Category: 2016 Northern Tier: The ride

Today was our exciting day to bike through Cleveland. We had a late start, but followed the rising heat up towards the rise of the city and overlook. This was by far the biggest city we would have to bike through. We followed streets lined with multi million dollar homes and then, following a detour was brought into more of the heart of Cleveland. There were a lot of people walking around on the streets and hanging out on front porches. The trail took us towards the Browns stadium and passed the Rock n Roll Hall of fame. We had a snack at the marina, ducking out of a passing rain storm. We continued to skirt around Lake Erie and kept an eye on the storm that was building to the west. Mid afternoon we made a quick call as the wave of black lightening overcame us and we hid out in an overhang at a Day Care building. After a 40 minute break watching the lightening and rain ease up, we headed out in the rain to finish the 20 miles toward the state park. We pulled in right at sunset a little after 8:30. We ate a dinner of Fritos, salsa and chef Boyardee, a quick purchase at the last gas station we saw. The German trio was also staying at the state park and so we camped beside them.

Hello Lake Erie!  There has not been a more favorable site then leaving the dry corn fields and watching as the blue green lake appear to our North. I have been looking forward to this massive body of water since we left the Mississippi River in Iowa. We followed the North Coast Inland Trial that took us just south of Sandusky. We debated about whether we should take a day and go to Cedar Point. As good as roller coasters sound, the terrifying excitement of biking through our first major city of Cleveland pulled us east. Like all good Midwestern states, Ohio did not fall short in its detours.  We followed the lake road for as long as we could, until a detour led us on I-90. The construction worker told us it was only a 3-mile detour after we had asked him if we could just walk our bikes across the bridge that was under construction. The worker said he couldn’t let us pass and that we could easily just follow the detour. We circled back and followed the orange detour sign that led us up onto the Highway. I know it is illegal to ride on the highway in Ohio, but from the look of the road, it was going to be less than a mile before we could get off onto the next exit. We decided to follow the signs and not chance getting lost in the corn fields. The highway had a wide shoulder and rumble strip and we biked as hard as we could to what we thought was the next exit. It turned out, that what we were seeing, was just an overpass with no on or off ramp. So we had to keep going. We passed four more overpasses with no way to get off. We now were debating whether we should try and climb the huge sides of the overpasses to get off, but we would first have to climb over the fences that barricaded them. After eight miles, the all too familiar siren sounded and we slowed as the cop approached us. The police officer was very nice and informed us we needed to get off the highway as soon as possible. First, however he would need to run our licensees. At this point, Matt felt the need to warn the officer that their might be bells and whistles that go off when he enters his name, and began to tell the long story of being pulled over in North Dakota.  After a few minutes the officer came back and said we were all in the clear! We high tailed it to the next exit and was able to rejoin the Northern Tier. After a long day, we ended the day in Bay Village.

We woke after 8 and treated ourselves to the hotel’s continental breakfast of cereal, waffles and yogurt. We then headed out and had a short day into the town of Gibsonberg. For the past few days we have been devouring the snacks that were sent to us by the kind co-workers at Fullerwood. They sent a care package filled with energy rich snacks and loads of sunscreen. We are so appreciative of their thoughtfulness and wonderful taste in snack items. Thank you again, Fullerwood crew!  We camped that night at White Star Park and paid to swim in the quarry that the town had turned into the local swimming hole. They had a concession stand, life guards and best of all a diving board high on top of a hill that Matt and I both used repeatedly.

That night at camp, We met Tony, a bicyclist that was touring the country and trying to bike through every state. He had already completed the TransAmerica trail and was headed northwest toward Michigan. He was deaf, and intends to get the world record in a few years for cycling the globe. We shared stories from the trail and hope to see him in Florida in December as he starts the southern Tier.

We made it to our 10^th state, Ohio! This state has a special meaning to me because it is where I was born and lived for the first eight years of my life. The ride today started through the familiar corn mazes we had been riding through since Illinois. As we approached the Ohio border, hundreds of wind turbines turned slowly with the morning breeze. We quickly flew through the small town of Payne and decided to stop at the local library in Paulding to take a rest. The librarian came out and took our photo to add to their library website, so we are slowly making the media rounds. Leaving Paulding we headed towards HW 424 and for the rest of the day had a refreshing change of scenery riding right beside the winding Auglaize and Maumee River. We passed through the small towns of Defiance and Florida and let the river lead us right into Napoleon, where we met up with Aunt Kim and Aunt Jody and cousins Katy and Matthew. They drove a few hours south from Michigan to take us out to dinner and bring us a goodie bag filled with amazing treats. We had a great dinner at Big Boys and was treated to a hotel room in town. We ended the night playing cards and said goodbye to our Michigan family. Thank You for such a special day and for making the trip down!!!

We had a fabulous send off this morning by the family. Chloe made Matt and I survival bracelets to wear on the rest of our trip! Thank you Chloe! Uncle David, Chloe and Ava also rode their bikes with us through downtown Wabash to see us off. These were our first biker escorts of the trip! I was thrilled to see them beside me on their bikes. We said goodbye to them after a few miles, and began biking solo. After the road turned from tree lined houses into cornfields, I noticed a car stopped ahead with a person hanging out the window. I thought it might be some kids that need help, so we slowed down and as we approached the car, my Mom, aunt Audrey and Megan were all waving out the window. Of course my mom was the one hanging out the side of the car! As they drove away, I started to cry. I always tear up when I’m leaving family.

After a few hours of riding we made it into Monroeville, IN. The town has set up an entire building for bikers, with showers, a kitchen and an air conditioned space to sleep in. We met up with the trio from California who are headed toward New York that we had met in Illinois. A nice man that runs the park showed us around and was real welcoming. Lois, from the local paper, The Monroeville News, came out to take our photo to put in the paper. She said she would mail a copy back home for us. She also brought cherry tomatoes from her garden and juicy watermelon. We devoured it! Monroeville seems to be one of the best biker friendly towns thus far.