandems to go to the spa. The hotel gave us rags and let us use the hose to clean up the mud from the morning's rain. Alain started looking for the wear marks on his tires. These are supposed to disappear as the tire wears but he could not find them. Kerry tried to explain how to locate them but was also unable to find them on Alain's tires. Something tells me these "where marks" are indicating we are due, or past due, for a tire change. We have 2 new tires waiting for us in Columbus Ohio. It will be interesting to see if we can make it there on these tires.

Time to go Google catastrophic failures on worn tires...

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