July 4, 2023
Day 11: Ravenna, OH to Oberlin, OH
In which I see a lot of US flags in yards
Happy Fourth of July, everyone! I hope you are enjoying time with family and friends. For the 3rd year in a row, I am on the road.
I slept well in Ravenna, despite the somewhat creepy B&B vibe (former convent). Both New Castle and Ravenna had somewhat creepy B&B experiences - kind of glad to be past them.
The morning was cool and cloudy. Just a couple miles in, I hit a rail-trail heading out of town. This one turned out to be very well built, and provided smooth car-free riding for 7 miles.
A few miles later, my route brought me to Cuyahoga Falls National Park.
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As soon as I passed that sign, I went down a winding road that dropped quite a bit. I love a good downhill, and one of these got me to 40mph on the bike. But all through my head, I was thinking there would be a painful uphill at the end.
Since I was here, I was hoping to see some falls, but that was not to be. I think the best ones were several miles north of me. I did see a farm with fenced in ducks, which I know people do, but hadn't seen. Do they stay on their own, or need to have wings clipped? Not sure...
Suddenly, I was experiencing deja-vu! Doesn't this look like the C&O Canal Towpath trail I did last week? Yes. Yes, it does!
It's actually the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail - very similar, but this was the first one west of the Appalachians. Here's another heron, just like the C&O, but he didn't want to turn and look at me.
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And there were also some pretty views of the Cuyahoga River
Alas, I was correct! There were three somewhat painful climbs back out of the valley. One was so bad I dismounted and walked part of it. No, I'm not ashamed.
Once back at the top, however, the rest of the route was pretty flat. I did find a Chipotle open in Medina for lunch. Sometimes finding things open on holidays is hard - today wasn't too bad.
The rest of the route went through mostly farmland, so there wasn't much to see. Last year I ran into two parades - this year, none. My wife had an interesting strategy she suggested, involving finding a small town with people barbecuing in the park, swooping in, and nabbing a free burger, before riding away before they could stop me. Unfortunately, I never saw a park picnic going on, so I couldn't try it. I did see a lot of homes with full driveways, so I assume there were lots of gatherings - just not in parks.
I got to Oberlin close to 4pm. Hot, dusty and tired, but it was a pretty good day. Tomorrow is a bit shorter over to Fremont, OH. It's going to be another warm day in the upper 80s, so I'll take my time.
Today's ride: 69 miles (111 km)
Total: 563 miles (906 km)
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