May 26, 2021
Day 21: Westfield, NY to Conneaut, OH
Milestone Day, Hello/Goodbye Pennsylvania, Dodging Storms
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Climbing Today; 1,062 ft Climbing to Date; 45,428 ft
It was nice weather leaving Westfield, but it didn't last long. Dark clouds up ahead foretold the possibility of a wet cold day. When the rain hit hard, we took shelter under a tree for a few minutes, then the rain let up a bit and we moved on. Soon it hit really hard again, and again we took shelter under a tree just off the road in someone's yard. A lady in the house yelled out a window that we could shelter under her back porch, and we did - it was much more protected than the tree. But the hard rain didn't last long and we moved on once it became a light sprinkle.
Not long after we left the hotel we arrived in Pennsylvania.
The vineyards continued from New York into Pennsylvania. In the photo below you can see Lake Erie past the vineyard. The lake is 55 miles wide near Conneaut, OH, and is probably about the same here.
After not having seen any other cyclists hardly at all on this trip, we met up with two eastbound riders as we were entering Erie. A husband/wife team, they had ridden the western portion of the Northern Tier in 2019 and ended in Chicago. Now they were going to complete the rest of it. They gave us a warning about the eastern Montana roads; they even suggested that we should just take Amtrak across that area and not have to deal with all the oilfield trucks and roads with bad shoulders. ACA had changed the original routing a few years ago because of all the oilfield activity from fracking in northern Montana; they moved the routing a lot further south, but apparently it wasn't enough. So we may need to do a bit of research on that before we get there. While talking we discovered that we were going to be staying tonight at the same hotel that they had stayed in last night. They had forgotten to return the room key and had it with them - so they gave it to us to return when we arrived - the owner will be surprised when we show up with a missing key!
As we were talking, another duo of cycle tourists pulled up! These 2 were a mother and son pair - he had ridden the ACA Route 66 route and then diverted to Cincinnati to meet up with mom and they were now headed to Vermont/New Hampshire I believe. Wow! We all chatted a bit and then we were all anxious to get moving to avoid any more storms today.
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We were getting pretty empty - there had been no "second breakfast" today. We rode through Erie; like most big cities, I just wanted to get past it. We finally found some restaurants on the far end of town and ended up with a McDonald's lunch because it was the easiest to reach via bike. As we were leaving a car pulled up and the driver told us that he would put us up for the night if we needed a place to stay. We already had a hotel booked in Conneaut, so we thanked him for his offer but declined - still, it was nice that someone would offer! That was just the first of 3 offers of kindness we received today.
We left Erie and pushed on. Soon the weather changed again and it became apparent that we were in for some more rain. I was ahead of Doc when the rain commenced, and I pulled under an overhang of an abandoned building and texted Doc that I had found shelter here. Doc soon arrived, and we waited out the rain a bit. As we were about to leave, Mark drove up - we had passed "Mark's Garage" service center about a half-mile back, and Mark had gone out of his way to track us down and let us know that we could shelter in it if we wished. Mark had done some cross-country cycling himself and made a habit of watching out for other cyclists he sees. He told us a story about a Chinese cyclist who passed through and didn't speak any English - he used an app to tell Mark that he needed to go to a market, and Mark was able to help him. So that was the second act of kindness we encountered today.
We hit 1,000 miles at Townline Road just a few miles west of Lake City. This is the 4th time I have cycled far enough to reach that mark, and it's still a big deal. Many of those miles were hard-earned in the New Hampshire and Vermont mountains and the New York Adirondacks. So that's a major milestone for us.
Shortly after we reached the 1,000 mile point, we left Pennsylvania and entered Ohio. We were only in Pennsylvania for 46 miles and that's the entire coastline of Lake Erie within Pennsylvania.
We entered Conneaut and stopped to discuss our eating options. A gentleman named Rick pulled up and asked us if everything was OK and if we needed anything; that was extremely kind of him! Rick is looking forward to his future retirement and being able to spend time doing what he wants just as we are. BTW, what Rick wants is to "catch every fish in Lake Erie." Best of luck with that Rick!
We made our way to the Lakefront Hotel, surprised the owner by returning the room key from the cyclists last night, checked in and quickly showered, and the owner drove us in a golf cart to a nearby restaurant where we had a great meal and walked back. Doc did our laundry while I worked on the journal. We have an early day tomorrow (what else is new?) for the ride to Mentor, and the following day there is an 80% chance of rain so we will have to play things as they come.
Got to go now - 05:15 has become our new normal wake-up time, and I've got to repack laundry and - you know - do all the sorts of things that one does to prepare for the ride tomorrow. Good night all - if you're having trouble sleeping, this video should put you out. Yawn...
Today's ride: 61 miles (98 km)
Total: 1,016 miles (1,635 km)
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I'm bookmarking your journal so I can follow your progress. I'm definitely interested in how the Northern Tier route is
If you're interested, here are some links related to my tour https://linktr.ee/andrewsbicycletour
3 years ago
I enjoy catching up on these posts whenever I get the chance. PS Iroquois IL and Wenona IL are great towns to stop in. Things get sparse in the plains and both of these towns are very accommodating to cyclists offering hot showers and safe places to camp.
3 years ago
Let us know what you think about the Montana roads. We don't plan on changing our route as of now, but if you had the same bad opinion of the Montana roads we might. We are planning on camping in Wenona. Best wishes,
Bud
3 years ago
It was good to meet you and your mom - and your journal is very interesting, I will definitely be following it! Best wishes for the rest of your journey. Oh, BTW, you rode through my home of Tulsa on the Route 66 portion of your tour.
Bud
3 years ago